There are thousands of leaders in the trucking/logistics industry, regardless of their exact title.
When I was a regional manager for Horton I had to give a report on the status of my region to top management. The template for the report was typical: review sales, distributor marketing efforts and what the competition was doing.
In what became known as a “typical Bob Rutherford” move, I added a special projects section to my presentation. One special project, which was cutting-edge back in the day, was offering fleets both upfront warranty parts and the training of a special fleet technician (whom I personally certified) to handle warranty claims on the spot and use parts from the upfront warranty stash he kept in his toolbox.
At the end of the presentation, the company president said, “Bob, I have one question for you. Who gave you the authority to start this special project of yours?” I looked at my two bosses, they looked at each other, and then one of them said, “I guess he just took it.”
Was what I was doing leadership?
Management even had some lawyers make sure my use of the word “certified” didn’t put the company on the hook for more liability than necessary. The lawyers basically said, "If you trust Bob to train them, then you have to trust Bob to certify that he has made them certified."
The lawyers asked me, “Are you teaching them and testing them?” I was. The lawyers told management, “You’re good to go.”
