In this episode of Behavioral Profit, Debbie Longo speaks with Sameer Narkar, founder and CEO of Konnect Insights, about entrepreneurship, leadership, business growth, adaptability, customer experience, and the behaviors that drive long-term success.

Sameer shares how he transitioned from software engineering to building Konnect Insights into an international customer experience platform serving businesses around the world. He explains how his original business idea evolved after listening to customers and responding to changing market needs.

Debbie and Sameer discuss why entrepreneurs often need to change direction rather than remain attached to their original vision. Customer feedback, new opportunities, technology, and market conditions all require founders to stay flexible while remaining committed to their long-term goals.

Sameer explains that building a successful company required learning far beyond software development. As the business grew, he had to develop skills in sales, marketing, finance, hiring, partnerships, operations, and leadership while continuing to innovate.

The conversation explores leadership, workplace culture, delegation, employee development, artificial intelligence, customer experience, and strategic partnerships. Sameer shares how growing a company eventually requires trusting others, empowering talented employees, and creating systems that allow the business to scale.

They also discuss the importance of continuous learning, remaining open to change, and breaking large goals into consistent daily actions. Sameer explains that success is rarely the result of one major decision but instead comes from making better decisions every day.

Debbie emphasizes that business growth begins with behavioral growth. The way leaders think, communicate, solve problems, and respond to challenges directly influences employee performance, customer relationships, innovation, and profitability.

Together they explain that successful businesses are built by leaders who remain adaptable, invest in people, embrace change, and continue learning as their organizations grow.

This episode explores entrepreneurship, leadership behavior, business growth, adaptability, customer experience, artificial intelligence, workplace culture, innovation, strategic partnerships, and building a profitable business for long-term success.

Contact Debbie Longo, Executive Behavioral Coach, Founder and CEO Life In Bloom NY

Behavioral Profit

Website: https://www.debbielongo.com/

Email: debbie@lifeinbloomny.net

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-longo-life-in-bloom-ny/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debbie.longo.2025

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbie.life.in.bloom.ny/?hl=en

Contact Sameer Narkar, Founder & CEO, Konnect Insights

Website: https://konnectinsights.com/

In this episode of Behavioral Profit, Debbie Longo speaks with Muriel Touati, founder of Exit 3D Studio and author of The Valuation Gap, about founder dependency, business valuation, delegation, and the behaviors that determine whether a business can scale or be sold.

Drawing on her experience evaluating business acquisitions, Muriel explains why many companies appear valuable on paper but lose value because they rely too heavily on the founder. She shares examples where sales, client relationships, operations, or lead generation could not function without the owner’s direct involvement.

Debbie and Muriel discuss why entrepreneurs struggle to delegate. Fear of losing control, perfectionism, lack of documentation, and difficulty trusting others often prevent founders from building businesses that operate independently. These behaviors may seem productive, but they limit growth and reduce long-term value.

Muriel explains that buyers evaluate far more than financial statements. They examine recurring revenue, customer concentration, leadership structure, documented systems, acquisition channels, and whether the company can continue operating if the founder steps away.

The conversation also explores SOPs, automation, mindset, trust, rejection, control, leadership development, and how entrepreneurship often becomes a personal growth journey. Muriel shares practical ways to reduce founder dependency, including documenting repeatable processes, building systems others can follow, creating lead generation beyond the founder’s personal network, and stepping away long enough to see what breaks.

Debbie emphasizes that leadership behavior directly impacts employee performance, communication, workplace culture, customer experience, sales, and profitability. Together they explain that businesses become more valuable when they develop people, build repeatable systems, and reduce dependence on one individual.

This episode explores leadership behavior, delegation, business valuation, founder dependency, recurring revenue, workplace culture, business systems, entrepreneurship, organizational growth, and building a company that creates lasting value beyond its founder.

Contact Debbie Longo, Executive Behavioral Coach, Founder and CEO Life In Bloom NY

Behavioral Profit

Website: https://www.debbielongo.com/

Email: debbie@lifeinbloomny.net

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-longo-life-in-bloom-ny/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debbie.longo.2025

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbie.life.in.bloom.ny/?hl=en

Contact Muriel Touati, Founder & CEO Exit 3D Studio

Exit 3D Studio: exit3dstudio.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/murieltouati

YouTube: youtube.com/@exit3dinsights

Free first chapter of The Valuation Gap: exit3dstudio.com/the-valuation-gap

In this episode of Behavioral Profit, Debbie Longo speaks with Jonny Havey, founder of eLearning Partners, about identifying hidden profit leaks, improving employee and customer education, and creating measurable business growth through behavioral alignment.

Drawing on his background as a former CPA and IT auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Jonny explains why many businesses work harder instead of smarter, investing time and money into activities that fail to produce meaningful returns.

Throughout the conversation, Jonny emphasizes that employees and customers both expect a return on investment. Employees want purpose, appreciation, growth, and meaningful work, while customers want to maximize the value of the products and services they purchase. When businesses align with those expectations, engagement, retention, and profitability improve.

Debbie and Jonny discuss leadership, workplace positivity, communication, mentoring, employee development, and creating environments where people want to contribute. Jonny also explains his approach to identifying profit leaks by treating expenses as investments that should produce measurable returns. Using the Pareto Principle, he helps organizations simplify operations and focus on the activities that create the greatest impact.

The conversation also highlights how mission-driven organizations can increase profitability while expanding their positive impact by educating employees, improving customer outcomes, and aligning business decisions with long-term purpose.

This episode explores leadership behavior, employee engagement, customer education, business growth, workplace culture, profit optimization, communication, productivity, and creating win-win outcomes for businesses, employees, and customers.

Jonny also explains why education is not just training, but a business growth tool. When employees understand their impact and customers understand how to get better results, companies create stronger relationships, reduce waste, improve retention, and build a business that is easier to scale.

Contact Debbie Longo, Executive Behavioral Coach:

Behavioral Profit

Website: https://www.debbielongo.com/

Email: debbie@lifeinbloomny.net

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-longo-life-in-bloom-ny/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debbie.longo.2025

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbie.life.in.bloom.ny/?hl=en

Contact Jonny Havey, MBA | Owner

Native American & Hispanic Business Owner

eLearning Partners | We save organizations multi-6-figures per year while scaling their impact globally

Website: www.e-learningpartners.com

Email: jonny@e-learningpartners.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jonnyhavey

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@e-learningpartners

Join The Plug The Profit Leak Challenge: www.PlugTheProfitLeak.com

In this episode of Behavioral Profit, Debbie Longo speaks with Hanna Bauer about a leadership lesson that transformed her business.

After receiving a resignation letter from a valued employee shortly after her company received industry recognition, Hanna was forced to confront a difficult reality: strong processes and systems alone were not enough to retain talented people. Through self-reflection, employee feedback, and a deeper understanding of human behavior, she discovered that the real issue was not compensation—it was connection, communication, and leadership.

Hanna shares how focusing solely on operational excellence caused her to overlook the human side of business and how learning the goals, motivations, and aspirations of her employees changed the culture of her organization. The conversation explores employee retention, leadership accountability, communication, alignment, psychological safety, and why businesses must put people before processes if they want sustainable growth.

This episode is for business owners, executives, and leaders who want to build stronger teams, reduce turnover, improve engagement, and create a workplace where people and profits grow together.

Contact Information

Debbie Longo Email: debbie@lifeinbloomny.net Website: DebbieLongo.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-longo-life-in-bloom-ny/

Hanna Bauer Website: https://hannadbauer.com

In this episode of Behavioral Profit, Debbie Longo sits down with Gavin McMahon, founder of Fassforward, to discuss a pivotal leadership lesson that changed the trajectory of his career.

While leading a major digital transformation initiative, Gavin found himself in conflict with a senior executive over priorities, communication, and organizational change. Although technically correct, he learned a powerful lesson about influence, leadership, trust, and the importance of understanding different perspectives.

Together, Debbie and Gavin explore:

• Why being right isn't always enough • The role of communication in leadership success • Navigating organizational politics and power dynamics • Trust, credibility, and influence in the workplace • Why people are the foundation of every successful business • How challenging experiences can shape future leadership

This conversation offers valuable insights for business owners, executives, managers, and professionals navigating change and leading teams.

Guest Information:

Gavin McMahon Founder & CEO, Fassforward Consulting Group

Website: https://www.fassforward.com/

Email: gavin@fassforward.com

Connect with Debbie Longo:

Website: DebbieLongo.com Podcast: Behavioral Profit

Email: debbie@lifeinbloomny.net

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-longo-life-in-bloom-ny/

What do you do when there is no roadmap, no proven process, and no clear direction?

In this episode of Behavioral Profit, Debbie Longo speaks with Navid Nazemian about his experience moving from Germany to the Middle East to help scale a business from approximately 60 employees to more than 350 employees in just a few years. Faced with conflicting guidance, unfamiliar cultural challenges, and the pressure of rapid growth, Navid shares how he stopped waiting for perfect answers and started creating practical solutions.

Together, they discuss leadership under pressure, decision-making in uncertainty, getting out of your comfort zone, building talent pipelines, navigating competing opinions, and why progress often comes from action rather than perfection.

This conversation explores the importance of adaptability, accountability, collaboration, and leadership courage when facing complex business challenges. Whether you're a business owner, executive, HR professional, or emerging leader, you'll gain practical insights on how to move forward when the path ahead is unclear.

Connect with Debbie Longo Transformational Coach | Speaker | Podcast Host

Website: www.DebbieLongo.com

Email: debbie@lifeinbloomny.net

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-longo-life-in-bloom-ny/

Connect with Navid Nazemian

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/navidnazemian/

Website: https://masteringleadership.kit.com/

In this episode of Behavioral Profit, Debbie Longo speaks with Dr. Irvine Nugent about leadership behavior, workplace communication, conflict avoidance, emotional intelligence, and how avoiding difficult conversations can quietly damage business culture and employee performance.

Dr. Nugent shares a defining moment from his time serving as CEO of a nonprofit organization when a top employee unexpectedly resigned and explained that he was tired of working in an environment where difficult conversations were constantly avoided. That moment forced Irvine to confront an uncomfortable reality about his own leadership style and recognize how his behavior was negatively impacting the organization.

Throughout the conversation, Irvine explains how his childhood growing up during the conflict in Northern Ireland shaped his fear of confrontation and created a deep internal belief that difficult conversations were dangerous. As a result, he developed a pattern of trying to maintain peace, avoid tension, and “paper over” workplace problems instead of addressing them directly.

Debbie and Irvine discuss how many business leaders unintentionally avoid difficult conversations because they fear conflict, rejection, emotional reactions, or damaging workplace relationships. However, avoiding those conversations often creates greater dysfunction inside businesses over time, including unresolved tension, poor communication, employee frustration, and declining performance.

Irvine explains how he slowly began changing his behavior through self-reflection, curiosity, emotional awareness, and learning how to approach conversations in a calmer and less threatening way. Instead of entering conversations defensively, he began asking open-ended questions and focusing on understanding employees rather than controlling outcomes.

The conversation also explores emotional intelligence, leadership accountability, stress, sleep deprivation, workplace positivity, employee sensitivity, communication skills, and how leaders strongly influence company culture through their daily behavior and interactions. Debbie emphasizes that the way leaders communicate with employees directly impacts morale, trust, performance, and long-term business success.

This episode explores leadership behavior, emotional intelligence, workplace communication, conflict resolution, company culture, accountability, employee engagement, organizational behavior, difficult conversations, and the connection between internal behavior and business performance. It reinforces the idea that businesses improve when leaders learn how to approach uncomfortable conversations with honesty, calmness, and emotional awareness.

Contact Debbie Longo, Executive Behavioral Coach:

Website: https://www.debbielongo.com/

Email: debbie@lifeinbloomny.net

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-longo-life-in-bloom-ny/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debbie.longo.2025

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbie.life.in.bloom.ny/?hl=en

Contact Dr. Irvine Nugent, PCC, CSP Co-Founder - Conflict EQ

Email: irvine@conflicteq.com

Website: conflicteq.com

In this episode of Behavioral Profit, Debbie Longo speaks with Nicky Billou about entrepreneurship, leadership behavior, emotional control, business partnerships, and how navigating a difficult business separation ultimately strengthened both his company and his long-term success.

Nicky shares how his family escaped Iran after the Islamic Revolution and immigrated to Canada in search of freedom and opportunity. That experience shaped his belief that entrepreneurs and business owners create freedom, growth, and independence for others through business leadership and innovation.

He later co-founded eCircle Academy, a company focused on helping entrepreneurs, coaches, and consultants grow their businesses. While the company initially experienced success, tension eventually developed between Nicky and his business partner due to unequal workloads, communication issues, and growing resentment inside the partnership.

Throughout the conversation, Nicky openly discusses the emotional pressure that came with the conflict and how close he came to reacting emotionally during negotiations. Instead of acting impulsively, he relied on guidance from his business coach, his girlfriend, and a professional mediator to help him remain calm and focused while navigating the separation.

Nicky explains how the partnership eventually dissolved through negotiation and mediation rather than emotional confrontation. Although neither side left fully satisfied financially, the agreement allowed both parties to move forward while preserving the company and protecting clients.

Over time, Nicky rebuilt and expanded the business into a stronger company with healthier leadership dynamics, better communication, and far less negativity. He emphasizes that one of the biggest lessons he learned was the importance of emotional control, seeking professional guidance during high-pressure situations, and never trying to navigate major business problems alone.

Debbie and Nicky also discuss intuition, trust, leadership, accountability, emotional intelligence, negotiation, and how unresolved resentment often damages businesses more than external problems. The conversation reinforces that business success depends heavily on how leaders manage relationships, emotions, and pressure during difficult situations.

This episode explores leadership behavior, entrepreneurship, emotional intelligence, negotiation, resilience, workplace dynamics, conflict resolution, accountability, communication, and the connection between emotional control and long-term business success.

Contact Debbie Longo, Executive Behavioral Coach:

Website: https://www.debbielongo.com/

Email: debbie@lifeinbloomny.net

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-longo-life-in-bloom-ny/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debbie.longo.2025

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbie.life.in.bloom.ny/?hl=en

Contact Nicky Billou:

Website: Www.eCircleAcademy.com

Email: nicky@ecircle.ca