Episode 20 - How to Make Decisions and Succeed in 2020
2020 is upon us! The "roaring" 20's have arrived and we're discussing how to start the New Year with your foot on the gas pedal!
Michael and Aaron discuss the Flatbed Forecast, a downloadable PDF that will be available for our Carrier Network, a way of thinking about decision making for the new year, and we're featuring a snippet from a conversation we had with Harry Wilde of Lube Zone about leveraging the potential that young people have.
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Michael:
The roaring 20s, they say.
Aaron:
The roaring 20s.
Michael:
The roaring 20s.
Aaron:
God, did you hear my joke at the Christmas party?
Michael:
Which one?
Aaron:
I said, "Is this the year of the dinosaurs or something? Are we going to be roaring into the 20s? Roar."
Michael:
I did.
Aaron:
That was so bad.
Michael:
That one's a good one though.
Aaron:
Roar.
Michael:
I like that one. Welcome to Trucking for Millennials where we engage with the future of freight happening now. My name is Michael Clements.
Aaron:
And I'm Aaron Dunn, and we're here to help trucking and logistics professionals stay up to date and ahead of the curve as our industry evolves.
Michael:
We're connecting with every step of the supply chain as part of our mission to increase transparency and provide world class freight solutions.
Aaron:
Trucking for Millennials. Now, we're finding ourselves in a precarious spot because this is, at the same time, the last episode of the year, but it's going to go into the first week of the new year. Not the first full week.
Michael:
So it's not the first show of the new year. Well, it kind of is. This is the problem whenever you have holidays on Wednesdays.
Aaron:
Right, right. Do you think every holiday should be on the weekend then?
Michael:
I'm a Friday. Saturday guy. Yeah.
Aaron:
But if you get a holiday during the week, you kind of get both.
Michael:
It just, it puts you in a really awkward spot.
Aaron:
True. True.
Michael:
Like, do I work? Do I not work? There's not much work going on.
Aaron:
Yeah. Everybody's kind of in the same like, eh-
Michael:
It's a lull.
Aaron:
Yeah, it is a lull, we're in a lull period. This is sort of a lull episode.
Michael:
Lull, lull, lull, lull.
Aaron:
L-O-L. L-U-L-L. But we're not going to have a lull episode. This is going to be an exciting episode.
Michael:
Super exciting.
Aaron:
You know why?
Michael:
Why?
Aaron:
Because we're going to talk about how to kick off the new year right.
Michael:
And let's do that. I like that. So we want to give our listeners something today that they can take away, no matter where they're at or what they're doing, where they're at in the trucking industry, or whether there's somebody that's in another industry and they just like checking out this show. We're going to give them something they can take away today.
Aaron:
It's the end of the year, but it's the beginning of the year, all in the same week. So, you might have a lot of mixed emotions happening. Like man, you know 2019 was crazy time. You know, there's been uncertainty, uncertainty is March, 2019 in the trucking industry. But things are kind of looking up.
Michael:
I think things are going to be definitely looking up for next year.
Aaron:
You've actually done some research on that too.
Michael:
Yeah. So, in the flatbed forecast I do like to talk about some of the industries and things that impact us in the flat-bedding and open deck hauling directly. And so, in my report I am going to talk about manufacturing, oil and gas, mining, and construction and how those are directly going to impact the flatbed industry for the first part of the year. And so, in that forecast, if you work in any of those industries, hopefully I can give you some good insights. And also I do a review of this year, and then also what to be on the lookout and who's going to be the winners in 2020
Aaron:
Awesome, yeah. It's packed with a bunch of good info and you know, I really liked how you put... You've got some sources in there. You've done some research to really just put a lot of facts together, but contextualize it to trucking so anybody inside the industry can know what's happening in other industries that would impact them.
Michael:
That's right, yeah. I didn't wake up at three in the morning and dream this stuff up. I did some research. I went to good sources. I went to good articles, good authors, good people out there that have a name in their own industries, whether it was manufacturing, oil and gas, or et cetera, whatever their specialties are. And so, I went with a lot of different opinions and from there formed my own. And hopefully I can give some good insight to our carriers and all those people in our network.
Aaron:
Yeah, yeah. So, flatbed forecast, how do people get it?
Michael:
It's going to be released to everyone within our carrier network via email. And then also anyone that signs up for our load alerts will also, which is on our website, anybody that signs up for that, will get a copy of that report in their email inbox.
Aaron:
Awesome. So, if you have yet to do so, sign up for load alerts. You can go to PDQamerica.com/carriers and just fill out that form and you'll be added and we'll make sure that we get that flatbed forecast to you. All right, well cool. What else were we going to talk about today?
Michael:
So we wanted to chat. We wanted to give our listeners a little something that they can... We hope they brought their shopping bags, because they're going to be able to carry something away with them today that should help them in 2020, or at least gets you in the right mindset for what the year should look like. If you're trying to make progress in your business, progress on yourself, or progress just in being a better person, being a better coworker, friend, family member, spouse, whatever those things are. So, we just got a little something for them today on that.
Aaron:
Yeah. So, is that something that you do? Do you set New Year's resolutions?
Michael:
Yes, I do like to set New Year's resolutions, which this year is actually really good for all you new year's resolutions setters out there. If you're also a procrastinator, since the new year starts on a Wednesday, you kind of get a few extra days there if you really want to start on the fifth, which is a Monday.
Aaron:
Is that what you're doing?
Michael:
No, well somewhat, but no. Right now I really don't have any. I need to probably go back to some that I had a few years ago. One that is very interesting, that I had was, whenever I pick up a piece of food and I eat it, I try to have that done before I'm sticking my fork in the next piece to get it and eat it. But it's a mind thing, you know? But if you do that, it will slow you down eating. But that was a resolution of mine a few years ago that I need... It worked for a while and I need to pick that one back up.
Aaron:
That's a unique one. I haven't heard of that. It's very specific. But you know, slowing down, kind of makes you appreciate things, that kind of deal. So I, I get that. A lot of people, myself included, like to speed up in the new year. I like this time of year because it's like, how much energy can I just output in the first two, three months. Because even if the whatever resolution or goal or what have you, doesn't make it to December, 31st, at the very, very end of the year, at least I put so much energy, I front loaded so much energy that it created some momentum that I can leverage for the rest of the year in different ways.
Aaron:
So, I think it's a good thing to set forth the new year with something like that. Something new that changes you, it changes your habits in some way. It's a shock to the system that keeps things fresh so you can enter the new year with a new frame of mind, new perspective, that kind of deal. Because we can get so ingrained in different things and you have to break the mold somehow.
Michael:
Man. And to really piggyback that, to hit it full-speed at the start of the year is awesome, especially for projects, for things where you're trying to make changes or improvements in your life. One thing I love about the first of the year and working in teams is, a lot of times people aren't taking off this time of year. There's not a whole lot going on. Kids start back in school in January. Spring break's not till March. So you can really hit some things super hard, and your team members are there every single day.
Michael:
And so I've found a lot of unity and a lot of things get done between now and March. And really, it sets the tone that first week of January. And that's been circled on our calendar in our business for months now, that we wanted to be in a certain place and in certain situations. And hard work even through this week, which is the last week of the year, has assisted with us being where we want to be to start the new year. But that is going to put us in a position that we can maximize that time from January through March, of really that whole first quarter. So, I love it and want to bring the heat and bring it fast early on in the year.
Aaron:
Yeah, yeah. And we're doing a lot of planning and foundation setting. Like you said, we've been doing that for a number of weeks and then this week, we're really aligning our focuses on, okay, what are those big things that we want to accomplish? And now, tracking back from those big things, the reverse engineering of, okay, what small steps do we need to take to make sure that we can achieve those bigger goals? So, yeah.
Michael:
So one of the things that I wanted to talk about on the show today was, I went to a summit in New York a few years ago and I had the privilege of listening to Andrew Liveris who was, he was the ex-chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical. And one of the things that he had talked about that day was, people are like numbers. And in the sense of, not like people are numbers in the sense of just worker bees. Not in that sense, but you can look at people and how we work and interact with people just like numbers. And really there's only four things, my dad loves to always remind me, there's only four things you can do with numbers and that's add, subtract, multiply and divide. And Andrew that day, said something that really struck home with me. And that was, when it comes to people, you always want to either be adding and multiplying to what their abilities are and who they are. You don't want to divide and subtract.
Michael:
And so that really settled with me, and I thought that would be something really good to share with our listeners today, that 2020 needs to be the year that we add and multiply ourselves. We need to add to our abilities. We need to add to those around us, and ultimately, I hope that we're adding to our teams. And by doing that, we can multiply our abilities, and through teamwork, we can multiply the ability of the things that we're able to do. And so, I'm really on this whole thing of, how do we add and multiply to what we're trying to do?
Aaron:
How do you think about that in the context of a business? So, are you talking about hiring people, or are you talking more about adding to skillsets? Or, what do you think?
Michael:
I think from my perspective, yeah. It's hiring people, adding to our team, making our team bigger and better, and figuring out how do we take on the challenges of the logistics industry together through technology, through thought process, through thought leadership, through those things. And I get excited about that, but it doesn't just have to be that. I mean, there's so many other areas of this. So, there's going to be a different way that a truck driver, a freight dispatcher, how they add and how they multiply their abilities and how they multiply others. But you think of a dispatcher, how many different people are you coming in contact with a day? How do you talk to those people? How do you speak to them? Are you speaking cordially? Are you making their day better? Is your goal just to find them a load, or is it to make their day a little bit better through your speech and how you treat them?
Michael:
That's kind of what I'm elaborating on, is that how are we adding and multiplying to the things that are going on around us? How are we making them better? How do we make today better for somebody? So, I think there's a lot of different angles to look at it. But when you think about numbers like subtract and divide, if you're subtracting from somebody and taking something away from them, that's not right. If you're dividing people or dividing their thought process or who they are, that's also not right. And so, what I like to look at, this is a pretty basic thing whenever you get down to it, but adding and multiplying to people is definitely a positive.
Michael:
And we should, no matter what walk of life we're in or where we're at in the industry, we should be trying to do that and make everyone better around us. And how do we promote that top of thought process?
Aaron:
I liked that. I like that. And just to keep with the metaphor, it's simple math.
Michael:
Yeah, so just like in math, you have, "Please excuse my dear aunt Sally." Remember it? The order of operations? Well, just something that you can remember is, "Make decisions and succeed." Multiply, divide, add, subtract. So, multiply over divide, adding over subtracting, "Make decisions and succeed."
Aaron:
Ah, that's clever. And that's good for me because I'm terrible at math. So, keeping it simple is a good thing. And I like the fact that you're framing the addition and multiplication as really leveraging strengths. Because so much of the time, we go into a new year and the New Year's resolutions and that kind of thing. So much of it is focused on somebody's weaknesses in that, "Oh well I didn't get the body that I wanted this year. I didn't hit the sales target this year." I didn't do whatever it was. Just fill in the blank. Whatever it is, it's so much about what we didn't do and what we want to do for the next year, because we're trying to make up for something.
Aaron:
But coming into it as, "How can we add and multiply? How are we going to add and multiply?" has less to do with, "What did I miss out on?" and more to do with, "What can I contribute? What can I propel forward with?" And I like to focus on strengths instead of, "What are my weaknesses?" Doubling down on what you're good at, doubling down on what's working instead of trying to fill in the gaps all the time, because there's always going to be a hole in the boat. There's going to be a little bit of a crack, or what have you. And if we just keep on focusing on that little crack, then it can be a distraction to what the real mission is, which is, just row the freaking boat. You know what I mean? And you'll get where you need to go. So yeah, that's a great way to frame it. I like the adding and multiplying, especially in the context of leadership.
Aaron:
And you know, when we went to GATS, we connected with a whole bunch of people, awesome industry professionals, and one of them was Harry Wylde from LubeZone. So, shout out to LubeZone. I don't know if you've ever been, but it's a regional company. They do oil changes and that kind of thing, maintenance, truck maintenance. But he had some words to say about millennials because he feels that millennials, young people, get a bad rap and it great talking to him. He is a leader and he believes in this kind of leadership model. We didn't talk specifically about the mathematics of it, type thing. But he framed it in terms of the difference between a leader and a manager. So, I hope you enjoy this conversation that I had with Harry at GATS. Here it is.
Harry Wylde:
I just like developing people. And the newer generation coming into the business is so excited. They're technological savvy. They really understand. Our company is still so small and so new, that we really don't have a lot of technology in our training department yet, but eventually we'll get there. It just takes time but I think the newer workforce coming in is great. I know millennials always get a bad rap, but that's just so untrue to me. You can say, "Oh, millennials are unfocused." No, you're just not giving them enough guidance and direction. Because if you keep them engaged, they'll literally do anything for you.
Aaron:
Yeah. So tell me a little bit more about that. Maybe some stories in your personal experience working with some, because literally every single day, every hour of the show so far from Thursday, to a right now, happening right now, is we're asking people about what their perspective on millennials and newer generations are.
Aaron:
And we hear: laziness, unfocused, entitled, want the world and don't want to pay anything for it. But you're saying it's all a myth.
Harry Wylde:
I think it's a myth. I think you can find lazy, entitled people in every generation, and unfocused people. That's just the way it is. Millennials, again, as long as you keep them engaged and you have a good culture, you make it feel like that they're part of something, rather than just doing the job, they'll do anything for you. I had a guy apply and they're like, "Don't hire that guy. He doesn't know anything about trucks. He's too young." And I won't say his name because I don't want to call him out. Well let me tell you, I hired this guy and he didn't know the difference between a flat-head and a Phillips screwdriver. He started in the shop, worked his way up, became a lower Bay technician, upper bay technician, and became a lead guy in the shop, then became a manager for me and then and then left and started his own service company.
Harry Wylde:
Now he has a service company, two locations, service trucks, great, successful businessman and my hat's off to him. And all it took was just engaging. One of the most successful guys I know. I'm so proud of him.
Aaron:
Yeah, I would have a sense of pride because you definitely were a seed. You planted that seed and nourished it all the way up to create that career. That's pretty exciting.
Harry Wylde:
It's really funny because I was talking to him just a couple of days ago and I was like, "Hey, I'm going to write one of my blog posts about you and I just want to make sure that's okay with you." And he's like, "Man, it's not just okay, it's great. You're such an influence in my life." And I'm like, "No, you're wrong. I just happened to be there. You would have been successful no matter where you were." And he's like, "No, no, no it was you." And I'm like, "No, no, no. It was you." We went back and forth. But if you keep them focused, you make sure they feel like they're part of the team and you just... You've got to give feedback too, obviously. But they'll do anything.
Michael:
Hi, my name is Michael Clements, one of the hosts of Trucking for Millennials and I just want to thank you for a wonderful 2019 and tuning into our show. We appreciate all the support we have from our listeners and you really are helping us make a difference and driving us into this next decade. So, thank you to all of our listeners, and we look forward to bringing you some great content in the year 2020.