This Editorial appears in the May 13 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today. Many people, exalted and humble, rich and poor, operating in arenas ranging from war to medicine, from politics to poetry, have offered their views on leadership — what it is, what it requires, how it works.
For some, leadership is defining values and enabling people to reach those values. For others, it is setting an example and standing aside while others follow that example.
Sometimes leaders are loud and commanding — think Gen. George Patton. Sometimes they are quiet and unassuming — think Mahatma Gandhi.
Andrew Carnegie, the dominating businessman who built the empire that became U.S. Steel Corp., then devoted much of his attention and fortune to supporting educational institutions and libraries, is just one of many prominent leaders who have reflected on what it takes to lead.
“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it,” Carnegie said.
That’s a common theme, running through the thoughts of most who have reflected on leadership: It is basically a selfless endeavor, in which those who would lead devote themselves to facilitating the accomplishments of others.
Organizations need leaders to define goals, to oversee the accomplishment of them and, perhaps most importantly, to ensure that the organization produces a steady succession of leaders.
American Trucking Associations last week launched an effort to accomplish that all-important mandate.
Dubbed LEAD ATA, for Leadership, Engagement, Advocacy and Development, the initiative will provide a few potential industry leaders each year with experiences aimed at sharpening their vision of ATA’s mission and knowledge of the tools needed to accomplish that mission.
The program seeks to identify young people who are executives at ATA member companies, reaching out to them via social media such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
ATA President Bill Graves, announcing the initiative, said the federation has “always relied on industry leaders to be our spokesmen and our examples of what trucking means to this country.
LEAD ATA will help us nurture and cultivate our next generation of leaders and ensure that the legacy those giants have left us is entrusted to sure, steady hands.”
Speaking with Transport Topics about the sort of people the program seeks, ATA Chairman Michael Card noted the trucking industry “is made up of a lot of old white-haired guys,” and he said, “We’re trying to find a diverse group of people across the industry by region, by commodity.”
