How U.S. Xpress is transforming driver recruiting

There’s a quote I love by PT Barnum: “Comfort is the enemy of progress.”

The trucking industry — and recruiting generally, I’d argue — has been largely comfortable with the way it’s always done things for decades. We’ve made some progress, but it’s been incremental, not transformational. We’ve tried to align technology or process changes with how we’ve always done things, rather than asking whether the way we’ve always done things, even makes sense at all anymore.

Of course, the challenge with asking those kinds of disruptive questions is simple: No one wants to be the villain — the person questioning status quo, shaking up normative practices, and making people uncomfortable. It’s easier, frankly, to just go with the flow and accept “we’ve always done it this way” as an acceptable answer.

But if you truly believe that the status quo is the primary roadblock in the way of progress, then you need to make a mental shift, turning away from trying to make everyone comfortable and happy and toward embracing your role as a leader of meaningful change. And sometimes, that means you’re not going to be the most popular person in the room.

Then again, if you know me, you know that I’m not afraid of playing that role.

‍

This is an excerpt from an article originally published by ERE on May 26, 2021. Click here to read the full article about about breaking the mold, leveraging automation, and making smart people changes.

‍

Photo Credit: Lanewood Studio

‍