The David Spisak Show

Hosted by David Spisak

Business Entrepreneurship EducationInterviews guests

Website RSS feed Facebook YouTube

Episodes

281

Latest episode

Aug 2026

Language

About the show

What happens when you get access to uncommon conversations with people who achieved the highest levels of success? Join David Spisak as he brings you inside the room where success stories are told by the people who lived them so that you can achieve your definition of success at an accelerated pace.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

September 10, 20261 hr 15 min

Alex Perdikis: The DMS Strategy Behind $191K In Gross

Most dealers think they're passing on $500. They're actually walking away from $8,500 and don't even know it. Alex Perdikis knows exactly why. He's President and CEO of Koons Auto Group and founder of Trade Agent.ai, the agentic AI platform now running inside his own Ford, Lincoln, and Mazda stores. Ten years after buying his first dealership outright, he's still the guy pulling the numbers apart to find where the money actually hides. In this episode, Perdikis walks through the real math behind that $8,500 mistake, then hands over results most dealers would never show on record: 3 rooftops, 9,102 past customers, 120 booked appointments, just under $191,000 in gross. Zero added headcount. He also explains why "we already mined our database" is the excuse costing dealers the most money right now, and what separates AI that just texts customers from AI that actually builds trust with them. If you run a store, lead a BDC, or manage fixed ops and think your customer base has nothing left to give, this episode will change your mind before it's over. Connect with David Spisak to Achieve Exponential Growth: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidspisak/ Website: https://www.davidspisak.com Email: david@disruptivegrowthsolutions.com Phone: +1 (510) 604-0308 Visit https://linktr.ee/davidspisak for all our links Like this show? Please leave us a rating and review where you're listening right now! 🎧 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-david-spisak-show/id1602552929 🔊 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6oPjFeHfnxNXPTHXxNwIsm?si=4fc3f546d07a4679

September 3, 202655 min

Tim Hayden: Is Your Dealership Future-Ready?

Tim Hayden built his career helping brands stop renting their own customer data back from Big Tech. He ran Edelman's $20M North American mobile program, spent two years in Silicon Valley watching generative AI emerge before it had a name, then co-founded BrainTrust Partners. Tim has worked with brands including Dell, Hilton, Bacardi, and Walmart, and is known for connecting technology with the human behavior behind how businesses actually use it. Here's the uncomfortable truth this episode exposes: dealers have had DMS, CRM, e-commerce, social, and now AI. The average is still 10 cars a month. Same as the '80s. The technology changed. The dealers didn't. Tim explains exactly why, and what separates the dealers about to pull ahead from the ones about to get left behind. Inside this conversation: The real reason your ChatGPT "shortcut" for grading leads may have already violated the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and what a breach like CDK's actually looked like from the inside Why "perpetual competitive advantage" has nothing to do with buying better software, and everything to do with what most dealers get wrong about their own data Tim's two-year prediction on unified customer records, and what happens to the dealers still renting theirs when everyone else owns theirs The one word separating "mechanic" from "technician," and why that same shift is coming for every role in your dealership Why the smartest dealers are quietly turning EV charging stations, parts departments, and used inventory into entirely new revenue streams nobody's counting yet If you're still thinking about AI as a tool instead of a liability sitting on a server rack somewhere, this episode will change how you look at every system in your dealership before your next board meeting. Connect with David Spisak to Achieve Exponential Growth: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidspisak/ Website: https://www.davidspisak.com Email: david@disruptivegrowthsolutions.com Phone: +1 (510) 604-0308 Visit https://linktr.ee/davidspisak for all our links Like this show? Please leave us a rating and review where you're listening right now! 🎧 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-david-spisak-show/id1602552929 🔊 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6oPjFeHfnxNXPTHXxNwIsm?si=4fc3f546d07a4679

August 27, 202653 min

Jill Schulman: The Science of Bravery (Explained by a Former Marine)

Jill Shulman is a former U.S. Marine Corps combat engineer officer, one of the first women ever commissioned into the role, who led platoons through mine-clearing and bridge-building operations at 23 years old. She went on to spend over a decade in corporate leadership development at Abbott Laboratories, earned a master's in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and has since trained more than 30,000 leaders across 1,000+ speaking engagements. Her book, The Bravery Effect, makes a research-backed case that bravery isn't a personality trait. It's a trainable skill. She walked into Officer Candidate School in hot pink silk shorts and heels. An upperclassman told her, flat out, she'd never make it. Two years later she was battalion commander, outranking hundreds of male candidates who never doubted themselves for a second. That gap, between the girl who almost quit in week one and the officer who came out the other side, is the entire episode. Jill breaks down exactly what happened in between, and it's not what most leadership content tells you. Confidence doesn't come first. Action does. She lays out the Bandura research behind it, and once you hear it, you'll understand why you've been waiting for a feeling that was never going to show up on its own. Inside this conversation we discuss: The one-word mindset shift that turns "I can't" into a solvable problem The real difference between bravery and reckless bravado Why the people closest to you might be the worst ones to ask before a big decision The "future self" test Jill uses to cut through fear in under sixty seconds What it actually took to walk away from a six-figure corporate career, a pension, and every safety net, and why staying would have cost her more than leaving ever could Good is comfortable. Good is also, as Jill and David get into, the single biggest threat to becoming great. If you've ever sat on a decision because you weren't "ready yet," this episode hands you the exact mechanism for why that readiness was never coming, and what actually builds it instead. Connect with David Spisak to Achieve Exponential Growth: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidspisak/ Website: https://www.davidspisak.com Email: david@disruptivegrowthsolutions.com Phone: +1 (510) 604-0308 Visit https://linktr.ee/davidspisak for all our links Like this show? Please leave us a rating and review where you're listening right now! 🎧 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-david-spisak-show/id1602552929 🔊 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6oPjFeHfnxNXPTHXxNwIsm?si=4fc3f546d07a4679

August 20, 202634 min

Tim Manning (Mazda's SVP): The System Behind Mazda's 59% Service Retention

Tim Manning has spent 20+ years inside Mazda North American Operations, and he's run almost every department that matters. Port logistics. Regional GM. Customer service. VP of Aftersales. Dealer Network Operations, where he took Mazda's image-commensurate stores from 40 to over 300. He's a Berkeley grad with a Notre Dame MBA, and he's now Senior VP of Retail Operations, the seat where every one of Mazda's numbers gets built or broken. And the numbers are the kind other OEMs don't want dealers to see: 3 straight years leading the industry in IIHS Top Safety Pick+ awards. Service retention at 59%, with stores clearing 60%. A 14% smaller dealer network that grew sales by nearly 40% anyway. $2.5 billion in combined Mazda-and-dealer investment. This isn't a brand riding momentum. This is a brand that engineered it, on purpose, in public, for a decade. So why does almost nobody talk about it? That's the exact question that kicks off this episode. Tune in to find out more! Connect with David Spisak to Achieve Exponential Growth: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidspisak/ Website: https://www.davidspisak.com Email: david@disruptivegrowthsolutions.com Phone: +1 (510) 604-0308 Visit https://linktr.ee/davidspisak for all our links Like this show? Please leave us a rating and review where you're listening right now! 🎧 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-david-spisak-show/id1602552929 🔊 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6oPjFeHfnxNXPTHXxNwIsm?si=4fc3f546d07a4679

August 13, 20261 hr 14 min

Gabriel Millien: The Real Cost of AI in the Dealership

Gabriel Millien has architected AI systems for Nestlé, Pfizer, and UL. He's advised Fortune 100 leadership teams on transformation projects most consultants never get close to. Over 550,000 people follow him on LinkedIn for one reason: he never sells anything. He just gives away the exact frameworks other people charge five figures for. In this episode, he gives them to you. If you've bought AI tools this year and still can't answer "what did this actually do for my business," you need this conversation. Gabriel breaks down the five questions almost no dealer asks a vendor before signing, and why skipping them is how a $50,000 contract turns into a liability nobody saw coming. Connect with David Spisak to Achieve Exponential Growth: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidspisak/ Website: https://www.davidspisak.com Email: david@disruptivegrowthsolutions.com Phone: +1 (510) 604-0308 Visit https://linktr.ee/davidspisak for all our links Like this show? Please leave us a rating and review where you're listening right now! 🎧 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-david-spisak-show/id1602552929 🔊 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6oPjFeHfnxNXPTHXxNwIsm?si=4fc3f546d07a4679

August 6, 20261 hr 14 min

John Fitzpatrick: 99% Of Dealers Get This Wrong

Force Marketing CEO John Fitzpatrick has audited the data of 1,400+ dealerships, and he says 30-40% of what's sitting in your DMS and CRM is unusable trash costing you real money. In this episode, David Spisak sits down with the Force Marketing co-founder to break down exactly where dealership ad dollars go to die, why 99% of stores spend $5,000 or less marketing the department that drives 75% of their profit, and what's coming next as AI search reshapes how car buyers find dealerships. Connect with David Spisak to Achieve Exponential Growth: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidspisak/ Website: https://www.davidspisak.com Email: david@disruptivegrowthsolutions.com Phone: +1 (510) 604-0308 Visit https://linktr.ee/davidspisak for all our links Like this show? Please leave us a rating and review where you're listening right now! 🎧 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-david-spisak-show/id1602552929 🔊 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6oPjFeHfnxNXPTHXxNwIsm?si=4fc3f546d07a4679

July 30, 20261 hr 37 min

Erikka Tiffani Wells: From $6 An Hour To General Manager of Walser Hyundai

She started at $6 an hour in a daycare. Today she's running one of the most talked-about dealership models in the country. Erikka Tiffani Wells is the GM of Walser Hyundai Brooklyn Park and co-founder of WOCAN (Women of Color Automotive Network). Her path into automotive started with a broken-down car she couldn't afford to fix and a trade for marketing flyers. It turned into a career that's landed her on Automotive News' 40 Under 40 list and at the center of one of the industry's most disruptive operating models. In this episode, David sits down with Erikka to unpack: Why Walser's no-commission, four-day workweek model is outperforming traditional dealerships The real reason single-price, single-point-of-contact stores fail everywhere else and succeed at Walser What Erica learned building Audi's first pilot BDC, and why she thinks OEM steering committees are broken The burnout trap of hustle culture, and the moment she realized working 12-hour days was hurting her team, not helping it Why WOCAN exists, what's actually stalling progress for women and people of color in dealership leadership, and what change requires from everyone in the room, not just the people already convinced This is a conversation about culture, leadership, and what it really takes to build a dealership people want to work for and buy from. Connect with David Spisak to Achieve Exponential Growth: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidspisak/ Website: https://www.davidspisak.com Email: david@disruptivegrowthsolutions.com Phone: +1 (510) 604-0308 Visit https://linktr.ee/davidspisak for all our links Like this show? Please leave us a rating and review where you're listening right now! 🎧 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-david-spisak-show/id1602552929 🔊 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6oPjFeHfnxNXPTHXxNwIsm?si=4fc3f546d07a4679

July 23, 202652 min

Napo Rumteen: Why Simulation Beats Interviews

Every hiring decision is a bet on a resume. Napo Rumtin built a way to see the truth before you sign the offer letter. David sits down with Napo Rumteen, the guy who scaled Tekion from zero to $100M+ ARR and built Interactive EQ, a platform that puts candidates and employees inside immersive, high-pressure simulations instead of asking them to describe themselves on paper. The results from 7,500 simulated experiences is uncomfortable. Only 3.7% of people could separate their intentions from their actual judgment under pressure. Managers showed less than half the awareness of frontline staff when a subtle bias played out in real time. And the gap between how people handle a customer problem versus an internal one exposes exactly where dealerships are quietly bleeding money. This is the conversation that explains why the best resume in the stack might be hiding your worst hire, and why the quiet ones on your floor might be your next rockstars, if you knew where to look. Connect with David Spisak to Achieve Exponential Growth: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidspisak/ Website: https://www.davidspisak.com Email: david@disruptivegrowthsolutions.com Phone: +1 (510) 604-0308 Visit https://linktr.ee/davidspisak for all our links Like this show? Please leave us a rating and review where you're listening right now! 🎧 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-david-spisak-show/id1602552929 🔊 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6oPjFeHfnxNXPTHXxNwIsm?si=4fc3f546d07a4679

July 16, 202657 min

George Karolis: Building Auto Retail's $22 Billion Playbook

He's advised on over 315 dealership transactions worth more than $22 billion. He's watched Park Place, one of the largest deals in industry history, fall apart at the height of COVID and come back together within weeks. And right now, he's telling us this could be the most active M&A year the auto industry has ever seen. George Karolis, President of Presidio Group, doesn't just track the deals. He's the guy dealers call before they make one. This is the conversation happening in boardrooms at the top 150 dealer groups right now. If you're trying to buy, sell, or just understand where the next eighteen months are heading, you cannot afford to be behind on this one. Connect with David Spisak to Achieve Exponential Growth: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidspisak/ Website: https://www.davidspisak.com Email: david@disruptivegrowthsolutions.com Phone: +1 (510) 604-0308 Visit https://linktr.ee/davidspisak for all our links Like this show? Please leave us a rating and review where you're listening right now! 🎧 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-david-spisak-show/id1602552929 🔊 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6oPjFeHfnxNXPTHXxNwIsm?si=4fc3f546d07a4679

July 9, 202655 min

Matt Leone: How DriveCentric Is Changing the Way Dealers Win Customers (Part 2)

If you listened to part one, you know where Matt Leone came from. Now it's time to talk about where he's taking the industry. In part two, we get into the conversation that I think every dealer, every GM, and every person making technology decisions in this business needs to hear. We talk about why the traditional CRM was broken before most people admitted it. Why the difference between a management platform and an engagement platform is costing dealerships more than they realize. Why 140 dealerships a month are making the switch to DriveCentric. And why Matt believes the CRM category is more relevant now in the age of AI than it has ever been — just not in the way most people think. I've been in this business since 1981. I've watched technology promise to change everything and deliver very little. If part one made you think differently about where great leaders come from, part two will make you think differently about where your dealership is going. Connect with David Spisak to Achieve Exponential Growth: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidspisak/ Website: https://www.davidspisak.com Email: david@disruptivegrowthsolutions.com Phone: +1 (510) 604-0308 Visit https://linktr.ee/davidspisak for all our links Like this show? Please leave us a rating and review where you're listening right now! 🎧 Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-david-spisak-show/id1602552929 🔊 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6oPjFeHfnxNXPTHXxNwIsm?si=4fc3f546d07a4679