Page 159 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

138 � mAnAgIng the moBIle workForCe

the crossroads between nowhere and somewhere, is surrounded by . . .
nothing. Endless blacktop heading east and west. A quiet gravel road
meandering north and slanting off to the south. Grassy, rolling acre-
age stretching in every direction. The man slips a cigarette out of the
pack, taps it on his jeans, brushes the phosphorus-tipped stick across
the matchbook, lights it, and takes a draw. He circles his dusty rig,
checking for any signs of trouble, and then swings into the cab. He
clicks on his AM radio—there’s Patsy Cline again—turns the igni-
tion, struggles into gear, and pulls out onto the shimmering highway.
He puts the hammer down, grinds into second gear, and he’s on down
the road, leaving only a trail of diesel smoke behind.
This is the iconic truck driver of the middle of the twentieth
century; successor to the milkman or produce deliveryman of the early
1900s, and predecessor to the GPS-navigated, satellite-entertained,
Internet-managed driver of today. The modern trucking industry has
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had one main purpose from its early start-of-the-1900s’ beginnings—
to transport goods. Today that freight ranges from concrete, to nuclear
waste, to heavy equipment to, naturally, milk and produce, and just
about anything else that can be moved.
Tyler Ellison is the president of Con-way Multimodal, and before
that he was the senior vice president of the Global Group at Schneider
National, a $3.7 billion trucking, logistics, and intermodal services
company that conducts business in more than 28 countries worldwide.
He has degrees in history, engineering, and law, the kind of eclectic
education that is likely to prepare leaders for the global, highly con-
nected economy of today and certainly the future. As we talked with
him it was easy to see that he has a more comprehensive perspective of
the complex interworkings and future needs of the trucking industry
than one would expect. In the past, it was easy to conceptualize the
business: (1) get a truck, (2) get people to ask you to move something
with your truck, (3) take it where they want it to go, (4) bill them.
After talking to him, we realize it’s not so simple anymore.
Today’s trucking industry is a multifaceted whirl of technology,
competitive strategy, and basic mechanics, all tied together by one
person: the truck driver who moves the freight. Until the day when