Keeping Your Managers Engaged w/ David Long [Episode 161]

David Long is the Founder and CEO of MyEmployees, where they specialize in helping managers build strong and more engaged relationships with their team.

Bullet Points

• Find out why David became an entrepreneur.
• Why companies just chew through managers.
• Good managers vs. bad managers.
• How to change manager mindset.
• Why you should spend company time on employee education.

Why did David write Built to Lead?

There’s a massive failure rate in the management sector. Any company that has 100 or more employees, only 6-7 of those will ever be promoted to manager and, of those, less than one actually gets promoted to the second level. Companies are chewing through managers.

What are the differences between good managers vs. bad managers?

There are employees out there that keep doing it and doing it, but they don’t really contribute anything. They just get by. A good manger really has the desire to get better and to be better tomorrow than they were today.

How do you detect a manager in trouble? 

Managers in trouble don’t understand the difference between motivation and manipulation.

Manipulation is getting people to do something you want them to do, but they don’t really want to do it. Motivation is finding within them the desire to do something and the manager encourages them to succeed.

That’s what management is! How do you change that mindset?

You have to have the mindset of, I’m going to be better tomorrow than I am today. People are successful and happy at work when they have someone who is encouraging their development. When you’re motivating others and you care about your team, they will follow you.

How does David educate his team?

You should invest company time in people reading and learning. Normally, education stops at training, but David’s company educates his staff on an ongoing basis through a weekly book club.

David pays his staff an hour to come in to the book club every week. This learning session costs him about $80,000 a year, but it has made him millions. The book club idea is not about how to do their job better, it’s about how to have a better life.

LEARN MORE ABOUT DAVID LONG

What’s your most powerful sales asset?

Listening and Google docs.

Who’s your business role model?

Michael Gerber, Jack Welch, Zig Ziglar.

One book every sales person should read.

The bible and How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

What’s your favorite music to get you pumped up?

The Eagles.

One question you get asked most frequently by salespeople.

How did you do it? The answer is simple: “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar