Brent – 00:00:01:
Welcome to Freight Nation: A Trucking Podcast, where we explore the fascinating world of trucking and freight management. We dive deep into the freight industry and uncover why the trucking industry is more crucial to our country now than ever before. Stay tuned to uncover the driving forces behind successful trucking businesses and hear from the hardworking truckers and leaders who keep the world moving. Let’s hit the road. All right. Well, welcome back, Freight Nation. Man, I’m so glad that you’re joining me today because this recording of Freight Nation is one that I’ve been looking forward to since I started the podcast. There’s lots of people in this industry and trucking is just so pregnant with so many wonderful people in this industry. And the person that’s going to be on the podcast with me today is the absolute top of that for me as a person in this industry. As you guys know, at Freight Nation, I’ve been around since 98 inside of transportation. And one of the companies that I always admired that was one of the foundational parts of transportation was J.B. Hunt. And so joining me today on Freight Nation is Shelley Simpson, the current president and CEO. She’s going to tell her whole story about the president and CEO of J.B. Hunt. Shelley, man, thank you so much for joining me.
Shelley – 00:01:09:
Thank you, Brent. I’m super excited to be here. Just having a good time with you Brent.
Brent – 00:01:12:
Yeah, that’s right. Well, so Freight Notion, here’s the thing about Shelley, that I got to meet her back when I first started in logistics. And it was through she was getting presented with an award in the industry as a very distinguished leader in the marketplace. And she and I actually I was sitting in the Houston airport and I needed to talk to her before we were going to see each other or potentially see each other at an event where she was going to receive this award. And she and I in like the first five minutes, I knew I was going to have a really, really deep friend inside of transportation with Shelley. And I think that you’re going to hear Freight Notion as you hear her story and you hear how she leads and how she helps J.B. Hunt, the best transportation company they can be. I think you’re going to hear the same thing I heard, which is a wonderful person who really is a great part of transportation. All right. So, Shelley, here’s how I like to start. Okay, I like to start with how in the world does a girl from Arkansas in the transportation industry. So I would love for you to tell your story on how you got to the transportation industry.
Shelley – 00:02:09:
Okay. Thank you, Brent. I grew up in Arkansas, so born and raised.
Brent – 00:02:13:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:02:13:
And when I was six years old, the only way I got to stay up late was when my Dad had Razorback basketball on. And so I learned very quickly that I wanted to stay up late with my Dad and thus became my love of Razorback basketball.
Brent – 00:02:28:
Wow.
Shelley – 00:02:28:
And so when I was growing up, I knew there was only one place, one college, I’m first generation college. I knew there was only one place to go to school, and that was to go be an Arkansas Razorback.
Brent – 00:02:37:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:02:37:
I graduated high school, went to college, wanted to be an elementary school teacher.
Brent – 00:02:42:
You did. Okay.
Shelley – 00:02:43:
I love teaching and I love coaching. I’ve had leadership positions in high school. And about a year into it, my Dad said, Shell, do you know what a teacher makes in Arkansas? You know, it’s never enough. And back then it was like $25,000. Well, I have no concept of money or what that meant. And he said, it’d be really difficult. And that’s admirable. But why don’t you get your business degree and you can always teach?
Brent – 00:03:07:
Okay.
Shelley – 00:03:08:
Okay. All right. I can do that. And so as I go get my business degree, I get a marketing degree. I love numbers. I love finance. I wanted to be, I thought, okay, I’ll do accounting. Very boring for me. That was not for me.
Brent – 00:03:19:
Savvy.
Shelley – 00:03:20:
You did the same thing. I thought, well, I’ll do finance. And then I thought, well, they’re bankers and they work every weekend. And if I’m going to work every week, I’m going to work for myself. So I wasn’t going to be an entrepreneur. And so I got a marketing degree and I was sitting in class in March of my graduation year. And I wanted to do one of two things, Brent. I wanted to either be in insurance or I would go work at Walmart. And guess what my mom and Dad did?
Brent – 00:03:44:
What?
Shelley – 00:03:45:
At Walmart.
Brent – 00:03:45:
Did they really?
Shelley – 00:03:46:
Yeah. So at Walmart, we’re following their footsteps. And so as I was interviewing for insurance, I had a buddy in class say to me, hey, I got a job where he said, J.B. Hunt. And I said, oh, like the truck? He said, yeah. I said, doing what? He’s not the same degree. He said, in marketing. And I’m like, marketing? Now, Brent, my papa was a truck driver. So I’m very familiar. I’ve been out on the truck. My uncle’s truck drivers. I knew what a truck driver did. I had no idea. In my mind, that was the only job that there was in driving, was driving the truck. You know, everybody else, I guess I just never thought about that.
Brent – 00:04:22:
Now, when you say papa, you mean your grandfather, right? Is that right?
Shelley – 00:04:25:
Yeah, that’s my papa. I got it. So he was, I didn’t know at the time, but he was an owner-operator. I didn’t know that’s what he was.
Brent – 00:04:30:
No way. So cool.
Shelley – 00:04:32:
Yeah. So he was an owner-operator. He did all of his own maintenance. See, I didn’t even know all that existed. I just assumed you worked on your own trucks and you did your own stuff. That’s what he did. So here’s where I went to work there. I was interviewing to go be in insurance. And I asked my buddy, well, how much are you making?
Brent – 00:04:47:
Right.
Shelley – 00:04:48:
He said, $14,000. I said,
Brent – 00:04:50:
Oh.
Shelley – 00:04:50:
Did what? That’s a… You remember going right back in? I graduated in 94. Going right was like 25, maybe 28. Or 1. Well, got 30. And I said, wait a minute. 14 cap? Are you hourly? He said, yeah. I said, oh, no, no, no, no, no.
Brent – 00:05:05:
Oh, no. No, no.
Shelley – 00:05:06:
I didn’t get college to work hourly. Like, I got a lot of bills to pay here.
Brent – 00:05:09:
Right.
Shelley – 00:05:10:
He said, well, what are you doing until you get your job?
Brent – 00:05:12:
Right.
Shelley – 00:05:12:
See, I worked in preschool.
Brent – 00:05:14:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:05:14:
All through college. I was making $5.25 an hour. And I thought, ding, I could make $2 more an hour, have a great summer, and that’s how I went to J.B. Hunt.
Brent – 00:05:24:
Right.
Shelley – 00:05:24:
You know, what many kind of think bigger about J.B. Hunt, was really my dad’s first advice to me, which was, treat this job as if it were your last.
Brent – 00:05:33:
There you go. Sure.
Shelley – 00:05:34:
Dad, I’m not planning to be in trucking. He said, well, Shell, you never know. And even if you didn’t, they could be your customer. And so I really walked in there thinking, you know what? This is a great opportunity to build relationships, to learn. They kind of know about what business really was. And so that’s kind of what got me in the door.
Brent – 00:05:52:
Right. So fascinating. Your conversation with your father sounds like my conversation with my father. And encourage your little bit of a kick in the butt to you all the time, like to get you going, to get you focused on things. And so that’s why I said that when I realized you and I were much more alike, you know, then I actually realized as far as like our just outlook on things and our experiences. All right. So let me let you tell the story. Where did you start out? And then what was the day that you went, oh my goodness, I think I have a career here.
Shelley – 00:06:23:
Well, the first day on the job that I walked in, I remember thinking it was a customer service rep. And I remember walking in thinking, okay, and you’re looking for people that you can relate to. Like, what other job could I have? Is there other opportunity? It was a big corporate office. And I remember seeing beside a gentleman that was kind of my logistics manager. So I didn’t directly report to him, but he was kind of the leader for my area. And I remember thinking, wait a minute, he’s a manager trainee and now logistics manager. And he moved from where? Why did he move to Arkansas to work at J.B. Hunt at a major training program? And so that was kind of my first aha. But I spent time there for the first couple of months just getting to know the people. And I’ll tell you, my salesperson that I talked to day one on the job and that gentleman that I talked with were really great coaches. And I remember telling my Dad about it on the regular. He’d call, how’s it going? What do you think? And meanwhile, I’m getting ready to go interview for my insurance job.
Brent – 00:07:15:
Okay.
Shelley – 00:07:16:
So it’s about two months in and I go do my interview. And I come back, I’m really excited. And I said, Dad, I’m so excited to move into Eastern Arkansas and this can be really great. You know, you started as an adjuster. I’m really excited. He was like, okay, well, have you ever been to Monroe, Louisiana? And I was like, well, it’s not in Monroe, Louisiana. It’s actually in Eastern Arkansas. And I’m so excited. It’s called Stan. Can’t wait to go over there. I said, I understand, Shelley, but have you been to Monroe, Louisiana? When my Dad, he always had a lesson. I was like, Dad, I don’t know where we’re going here, but the job isn’t there. The job is in Eastern Arkansas. I’m really excited. And he said, no, Shell. The job is not in Eastern Arkansas. You don’t want to just be an insurance agent. You want to be the president and CEO. And their corporate headquarters is located in Monroe, Louisiana. You’re located in a corporate headquarters. Why don’t you stick it out and see? I’ve heard all these things about the relationships and the people that you love. You have all the time in the world. You could always go do that. Why don’t you stick this one out and see what happens? So I only stayed, I did love the people, but I hadn’t been there long enough. I stayed really just heeding my dad’s advice. Didn’t really want to hear him getting onto me about it. And so I stayed, but you know, your question was what made me really change so I could have a career here.
Brent – 00:08:24:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:08:24:
It was about two years in. So I was hourly for almost two years. Now, remember those first two people that I talked about? Yes. The first person on the side beside and then my salesperson on the side beside literally coached me every day.
Brent – 00:08:37:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:08:37:
And they were really, really good coaches. And I remember setting kind of a deadline for myself. If I don’t get promoted, I’m going to leave the company because that just told me, okay, this just isn’t the place for me.
Brent – 00:08:49:
Right.
Shelley – 00:08:50:
And when I got my first management job, it was kind of a double skip on promotion.
Brent – 00:08:54:
Right.
Shelley – 00:08:55:
And I was really, really excited.
Brent – 00:08:57:
Okay.
Shelley – 00:08:57:
In that role, what I didn’t realize, remember I love numbers, I love finance. I wanted to go into sales. So going into pricing with Allowment Go To Sales, but in that job, Brent, I was able to like really think about strategy and really come up with why do we pick up the freight we pick up? How should we pricing it? How do we make money? And I got this really great opportunity very young in my career. I was sitting in Eastport. I was in Brunswick, New Jersey. Our terminal manager had asked me to come up and we weren’t making a lot of money then. And operations and sales were kind of rattling it out.
Brent – 00:09:29:
Right.
Shelley – 00:09:29:
And he asked me to come up and spend time going through what we call profitability meetings. What I didn’t realize was they were duking it out over what direction they should get.
Brent – 00:09:39:
Okay.
Shelley – 00:09:39:
And so here I am, I’m 20, probably five, 26.
Brent – 00:09:44:
Okay.
Shelley – 00:09:45:
And I’m spending time with all of these guys, really walking them through profitability. And you kind of see them keep his score because the operator would be like, see, yeah, told you we shouldn’t do that. And then the solicitor would be like, yeah, we should pick more of that freight up. So it was like back and forth. But there was a key opportunity though. I think this is really important in one’s career.
Brent – 00:10:03:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:10:03:
There was a key opportunity in that moment that, because I was kind of the conductor of the meeting.
Brent – 00:10:08:
Right.
Shelley – 00:10:08:
Because I had the data. But Brent, during that session in walks in our chief operating officer.
Brent – 00:10:14:
Oh, wow. Oh.
Shelley – 00:10:15:
And he comes and he sits behind me. And of course I get introduced.
Brent – 00:10:18:
Did that IQ nervous at all? When you were- Were that first person walk in?
Shelley – 00:10:21:
I didn’t get nervous at all. I just thought maybe he wanted to take over the meeting, which was totally fine. I mean, I knew my place.
Brent – 00:10:26:
Why?
Shelley – 00:10:26:
But it was in that moment that I saw him. He was, he observed, he watched. I connected with him, you know, at dinner that night and then got the opportunity to start talking. And I remember when we came back, it was shortly thereafter that Kirk Thompson, our then president and CEO.
Brent – 00:10:42:
Right.
Shelley – 00:10:42:
Actually said, Shelley, he asked me to stay after a meeting. He said, hey, tell me about these profitability meetings. And so I shared with him. He said, Craig’s been talking all about it. And I told him about it. And he said, well, go talk to Amy, book the jet. I’m going to go with you on your next one.
Brent – 00:10:56:
Get out of here.
Shelley – 00:10:57:
Like 26 probably at this point. And, you know, I loved finance, but I loved being able to shape the business. And it really was that work that made me fall in love with the work that I did. What made me fall in love with the company was, you know, I spent time in pricing. I started, I met my husband at the company. I had children and I went in to quit after my first son.
Brent – 00:11:21:
Did you really?
Shelley – 00:11:22:
I did. Yeah.
Brent – 00:11:23:
Oh, goodness.
Shelley – 00:11:24:
Yes. It was about 14 weeks of maternity leave that I was on. I went into my COO, because that’s who I was working with by that, and shared with him that I just didn’t feel like, you know, I’m going down the path to quit. And he stopped me just before.
Brent – 00:11:37:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:11:38:
And he was like, look, you could be a great mom and a great wife and do great work. Whatever that means, we’ll work it out.
Brent – 00:11:44:
Right.
Shelley – 00:11:44:
I always so emotional. I left.
Brent – 00:11:45:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:11:46:
And I was like, I don’t, what does all this mean? And I went to my husband, you know, his office. I went to his office because he had Peyton there with him. And he said, how’d it go? I said, It’s terrible. Because he said, we’ll work it out. I don’t know what that means. And, you know, it was something David said to me that kind of like, I think made me mad in the moment that really set my mind in motion. He said, well, Shelley, maybe God has different plans for you. And I was like, what are you talking about? Like, I want to be a great mom. And my mom stayed home. My grandmother stayed home. I just had the confidence that I could do both and do it really well. And I want to be a really great mom. I think that all of us as parents want to be really great at what we do as a parent, you know? And so that was, more of a confidence thing than ever.
Brent – 00:12:25:
Right.
Shelley – 00:12:26:
So we worked it out. I had somewhat of a flexible schedule. Now, Brent, this is when nobody had a flexible schedule. This is 2001. There were no flexible schedules back then. I remember feeling really indebted about that.
Brent – 00:12:38:
Right.
Shelley – 00:12:39:
But then a year and a half later, I’m pregnant with twin girls.
Brent – 00:12:41:
I love it.
Shelley – 00:12:42:
And so I knew at that point that I wasn’t going to stay with the company full time. I was a VP at the time. And I walked in and told Craig, listen, I know what I want to do. He said, I figured that you did. Tell me what you want. And I said, I want to go part time.
Brent – 00:12:54:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:12:55:
And the company allowed me to do that. So I worked Monday through Friday, nine to five. And I was able to put that balance. It worked best for me.
Brent – 00:13:02:
Right.
Shelley – 00:13:02:
And it was during that time, Brent, how I got treated and the people that surrounded me and just lifted me up and just recognized I was a new mom that needed to, you know, gain my confidence and who I could become and how I got treated during that time. I tell people this all the time. It’s really like when my blood turned yellow. It was like, this is it. This is the company. All because they cared so deeply about me as a person. I love to work. I love to do those things, but I love being a mom. And I guess I just never had that experience where they cared enough about me individually. Those two things in combination. I came back full time two years later. And you know what? I haven’t regretted a day since. It’s been amazing. But if it hadn’t been for, I thought that Craig Harper was my mentor. He was actually my sponsor. I didn’t even know what that meant. But he was my sponsor. He’s who said, you know what? She’s worth it.
Brent – 00:13:54:
Right.
Shelley – 00:13:54:
Through this.
Brent – 00:13:55:
Right.
Shelley – 00:13:56:
And had he not done that, I was totally okay with leaving the company. Not because I wanted to leave J.B. Hunt. I knew I would come back when my kids were in school, but it really was a tribute, me staying in the company to Craig.
Brent – 00:14:07:
I tell you, such a phenomenal story and such a wonderful way in which a company supported what was most important to you. And they also saw a future. And you said at 14 weeks, you realized you wanted to be home with your daughter, right?
Shelley – 00:14:19:
With my son.
Brent – 00:14:20:
Son. So my wife experienced the exact same thing. She was a speech pathologist. 12 weeks, she went back to work. She was at work two weeks and said, I need to be home with my daughter. So I think that’s such a base human, especially for moms, mom sort of feeling. So that’s incorrect. So Craig, Craig was your sponsor. He believed in you and you’ve kind of fell in love with a company and committed to the company because they committed to you.
Shelley – 00:14:44:
I said, no doubt. And Craig was my sponsor. Terry Matthews, who was president of Emerald, he was a huge mentor to me, varying in my career. He was a great mentor to me. And Kirk, those were kind of the three that I would say Craig was my sponsor. Terry and Kirk were my greatest mentors.
Brent – 00:15:00:
Right. So you’ve talked about leadership a couple of times, the two gentlemen in the beginning when you first started there. And then you talked about Craig as a leadership example to you, talked about Kirk as a leadership example to you. And you mentioned Terry as a leadership example. So what were you gaining all the time around like your father example? I’m sure your mother’s example is because they’re a duo connected together. It’s mom and Dad always different communication, different times. So how is that building sort of your leadership point of view or how you wanted to lead with all of your life, with not just your career, but also because it’s all connected. Career and home are all connected. So how did that start shaping you?
Shelley – 00:15:37:
Well, you know, if I go back to those two early mentors to me that I really connected with, I think what I connected with them, one was a great teacher and one was a good coach. And I was able to take from them like the base of, okay, they’re smart. They’ve got a great career. They see potential in me. They were great encouraged, those were all things I admired about them as my early mentors. That was something I wanted to emulate. How could I be a good coach? Remember, I said I wanted to be a film issue school teacher because I like to teach.
Brent – 00:16:05:
Yes.
Shelley – 00:16:05:
Well, a lot of leadership is being a great coach. And what does a great coach do? You know, you have to believe in people more, sometimes more than they believe in themselves.
Brent – 00:16:14:
Yeah, for sure.
Shelley – 00:16:14:
We have to do that as parents. We have to do that as leaders in a company, but in every day. And one of the things I tried to pick up. So one of the things I loved about Terry. Terry was so smart, he was strategic. He thought differently than me. And so when I would give him something I was thinking about, I just felt like I was always absorbing new information. And I would try to take things that I admired about each person. And I really tried to incorporate that into my leadership. So I loved that about Terry. Terry was calm. He always in the fire. He was excellent. Like he didn’t get rattled. And I thought that was so important. I didn’t grow up in a home that had a lot of anger, or promotion. It was just coaching. And I loved that. And I really claimed a Terry when I would see him do that. For Kirk, I used to see Kirk manage. I admired him as a father and how he was a family man. I knew he was our CEO. I didn’t know what CEOs did. So I don’t understand that. But I did love that he was just seemed well-rounded. I was like, oh my gosh, here’s the CEO that talks about his kids and his wife and just everything about him. And I tried to take each component of that to think about. I admire this and these people. I think those are things that I can learn from. So it’s better than reading a book. You can read all this leadership stuff, which is excellent. And you can grow in that way. But I think when you can see it modeled. And so I really just try to take the best. So I could tell my kids all the time. Listen, when you’re on your own, here’s the best part. You get to take what you love about mom and Dad and you’ll repeat it. And what you don’t love about mom and Dad, you will throw away. You’ll be your own self. But that’s the same thing in leadership. You get to take what you love most about mentors. And that deep care for me that I felt from all of those leaders, deep care. That’s something that resonated with me. And that’s something that I’ve really tried to move forward in my leadership style. Just caring and genuinely wanting to understand a person’s story. Like, what is it that motivates? And don’t get me wrong, Brent. Like, it’s a business. So we’ve got business to run. But I think people are at the heart of the work that we do. And if we get to understand our people and how to best support them, they’re there to do really great work. So no one comes to work to do mediocre work. Everyone comes to work to do really great work. And so as a leader, it’s our job to best equip and best help them do their best work.
Brent – 00:18:34:
Right. Yeah. So those are fantastic words. So see Freight Nation, this is why I love being around Shelley, because she’s always so inspiring to you. You kind of leave every interaction with her feeling a little more encouraged, a little more hopeful about what’s going on. But Shelley, you deal with a wide variety. A people now, you’ve gone from entering in a job you thought was going to be paid by the hour and temporary. I should say a placeholder for where I’m really going to go. And then you end up, you know, there was a pivotal point where you said, I’m all in. This company has been dedicated to me. I’m all into this company. And you’ve had such leadership roles all along the way. And now you’re at the ultimate leader there as the president and CEO. But you have a wide, wide variety of different people that work with you at J.B. Hunt that you have to coach and teach and inspire. So what’s similar about how you approach, say, your truck driving core and your standard person that’s in the office? What’s similar about that that you work on with them? And then how do you handle those two different employees or different partners of J.B. Hunt? What’s different? How do you handle it different in the leadership vein?
Shelley – 00:19:38:
Well, I mean, I think, Brent, one way that we try to think about it, and I really think about this. We all just have a different role in the company. There’s 33,500 of us.
Brent – 00:19:48:
Goodness. You said 33,500?
Shelley – 00:19:50:
There are.
Brent – 00:19:51:
Gee.
Shelley – 00:19:51:
And you know what? Every single person is working hard every single day to do their part. And we talk a lot about this, like an individual question. How can I be excellent in the work that I do? So as I’m talking with people and really trying to motivate or encourage or coach or teach, I’m thinking about it from their lens, like what is their part to play and how can I best serve them? So is there something that I can help them with? Is there somewhere that I can help lift them up? And so I think anytime that we’re asking our people, hey, what could I do to better help you? Is there anything that you need here? It really kind of puts us together as one. So instead of whether it’s someone in the office with me or someone on the road or someone in one of our shops, it really is like I’ll never be an expert like they are.
Brent – 00:20:40:
Right.
Shelley – 00:20:40:
They are the experts. And they’re the number one in the job that they’re doing. And so when you think about it from that perspective, we need every single one of us operating at the very best that we can be for the company to be the very best it can be for our people and for our customers and for our shareholders. And so when I think about leadership, I just think about what is each person’s role. It’s really not a lot different.
Brent – 00:21:02:
Right.
Shelley – 00:21:02:
If I’m in with Drivers in a roundtable, they’re going to want to talk about different things that they have to work with.
Brent – 00:21:09:
Right.
Shelley – 00:21:09:
They have the same things that they want, that someone in the office wants or that I want. We want to be treated with respect. We want to make sure that we are full of integrity. So we’re a say-do company. We want to be innovative. We always want to have safety at the core and the forefront of how we’re thinking. We want to be really excellent. Every single person’s thinking that way. So I don’t think it’s any different talking to any one individual.
Brent – 00:21:31:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:21:32:
I think it really is just like, well, what’s their story and how can I best equip and serve them from the position that I’m in?
Brent – 00:21:38:
Yeah, for sure. I like to frame it as hope, streams, and desires. As human beings, we all have hopes. We all have dreams and we all have desires and things. And that’s what really unites all of us. All right. So I read, and I want you to tell the Freight Nation audience something very unique about J.B. Hunt and about your truck Drivers that you have there and about their safety and their consistency. You said something about your million mile Drivers. Would you mind telling the Freight Nation like why they’re important and how many of them you guys now have?
Shelley – 00:22:05:
Yeah. Well, first off, our Drivers are the heartbeat of our company.
Brent – 00:22:09:
Yeah, for sure.
Shelley – 00:22:09:
Think about the work that our drivers do. So about two thirds of our people are going to be on the road. They’re going to be our drivers. And so think about who touches our customers the most. Who is our brand representative? Who is the person that really does the work for our customers that is going to be our drivers?
Brent – 00:22:28:
Right.
Shelley – 00:22:28:
And so you think about like right now, outside of my home right now, it is snowing like crazy here in Arkansas. We’re supposed to get one of our biggest downfalls since 2011.
Brent – 00:22:38:
Oh, my.
Shelley – 00:22:41:
Somewhere between, 9 to 12 inches, which for Arkansas, it shuts us down.
Brent – 00:22:44:
That’s a lot.
Shelley – 00:22:44:
Yeah. That’s a lot for us. But you just think that’s the everyday life of being a driver, the weather and the elements that you’re in on a regular basis. So now think about, Brent, how many of us listening today have never had an accident, have never had a bump, have never had a dent, never had something.
Brent – 00:23:01:
Yeah. I’m not in that category.
Shelley – 00:23:03:
Many are not. And so if you just think about that perspective and now do that for your profession beyond the road.
Brent – 00:23:09:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:23:09:
On a regular basis. And so our million mile drivers are drivers that have completed 1 million safe miles.
Brent – 00:23:16:
Right.
Shelley – 00:23:17:
And we have 1 million mile drivers, 2 million, 3 million, 4 million. And we’ve had three 5 million mile drivers since the inception of the program. This past year, we celebrated our 5,000.
Brent – 00:23:30:
Goodness.
Shelley – 00:23:30:
1 million mile driver or 1 million to 5 million mile driver. So very excited for us. Almost paid $40 million in bonuses to our people in safety.
Brent – 00:23:39:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:23:40:
My favorite day of the year. And it’s really where our culture comes together. It’s all racked up into one is when we do our million mile celebration. So when you take 2, 3, 4, and 5 million miles, that’s my favorite thing is we get to bring in not only them, but their friends and family that they want to celebrate. And we really do put on a major celebration, but it’s the chance for our culture to come together in about a day and a half. So for people, they get the experience of seeing what we call our heroes, really getting celebrated and honored in a way that we hope does a little bit of justice to the heart with what they do. And so for us, if you ever see a million mile driver, it really is like seeing a celebrity for us. And so when they come in the office, we’ll make announcements to say, hey, here is Edwina and she’s a 3 million mile driver. Here’s Rodney and he’s a 4 million mile driver. We’ll do things like that. And you’ll see the whole place turn around like, oh my gosh, that’s one of our million mile drivers.
Brent – 00:24:37:
Yeah, I love it that you guys celebrate the driver. And not only are you celebrating them and their accomplishment, but you’re rewarding that accomplishment as well. So that’s an incredible thing. When I worked for Overdrive Magazine for the 15 years I was there, I always became good friends with our owner operator of the year. And they were always such very unique people. I’m still friends with them today. Henry Albert is one of them. A guy named Ted Chapman is another one. I think Ted retired. He called me about two years ago. He is 92 years old now. He’s not driving anymore, but I think he got to 7 million accident-free miles. So it’s just an amazing number and very unique guy. So just love him. But all right, so you have a broad enterprise at J.B. Hunt. You can’t say trucking without saying J.B. Hunt. And I’ll never forget the first day. And I remember the first day I got to come to you at the corporate headquarters a couple of years ago. I was like a little boy. I was so excited to come see J.B. Hunt and to come to the headquarters. And a lot of where, in my opinion, in my experience, where a lot of where trucking is founded because of the history and the consistency and the credibility, J.B. Hunt. So it’s such a fascinating thing. But just like every business, every industry and every business moves forward into what’s next. And so Freight Nation, I got the opportunity, when I met Shelley, I got to meet her when she was leading the charge for the entire corporate enterprise on transitioning into the sort of modern transportation age, the digital age, the automation age. And so I got to actually sit down with her and talk with her quite a bit about how she’s doing. So I would like, Shelley, for you to talk a little bit about where were you guys in the business structure that you were in? What you said, now is the time to pivot the business to what’s next. And then what were some of the strategic things that you talked about and enacted that moved J.B. Hunt, a very large company, into the modern age of transportation?
Shelley – 00:26:20:
Well, really great question, Brent. If I think about when you said banged me two years old, two-year driver, it like triggered me because I thought about our founder, Mrs. Hunt, who’s 93. And it really brought me back to our founders. And if you met Mr. Hunt back in the day.
Brent – 00:26:35:
Man, I wish I could have.
Shelley – 00:26:36:
He was an entrepreneur. He was a dreamer and a visionary. And he was constantly thinking about what if. And he would always say, is it big yet? That was his idea.
Brent – 00:26:46:
Is it big yet? Oh, look.
Shelley – 00:26:48:
And if he were here today, if I were to say, well, Mr. Hunt, is it big yet? He would say, I don’t think so. I think we’ve got a ways to go. And so,
Brent – 00:26:55:
I love it.
Shelley – 00:26:56:
Always had this idea of more and doing something that no one else had done. And it could really delight our customers in a way. And so if you think about, we just celebrated our 35th anniversary of our legendary handshake that modernized Intermodal. Now, I just want to sit here for a minute and have you think about that. Everyone thinks about Intermodal. Go back with me in 1989.
Brent – 00:27:20:
Right.
Shelley – 00:27:20:
We were a large trucker and we were fierce competitors with the railroads.
Brent – 00:27:25:
Right.
Shelley – 00:27:25:
And think about the conversation that happened between Mike Haverty and Mr. Hunt on the back of the freight train.
Brent – 00:27:31:
Right. So now tell the Freight Nation watchers who Mike Haverty is.
Shelley – 00:27:34:
So Mike Haverty was president of the Santa Fe, which then became the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, so BNSF. Right. And they had this idea that they could transform the way goods moved and you could put, you know, the best trucker and the best railroader together.
Brent – 00:27:49:
Right.
Shelley – 00:27:49:
To deliver a better product for customers. And you have to think that, you know, the way the story goes was Mr. Hudson, we got a deal.
Brent – 00:27:57:
Right.
Shelley – 00:27:58:
And stuck his hand out to shake it. And he said, well, what deal do we have? He said, I don’t know. We’re going to figure it out.
Brent – 00:28:03:
I love it.
Shelley – 00:28:04:
Mr. Hunt. And so we actually started Intermodal on a handshake.
Brent – 00:28:08:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:28:08:
On trust. And if you just think about that alone, Brent, coming back and talking to thousands of Drivers that we’re going to take long haul shipments. Remember, drivers love long haul shipments back then.
Brent – 00:28:20:
Oh, yeah.
Shelley – 00:28:20:
We’re going to take long haul shipments and we’re going to put this on the train. That was jolting for our company. So now fast forward. So we didn’t just do it then. Then we started doing it when we started our final model. Business unit. When it was like, wait a minute, why do you think that you could do that? We recognized through a conversation with a customer that there was no national provider at the time that that customer believed really had the quality they were looking for. And so that got us into the final model business. When we started in dedicated.
Brent – 00:28:50:
Right.
Shelley – 00:28:50:
And really started going after private fleets. That was new for us as well. And then when we started brokerage. So I have to back you up a bit so you can just see the transformation that happens in the company.
Brent – 00:29:00:
Yeah, absolutely.
Shelley – 00:29:01:
Started brokerage. Now, that was my first executive role in the company.
Brent – 00:29:05:
I remember.
Shelley – 00:29:06:
And that was 18 years ago. And I tell people starting a brokerage business in an asset-based company is like cussing in Sunday school.
Brent – 00:29:13:
You’re just not supposed to do it.
Shelley – 00:29:15:
You’re just not supposed to do it because that means.
Brent – 00:29:18:
Did you say like cussing in Sunday school?
Shelley – 00:29:20:
It was. And so I was in the truckload space.
Brent – 00:29:23:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:29:24:
Moving over as president to start up our brokerage business to become a billion dollars as a segment. And so we were doing a little bit of brokerage, but it was more overflow. And so we were going to turn it into a full segment. First, build bars. Now, think of that.
Brent – 00:29:37:
Right.
Shelley – 00:29:37:
We were going to our customers and we were telling them, hey, we want to take your truck load moves and we want to move as much as we can to Aramo.
Brent – 00:29:43:
Right.
Shelley – 00:29:44:
We also believe there’s a more efficient way by what doesn’t fit our trucks.
Brent – 00:29:48:
Right.
Shelley – 00:29:48:
Other trucks would happily want to take your freight. And so there’s a more efficient way in brokerage. Think of what’s happening to the truck line at this point. So we’re transforming the truck line to go from a 6,000 uniformed driver base to then something much smaller because it moved into Intermodal and moved into brokerage and into dedicated.
Brent – 00:30:10:
Right.
Shelley – 00:30:10:
So we transform that over a several year period.
Brent – 00:30:14:
Okay.
Shelley – 00:30:14:
And we hit close to a little over a billion dollars in our brokerage business. And it was at that point that we were sitting in a meeting. It was a marketing meeting. And we were talking to customers, about technology and they really wanted something more transformational. And so we had developed something with a managed logistics customer with a product we called Shipper 360.
Brent – 00:30:37:
Right.
Shelley – 00:30:37:
Now, we had not launched this brand. We hadn’t done a lot with it. But we were sitting there reviewing marketing stats. Our head of marketing was talking to us about our Shipper 360 stats and that we had 800,000 hits, which was pretty good considering we hadn’t done a lot of marketing. He said, I think what you’ll be more fascinated with, is that the fourth most trafficked reason people come to jbhunt.com is if they’re a carrier looking for a load and they’ve done that 1 million times.
Brent – 00:31:04:
I’m sure.
Shelley – 00:31:05:
Now, this was in 2015. And it was in that moment that marketing, was like, wait a minute, we have both sides of the marketplace.
Brent – 00:31:13:
Right.
Shelley – 00:31:13:
What if? We were to work on and think about transforming our brokerage business to start into something much bigger and use digital transformation to do that. So we really believed and we started with drivers. We did a white paper that was called 660 Minutes. And that white paper identified that nearly one third of all hours of a truck driver are completely wasted. And we took that information and it’s because there’s not enough exchange of information. And we started attacking that to say, okay, how could technology transform this? So you think about the problem in the industry. We have both sides of the marketplace and thus created this concept that we had that we worked on for about 18 months with our executive team. Nobody had done it. What if it didn’t work? What if truckers didn’t want to do it? You got to think it was all relationship based on the phone. We were saying we’re still going to use the phones. We’re going to flip it into palm of their hands and really give them the advantage of having a big company back behind them. And so in 2017, that’s when we launched Shibient 360.
Brent – 00:32:14:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:32:15:
And so we was, we announced, five hundred million dollars, of a commitment and technology. Again, that was revolutionary, at least for us. I think it was for the industry, too. But certainly for us, we earmarked about half of that for innovation and disruption.
Brent – 00:32:29:
Right.
Shelley – 00:32:30:
And so I would say it was interesting. J.B. Hunt Shipper 360, wildly adopted by our carriers very quickly. Shippers adopted it. But think about the types of shippers that we have. A lot of really big names.
Brent – 00:32:42:
Right.
Shelley – 00:32:42:
Inside the space. have to come from a technological perspective. But it did give them access to capacity, really reducing and finding the right truck at the right time. So that cost from that perspective. So there were things that went right. Things that went wrong. As I think about what happened in COVID, our ability to scale very quickly with technology we had already implemented. And so we were implemented with J.B. Hunt Shipper 360 and really creating that connection. We scaled. We went from, let’s say, a little over a billion to a two and a half billion dollar company, just like that, through the use of technology that powered our people. The opposite hit freight recession and then all the things that happened with cargo theft. And so we’ve really had to retool what’s happening in 360, how do we harden our system? How do we think about thieves that are trying to come in and get things that they should?
Brent – 00:33:42:
Oh yeah.
Shelley – 00:33:42:
And how do we still use our technology to create the most efficient transportation networking, North America. So that’s our vision and that means what drives us and how we think about it. But there’s been like anything, everything takes refinement to get it to where it needs to be. I would say our technology is now a foundation for the company. So when I told you in 2017, we actually launched that $500 million press release, Tell the World. Today, that’s just part of who we are. And so for us, our three company foundations are people, our technology, and our capacity. And technology really sits in the middle of that, Brent. If you think about our people, we’re going to empower our people. So people you trust, technology that empowers our people, and capacity that delivers. And so that’s a core foundation. So we’ve gone from a concept to actually developing 360 to now becoming a foundation for the company.
Brent – 00:34:24:
Yeah. So would you say that your digital foundation that you have is sort of, and I don’t want to, I’m thinking of the world like table stakes, but it’s too small. It’s like the total foundation for where you’re going to build up from there.
Shelley – 00:34:36:
For sure. If you just think about, I said it’s our foundation. And so technology is really what connects the two. So how do we empower our people? And then how do we connect the capacity into that system? So you think about we’re an asset-based fair-party logistics company. That’s a hard way to think about all that. And so how do we take all capacity and make sure that we really do deliver for our people the right, efficient, best way to ship goods?
Brent – 00:35:02:
For sure. I want you to say this again, because I love the way in which you’ve formulated it. You said J.B. Hunt wants to become, I want you to say the phrase, what is it?
Shelley – 00:35:11:
Well, our vision is to create the most efficient transportation network in North America.
Brent – 00:35:16:
There you go.
Shelley – 00:35:17:
If you think about that, it’s not just J.B. Hunt, it really is how to create a more efficient network. So things like, just think about scheduling and the consortium that we actually joined and helped spearhead and think about. But also now we’re leading on the full truckload digital freight council. And so how do we think about creating these standards that make most sense? And if you think about from quote to cash, it really is helping the industry move forward from a technology perspective. And we love to partner with people that have that same vision.
Brent – 00:35:49:
Yeah, I’ve watched J.B. Hunt be one of the leaders in bringing all of freight, this trillion dollar industry, into a more efficient execution of how the freight’s going to move, which in the end makes every player in this marketplace more profitable. It gives them more opportunity to be profitable in the marketplace. All right, so in the last few minutes, we’ve got about three or four minutes left. I want you to talk about, like, when you think about two things, number one, how do you maintain your enthusiasm every single day to show up and be the leader that J.B. Hunt needs for the marketplace? And then kind of in that enthusiasm, what sort of, you talked about a couple of things, the consortium, the scheduling things. How does J.B. Hunt elevate the market next?
Shelley – 00:36:30:
Well, it’s not hard for me to wake up every day super excited about my work.
Brent – 00:36:33:
Yeah.
Shelley – 00:36:34:
I think we could go sell anything. I love the people that I work with. I love the company. And when you believe in something so strong, you know, when I told you earlier I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I think I am. I think every day I come to work to think about, you know, I think of J.B. Hunt as my company.
Brent – 00:36:51:
Right.
Shelley – 00:36:52:
Or people think of J.B. Hunt as their company. You know, our scroll, as we call it. So our brand is made up of our people. And that gets me really excited when I think about the work we do. I think about our services and our products are outstanding. But I really do feel like the people that we do it with. That’s what gets me out. Like every morning I jump out of bed and I’m ready to go. And, you know, it doesn’t mean I don’t have a bad day. Everybody has bad days. Usually for me, it’s a bad moment, not necessarily a bad day. And if it’s a bad day, I go to bed early and then I wake up and I’m ready to go. And so, you know, life happens to all of us personally, professionally, all of those things. But I think when you love the people that you’re around, it’s easy to get up and go do great work together. And so how do we think about helping the industry move forward? We’re always open. Innovation is one of our core values.
Brent – 00:37:39:
Right.
Shelley – 00:37:39:
As we think about, okay, is this good enough for long term? You know, Mr. Hunt would say, is it big yet? You have to think about, is it big enough? Is it what it should be? And we’re not so worried about being big. We want to be really great at what we do.
Brent – 00:37:54:
Right.
Shelley – 00:37:54:
So we want our customers to say we’re the best at what we do. We want our people to say we treat them the best of anywhere to be. And we want our shareholders to say, I know the best. And so if we’re the best, we think that our customers will ask us to grow. And when we focus on being best versus how big we can be. But that was the whole thought process from Mr. Hunt. I was like, is it big yet? His point was, are you thinking about things that will make it better? And so how do we help shape the industry really is still being very open, using that same entrepreneurial mindset with that operational excellence that Mrs. Hunt drove. So how do you do both? How do you stay innovative and stay forward thinking by maintaining being really best in class, really making sure that you’re focused? And that happens at an individual level.
Brent – 00:38:39:
Wow. Well, Freight Nation, if you’re not inspired after this, I want you to check your pulse because, Shelley, thank you so much for your words, telling your story and being inspiring to others. I know that every time I walk away from a conversation with you, I feel more encouraged and inspired. And I kind of think back to how your Dad was inspiring to you and your mom was inspiring to you. And I think about my folks and how they did the same thing to me. And so how lucky we are and how lucky Freight Nation is to have the chance to hear your story and to hear what makes a great company great and always comes back to the people. And you’re such a great representative of J.B. Hunt. And I just thank you so much for taking your time to be on Freight Nation today.
Shelley – 00:39:19:
Thank you, Brent. Love to have the time with you.
Brent – 00:39:21:
Every time. Yeah. All right, Freight Nation, that’s a wrap. And thanks so much for giving us your time and your energy and your attention. I know you got a lot of places you can put it. I hope this was a benefit to you. I know this one was a benefit to you because it was a benefit to me. So Freight Nation, thanks for watching and listening along. We appreciate you here at Truckstop. And thanks and keep moving the freight really well out there. And don’t forget to work hard, to be kind, and to stay humble. We’ll catch you the next time, Freight Nation. On behalf of the Truckstop team, thanks for listening to this episode of Freight Nation. To find out more about the show, head to truckstop.com/podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you hit subscribe so you don’t miss any future episodes. Until then, keep on trucking and exploring the open roads with Freight Nation: A Trucking Podcast.
.png){kind=icon}
.png){kind=icon}
