Trailer Bridge CEO Mitch Luciano Shares Secrets to Success on The Freight Pod Podcast
When Trailer Bridge CEO Mitch Luciano was visiting a friend in North Carolina in April of 1997, he applied to his first logistics job with C.H. Robinson – and was turned down. But instead of accepting rejection, he tried again.
In fact, he called back 4 days in a row before the manager, impressed by his tenacity, told him he was hired and he was expected in the office at 7 a.m. on Monday. This was on Thursday, so Mitch packed all his belongings and moved from his hometown in Buffalo, NY to Raleigh, NC in 3 days. And as Mitch says, “here we are 26 years later.”
It’s stories like this that Mitch Luciano shares on The Freight Pod podcast with hosts Andrew Silver and Paul Estrada; in Episode 6 he traces the evolution of his own career along with that of Trailer Bridge.
The conversation between the three is packed with personal stories, best practices and business ideals, and even a secret ingredient for his famous sauce.
Here is an excerpt from the podcast:
Paul Estrada:
I’ve heard you use the word love three times now. And in our time of doing this podcast, and even in my time in the professional setting, that word doesn’t come up very often unless you’re talking about sports team or something like that. So, I think it’s really important that we touch on that. So where did this concept of being very transparent and vocal, of wearing your heart on your sleeve, where did that mentality come from? And how has that benefited you as a leader?
Mitch Luciano:
I think it has benefited me immensely. Showing that to people has, I think, created my career. The concept from a tactical point came from when I read the book Radical Leap by Steve Farber. And it talks about how you can show love for people in different ways. It doesn’t have to be the touchy-feely love. It can be the I respect you for who you are, and where you’ve come from, and having a little bit of compassion for their life… And so, it really resonated here at Trailer Bridge.
You can’t give me any successful business that doesn’t have love inside of it. You can’t give me one. And I can give you several businesses that fail because they don’t care. They don’t love their employees. I mean, Paul, I imagine you love the people that worked for you. And they felt it right? And so they would work harder for you.
Paul Estrada:
I think what’s interesting is I would never use that word per se, you’re absolutely 100% Right. I care a lot about these people. We call them family. I mean, right? There is that depth of the relationship. I just wouldn’t use that word.
Andrew Silver:
It’s a scary word.
Mitch Luciano:
It is a scary word, but why? There’s 10% of the people that are way the heck over on one side and 10% of the people that are way the heck on the other side. We have 80% of our world that needs just genuine care and love. Respect people for who they are, where they are in their life right now. And if you do that, they will go so far for you.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.
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