As a leader of your company are you willing to get your hands dirty? Are you willing to literally put yourself in the shoes of one of your team members and experience what they do for a week? Well, the cool thing about my role as the Chief Heart Officer @Port X Logistics is that I get to spend time with our team experiencing their various job responsibilities.
You can be an ordinary leader and just lead from the top or you can become extraordinary when you seek out opportunities to learn from your team and do work that gets your hands dirty. Trust me when I say you will learn more about your team than you can imagine when you are side by side doing the hard work and getting dirty.
Last week I went to our Savannah office where we have a warehouse. I spent the day with Tyler and Tristan who run the warehouse and do something called transloading. In the world of logistics, it is when a container from overseas is drayed (brought by truck) to a warehouse, the truck is emptied, and the product is put on pallets and then loaded onto another truck for delivery to its final destination.
Talk about an opportunity and work! I loved it! Tyler, Tristan, and I unloaded two 40 ft containers and hand palletized and shrink-wrapped all the product. At Port X Logistics you must be willing to get your hands dirty in order to learn and grow. Tyler and Tristan gave me an education about transloading that I am very grateful for. It helped me to appreciate what our team does every day and how good they are at the work they do.
Additionally, I spend the day with Jill Rice (Partner @ Port X Logistics) touring the Port Of Georgia. Again, what an education and experience. I learned so much about how shipping and rail containers are both imported and exported and the complexity of the supply chain. My mind was blown. I am sure Jill’s ears are still bleeding from all of my questions. She is truly an expert and helped me to increase my understanding of logistics.
This was a fantastic week and I am looking forward to future opportunities where I can continue to support our team and grow professionally.
As a leader, I would encourage you to do the same. Seek out opportunities with your team where you can move from being an ordinary leader to extraordinary. Your team and business will appreciate you for getting your hands dirty.
