April 2, 2025 • 46 mins
In this episode of TMSA’s On the Move, we’re joined by Robert Bain—known as The Strongest Man in Logistics—for a high-energy conversation on all things marketing, branding, and business growth. We’ll explore how a strong brand identity fuels success in logistics, how strategic marketing creates opportunities, and most importantly, how you can merge your personal passions with your professional journey to stand out in the industry.
We’ll also dive into Robert’s upcoming session at the 2025 TMSA ELEVATE Conference, "Flex Your Brand: Building a Powerful Identity in Logistics." Whether you’re looking to refine your company’s image or amplify your personal brand, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways to help you flex your branding muscles.
Check out the Transportation Sales and Marketing Association (TMSA) website or engage with us on LinkedIn.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hello everyone, Welcome to On the Move, a show
where we share transportation,sales and marketing success
stories.
I'm Jennifer Purpose Romaine,Executive Director at the
Transportation Marketing andSales Association, which is a
trade nonprofit educating andconnecting marketing and sales
professionals in transportationand logistics, and today I have
(00:39):
on the show Robert Bain, who isknown as the strongest man in
logistics Super pumped to haveyou here.
We've been doing podcaststogether for years, but this is
the first time I actually get tointerview you, so pretty
excited.
So you've had a really variedcareer in logistics.
I have.
Yes, I talk about this, but Ijust love doing these interviews
(01:01):
with my friends because I justgo deep dive into their LinkedIn
and see actually like what theydid before I met them.
So what brought you tologistics?
What kept you here?
Tell us about your career.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, so I started my professional career after
college in the restaurantbusiness service industry.
I love the service industry.
It is.
It's fun, it's exciting, it'snever dull the downside to it,
of course, until you get to likethe management level, some of
the income is a little lowerthan I prefer, especially as you
grow a family and I didn't,like you know, not having nights
(01:35):
to myself or holidays orweekends Like that's usually
times you're working is whenyou're serving people that have
more traditional working hours.
So start looking around forsomething a little more
traditional and found thisoffice job and when interviewed,
I love telling the story of howI literally fell into this.
I had no.
The only thing I knew aboutlogistics is that you moved
(01:56):
stuff and I liked the concept ofthat because I wanted a career
that was long-term, sustainable.
That was why I wanted to be inthe service industry.
My dad worked in telecom for along time and he wasn't able to
keep up as things really startedto exponentially grow and so,
knowing that I'm like I need acareer that's sustainable and
that I can really kind of getengaged with and follow, so I
(02:19):
interviewed this company and theguy who's interviewed me
actually was a guy I playedagainst in high school.
I played soccer against in highschool and played soccer in high
school and john and I did notget along at that time.
Um, I am one of those playersthat I would push everything to
the limit.
So if the rest gonna let me doit, I'm gonna do it, and even it
makes you uncomfortable, I'mstill gonna do it.
Uh, so he didn't like that andso, knowing that, uh, he had no
(02:41):
intention of hiring me, and butstill toward me around the
office to kind of just save faceand do you know what he
normally does as part of hisroutine?
And as we're walking around theoffice, I overheard this
conversation going on with oneof the account managers and
she's talking to her client.
He's on speakerphone and he'sexplaining that he's moving a
(03:03):
Mercedes McLaren SLR which, forthose who don't know, this is
the first Mercedes and McLarensupercar mashup, basically, and
McLaren's known for their racecars, their F1 vehicles, for the
supercars that they build, andthese things were retailing at
about $3.25 million and theywere in the secondary market in
the $1 a half to two and a halfmillion dollar range.
(03:25):
So I'm like, hey, make sure youhave somebody with the right
insurance for that, because I'mseeing an AMG 63 on your screen
with $183,000 MSRP.
Like that is not the vehicle.
She said no, no, no, that'swhat my client sent to me.
I'm like, well, your client issending you the wrong
information, because, well, yourclient is sending you the wrong
information, because I get itLike, the rider for that
(03:46):
coverage is going to bedifferent than the rider for you
know, an exotic vehicle.
And she looks at me and goes Ithink my client knows what he
has.
And I even said I'm like sir,do you have an SLR, mclaren or
AMG 63?
Oh, it's an SLR.
I'm like no problem.
So I walked away.
It's a 20-second conversation.
About two weeks later I get aphone call hey, you're off to
the job.
Blah, blah, blah.
(04:06):
Great, give my two weeks to myemployer and I go to work for
them.
I go to find out on my first orsecond day hey, what happened?
Was I right?
It's like being right?
And she is not there.
In fact, her desk is empty,empty.
And I asked my new boss, thisguy John.
(04:29):
I'm like hey, what happened?
He's like well, I'm going tointroduce you to somebody.
He takes me to the VicePresident of Operations Office.
I said hi, I'm Robert Bain,nice to meet you.
All John says is this is the guyI'm like.
Am I already in trouble?
I'm like my first day here.
Like, like what has happened?
And oh you're, you're themclaren guy.
So yeah, yeah, I guess, likewhat happened with this I don't
(04:52):
know, I don't know if that's agood or a bad thing that I'm the
mclaren guy.
And so they were doing apost-mortem after the uh
shipment had moved, because intransit they had moved it as the
amg and used that type ofinsurance, and in transit the
upper hydraulic moved it as theAMG and used that type of
insurance.
And in transit the upperhydraulic on the car carrier
(05:12):
failed and smashed out on top ofthe vehicle.
It was a $175,000 damage claim.
Carrier only had $150,000 ininsurance.
So for those who don't know, ifyou're an intermediary and the
(05:33):
carrier that you hire to movefreight damages the freight to
the point that it's over thevalue of their cargo policy, you
are on the hook for that Delta.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
So if someone had just even researched what.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I said because what I was told afterwards was that
when they brought him in thepostmortem, said, yeah, that guy
you know, I guess he knew whathe was talking about.
And the VP of ops says did younot at least look Well, no, like
who is he?
How does he know this?
And he's like obviously he did,because he overheard three
seconds of your conversation.
He corrected you.
You said no, it cost us $25,000.
You're fired, hire him.
(06:01):
And the company was absorbed byCRST.
They're a large carrier inCedar Rapids, Iowa, and that's
really where I learned a lotabout trucking because they're
huge, a massive, multi-billiondollar operation, and got to
kind of see all sides of thebusiness With that.
(06:23):
I then having conversationswith my family, I did not like
living in Iowa.
Iowa's a great place to livefor some people.
It's a great place to raisekids, it's safe, it's nice.
It was just too slow for me.
So we started looking atdifferent places and my wife's
best friend at the time lived inthe Chicago suburbs,
specifically in Des Plaines, andI'm like, cool, that's where
(06:44):
we're going.
And so we moved out here,helped start a couple of brokers
out here, one of which, througha series of acquisitions, got
acquired by Blue Grace Logisticsdown in Tampa.
I then moved on and I ran aprivate carrier for about five
years in Waukegan, illinois,first time really being in like
a higher level leadershipposition.
I was the GM there and Ibasically took that carrier from
(07:05):
about six vehicles, six powerunits and about you know two
dozen trailers to 50 vehicles,75 drivers, a couple hundred
trailers around the MidwestReally like a nice little
regional operation and did allthat before I had turned 32 and
then got recruited to go over toUber Freight.
I was part of their first groupof industry hires there.
(07:26):
I took them with that group outof stealth into basically go
from no one even knows Uber hasa freight brokerage to.
We're running a billion dollarannual revenue run rate in 14
months, which was insanity, likeit wasn't real life Moved on
from there and I really startedconsulting after that either
short or long term engagements.
(07:46):
I've worked for awesomeorganizations like Shipwell,
like Quad Graphics and QuadExpress, which is now Holistic,
worked for a couple of stealthstartups that you know were kind
of on the cusp of some reallycool things and kind of helped
push them along to the nextstage.
So now I work for anorganization called GLCS.
We are a managed IT andtechnology consulting firm and
(08:09):
our focus is helping ourcustomers, specifically trucking
companies and intermediarieswith their IT, with their tech
stacks, and augmenting the staffthey have so that they're able
to fully support the on-premisestaff they have, on-premise or
remote.
So everything from your TMS toyour pricing engines, your
maintenance software, whateverit may be, if it touches your
(08:30):
organization technologically, weare able to assist with that.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yes, so all around, all of the logistics.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Every operational seat you could think of.
I've probably sat in it.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, I think that's cool.
That's how I feel about myrelationship with the written
word, because I was a journalist.
I worked for pr newswire.
I've been a marketing agencylike press release versus seeing
the press release and nowworking with sales marketing
professionals in this space.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So I I think it's cool when you see things full
circle yeah connect all the dotsI think it's important because
when, when you can see it fromthe 50 000 foot view, that's
super important because beingleaders have to kind of focus on
that.
We have a lot of family in thebackground because we're my
opposites, um, but then alsolike being at a c level when
you're very much in the weeds.
It's important because thereare some things that sometimes
(09:18):
can get lost in translation.
So being able to kind of bethat sherpa back and forth with
the needs of the organization,but also the goals of the
organization and the needs ofthe individuals that are
actually going to execute, Ithink are super important for
people to be successfuloperationally as well as just
from a scaling and grossingpoint.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Absolutely, and when I was looking at your long list
of things that you've done inthe industry, I went all the way
back to actually what you wentto school for, which was
psychology, which I thought wasreally interesting, in part
because I do think thatunderstanding how people's
brains work and how theirbehavior is and why they are
that way is just fascinating ingeneral.
(09:56):
But I do think it can helpsales and marketing
professionals, and so I'm justcurious your perspective, with
that kind of training, of beingable to do that, has that helped
you with your career inlogistic, sales and management?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I mean, basically I just hypnotize people, they do
what I say, so it's reallyreally nice, it's super easy.
So it actually doesn't allow meto do it on LinkedIn, but I had
two majors.
I was psychology, elementary edand so it was also what I
wanted to do initially when Iwas in school.
I mean, really, I went tocollege to play soccer party and
find somebody to marry, did allthree.
It was great, you know.
(10:29):
So that was fine.
But like from a professionalperspective, like I really
wanted to work in the schools asa psychologist or as a social
worker, somebody that was, youknow, helping kids on some level
that either were not gettingthe attention they needed in a
positive way Kids need somedirection or like I don't like
the term role model, but if Ican like, show kids like, hey,
(10:50):
you can screw up a lot of stuffin your life and still come out
okay on the other end, that'sreally very much what I wanted
to do and that plays into a lotof the other things I've done in
my life too.
But then you look at the twomajors and what I, you know,
kind of learned there isunderstanding that there's some
base level things that work foreverything.
From an education perspective,how curriculum is developed for
(11:10):
the kindergartner is not toodifferent than how it's
developed for the 401 in college.
It may be more advanced on thesubject matter, but the actual
curriculum development is very,very similar.
And so, knowing that from aleadership perspective, I know
somebody is an X, I need them atY, I can develop curriculum to
get them there, but they have tostill execute on that
curriculum.
And so then psychology comes inand say all right, ultimately,
(11:33):
in leaders, if you hear this,this is what is most important
for any C-level.
You're giving them the bestcomp plan, the most simple
technology that's going to maketheir life easier.
What they want to know iswhat's in it.
For me, yes.
Why does it matter to me?
If it doesn't matter to me, Ilisten, you can give me all the
different reasons of like, oh,the organization do great things
, we're going to scale it.
I don't care if I don'tunderstand what's in it for me,
(11:56):
because I any person that'slistening to this you have all
these things going on.
You've got kids, you've gotsports, you've got your spouse,
you've got your family, you'vegot the world.
All these things going on.
Why do I care?
And this middle manager may noteven be my direct boss saying,
hey, we need to change thisprocess because X, I don't care.
So the psychology of it comesback to what's in it for me.
(12:17):
Cool, if I can show you here'show to do it, here's why you're
doing it, here's why it benefitsyou, all these things that play
into change management and howI'm able to progress.
The organization.
That is what has served metremendously in understanding
both the leadership anddirectional part, but also just
dealing with people.
So, ultimately, like we'rehuman, we're human beings, and
(12:39):
to treat people like anythingother than that is one terrible.
So it's super important to beable to do that for folks and
give them all these things.
And so then, once youunderstand that they're human
beings, you can then sort ofserve them at that human level.
And again it goes back to what'sin it for me.
In some cases what's in it forme is I just need another human
(13:00):
to hear me and I need to be seen.
So that's helped.
And, to be fair, that's notalways natural for me, cause a
lot of times, like I am verymuch, I'm very independent, I'm
very much like I keep to myselfit doesn't affect me, I don't
care.
So that was and it has been.
So I have to continuously workon it.
It's still something I work on,because I don't always see the
world that way.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I think it's that you're like people are human,
and because it's so often that Imean I'm not, but the rest of
you are.
Yes, robot Bane, but I thinkthat that's really important.
It's a piece we forget aboutand, just like everyone is wired
a little bit differently andfor multitudes of reasons just
(13:41):
as who they are, how they grewup, what they did, and, yes,
they want to be able tounderstand their, their piece of
it.
And if you are making processimprovements and you are making
changes, they need to know howthat, what, how does that change
affect them and how does itaffect the business?
And what is their piece of it?
Is their role changing?
Or just like how you're doingsomething?
(14:02):
Are they taking on moreresponsibilities?
Or like, if you are havingshifts in employees, what does
that look like?
And I feel like actually I wasjust talking about this not that
long ago but like a merger andacquisition.
It's a huge thing.
It happens all the time.
I think everybody has lived ahorror story through it.
I feel we always talk about itlike, oh, this is the efficiency
it's going to have on thecompany, but we don't sit and
(14:23):
talk about how it affects ourpeople and just listen like, hey
, there's, this is happening,but you're still going to have a
job tomorrow and this is whatthe job's going to be.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
That is forgotten I mean, I can tell you that that's
something that we talk about,uh, within our organization.
Actually, I'm very, verypassionate about is so their
organization is designedspecifically around mergers and
acquisitions, and they're greatat mergers and acquisitions.
They are awesome at that.
What they suck at isassimilation and transition
(14:56):
those two things.
M&a is great, uh, but yeah, therest of it, no, they don't do
so.
The tna, they're not so hot on.
So that's an issue, and that issomething that uh, folks have
to really focus on is, yes,we're gonna use, uh, all these
different efficiencies.
Where do they come from?
What?
How does it impact the people?
To your point, is my roleimpacted if you bring in like
(15:17):
two logistics organizations, two, two brokerages, you're do you
need two vice presidents ofsales.
I don't know, Do you need twopresidents?
I don't know.
Do you need you have 10 accountmanagers on each side?
Do you need 20?
If you share customers, whogets who?
All these things you need tothink, and these are things that
are on a base level or talkedabout, but also you need to look
(15:39):
at do these people fit into thenew culture we're building?
And if they don't, how do youhelp them?
And if they do, but they're notwhere they need to be, because
if you're looking at differentroles and again, you may only
need 12 account managers in thisnew case, or 15 carrier sales
reps or three finance folks, butyou've got seven on the roster
(16:01):
well, where else do we go?
How do we do that?
So thinking about that, andreally that that is where change
management starts, is likeassuring people that, whatever
the outcome is, they're okay.
Because what are we afraid of?
We're afraid of losingeverything.
We're afraid, like I have myhouse, I have my car.
I've always been like, and I'vemade this assumption I'm going
to be in this organization untileither I retire or I'm ready to
(16:22):
stop.
That's and when people get thatsudden change, that's where you
get the pushback Like, oh,it'll never work.
It'll never work becausethey're afraid, like I'm going
to lose my role or machines andtake my job, whatever the case
may be.
So that and that leadershipcommunication again back to the
psychology piece we justmentioned that's so huge is
understanding where they sit aspeople, how you communicate that
(16:44):
to them and, honestly, how Isay it and how you say it, even
though we're saying the samething may hit them very
differently.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Yeah, I think it's.
Just a little bit of empathycan go a long way, and also
acknowledging that you are alsohuman and not perfect and you're
not always going to have theperfect messaging, but creating
(17:11):
a space where people can saythat and feel comfortable asking
questions.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, and listen, if you create the space in the
organization that a challenge tochange is not a death sentence,
when a mistake is not a deathsentence, when anything other
than perfect performance is nota death sentence, this
strengthens your culture morethan you can know Certainly.
You want good performance, youwant people that are strong, you
want people to not necessarilydo what they're told, but you
want them to follow kind of theguidelines.
But people asking the questionnine times out of a hundred, it
(17:39):
is not malicious in intent.
It's like hey, just like,either A help me understand or
is this truly the best way?
And listen, leaders.
This is one of the soundbiteshere you don't always know what
is best.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
So what I love about this conversation is I feel like
it shows a mental strongness toyou that maybe you don't talk
about as much, because everyonejust knows you as the strongest
man in logistics by your brutestrength, which is definitely a
big piece of it.
I'm really curious.
So, like you are that is yourlike moniker, that's who you are
now but like when did thathappen and when?
(18:16):
When are you like yes, that'sfor sure, Something I'm going to
run with, and just not like belike, oh yeah, I'm super strong.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
So, so I think it's important to give context on
what led me to kind of where Isit now within the strength
community and then how Iassimilate it all together,
because that plays into a coupleof things we're going to talk
about today.
So I got obsessed with strengthand being strong, traveling
around doing baseball card andmemorabilia shows with my dad
(18:44):
and late night we would sit upeating popeyes, watching, uh,
world's strongest man in schoolwrestling and I just found this
stuff fascinating.
I thought it was so cool.
Like guys you can pick up big,heavy rocks or you know 400
pound men that move.
Like guys that are 120 pounds,like I just I love this.
Like these are, even though youmight look at something, oh,
that's not an athlete.
No, they, they're athletes, letme tell you.
But then I talk to my dad aboutit.
(19:07):
I'm like I'd love to dosomething like this.
He's like, yeah, but theproblem is you're probably going
to end up being like 5'10 atthe tallest.
And the shortest guy that wewere watching was 6'3".
Strongman, specifically thattype of competing Typically the
elite guys.
They're large in everydirection.
You've got Hathor Bjornsson.
A lot of people know him as theMountain from Game of Thrones,
thor at his biggest.
He's 6'8".
(19:27):
He's 460 pounds.
That is a large human being.
Even when he cut down to do hisboxing match with Eddie Hall,
he cut down to 310.
He dropped 150 pounds and gotshredded at 6'8".
All that being said, I'm likeokay, like no problem.
I continued to play soccer.
(19:47):
I started lifting weights incollege and got pretty big by
the time I, when I graduatedhigh school, I was 155 pounds.
When I graduated college, I was225.
And for the most part, therewas very minimal fluffiness in
there.
Like, I hit the weight room, Ihad a lot of stuff going for me.
I, there was very minimalfluffiness in there.
I hit the weight room, I had alot of stuff going for me.
I was young, testosterone wasreally high, unlimited meal plan
, all those things helped me alot and I continued lifting
(20:09):
weights and then I find thiswhole powerlifting thing get
into it really like it.
But it's always this extrathing about me Like, oh yeah, I
lift weights.
You see it pretty quick If youever meet me in person, um, I
fill out a shirt pretty well, um, and so it came to 2020 and I
(20:30):
had started helping out and kindof give back to the sport,
because sports given me a lotlike.
I've traveled all over the worldfor this game.
I've coached my children um.
One of the coolest moments ofmy life is representing the
united states at a awpc worldswith my daughter in 2019, then
Orlando whole family went downthere, watched Lily and I
compete.
Um, super cool and and a uniqueexperience.
(20:52):
Like how many parents get to dothat with their kids represent
your country at at the same timeLike it's.
It's really cool.
So I wanted to start giving itback.
So I started helping out umspotting and loading and being
the safety crew at meets, andpart of that was I would start
to get the crowd involved if thecrowd was not about
(21:14):
powerlifting.
For those who've never been toa meet is the most boring thing
in the world.
You're literally watching yourfriends work out with their
friends.
It's not fun.
It's neat to see big numbersDon't get me wrong but it's like
what do they do?
They walk up, get under the bar,down and up, put it back.
Next person up, get under thebar, down and up.
It's boring.
And then you get to bench presslay under the bar, down and up,
put it back, lay under the bar,down and up.
(21:36):
Deadlift is different up and godown.
It's super simple.
So, but if I can get the crowdinvolved in it, because a lot of
the crowds don't have anycontext like, oh, here's a large
man, his name is Barzin and helooks Persian because he is, and
he's 360 pounds oh, by the way,he's got a thousand pounds over
his face Maybe we get excitedfor this.
(21:57):
So start doing that, and I'mreally excited about it.
It's super fun.
I ended up getting anopportunity to be on ESPN, you
know, when the WPO, the WorldPowerful Organization finals,
was on that, and then we come to2020.
And I give it that buildup,because then we go to 2020 and
the world shuts down, right, thewhole world ends.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
And.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
April 29th of 2020, I'm in my garage training,
because straight never stops andI'm deadlifting.
I'm deadlifting against bands.
I've got 425-ish pounds on thebar.
I've got monster minis on therewhich add roughly 100-plus
pounds per side, so it's like600, almost 700 pounds.
(22:42):
At the very top of the movementand at the very top of that
deadlift, I think I'm pulling myhips through, but while I am,
I'm also pulling my arm up and Ihave a mixed grip like this and
I rupture the distal tendon inmy arm.
So there's two tendons thatconnect you, the bicep here to
the forearm.
Uh, there's your uh biceptendon, your distal tendon, and
so the distal tendon rupturescompletely off the bone and
(23:04):
comes away.
So I have now blown my armapart and the world is ending
and I don't know what to do.
So I go through the process, Iget diagnosed Yep, that's it.
And thankfully they hadreopened elective surgeries
because it was weird, because itwasn't a life-threatening
injury.
But if you don't operate onthis tendon within a couple of
(23:31):
weeks it will start to die.
So get in, doc.
Heals me up or patches me up,great, fill the cast on.
That's a whole other story aboutme coming to after that surgery
.
But and I'm sitting in mygarage one night and I am just
depressed, I am upset, I, I, Iam drinking very heavily, like
things are like, things are very, very bleak in my mind because
I can't go anywhere, I can't doanything, I'm stuck in my house.
I love my family but again, I'mstuck in my house.
There are times when I'm afraidto go outside because I
(23:56):
literally see cops driving upand down the street because
you're not supposed to beoutdoors Wild.
And later on that week I end uptalking to Trey Griggs.
This is actually when we weregetting ready to start Word on
the Street.
He was kind of kicking the ideaaround about doing this online
luncheon with everybody, andthat's what eventually turned
into Word on the Street.
And he's going to say hey, howyou doing man with all this and
(24:17):
I let it all out and I think atone point I was crying on the
phone.
It was rough and I didn't havea lot of people to talk to about
it and Trey being the greatfriend that he is and he I don't
think at that moment he had anyclue that what he was about to
do, no, none of us did.
And he said listen, man, you're, you're the strongest guy I
know and you're probably thestrongest man in logistics.
(24:39):
You're gonna get through this.
And that.
That sat with me for over ayear actually.
And as I thought about, like Ido, I, I am the strongest man in
logistics like nobody does whatI do.
And I'm like you know what?
Linkedin's fun social media.
I don't do a ton on it, but Igot a decent following.
(25:00):
I had a few hundred connections, like a thousand followers or
something.
I'm like, ah, screw it.
And I just threw it on my titleand I started getting all this
react.
People were making fun of meand so finally, I came out one
(25:21):
day and I, uh, violet agrees.
And I said is anybody else thatcan squat 700, bench four, pull
750.
I will hand my title over, noproblem and they shut a lot of
people up.
Cool, I continue spotting anddoing these events uh, a staff
while I was still competing too,which was very, very difficult.
By the way, my body did notlike that, but I got very, very
(25:41):
confident.
I learned how to work withcrowds and kind of identify the
people that were going to help,you know, get the crowd up and
moving, and I was able to createan experience for lifters and
for athletes that from what.
I've been told I get thisbragging on myself a little bit,
I don't always like to do that,but, um, that that is
exceptional, that is, that isunique and that, uh, people
(26:01):
really wanted to to engage in.
And so the the gym that I washelping a lot of, at a lot of
meets almost every other weekend, people would intentionally
sign up for meets.
If they knew I was going to bespotted, they would sign up for
me so they knew I was going tobe on the mic and so.
So it was cool and I gainedthis confidence and I I then
kind of transferred that to myprofessional life where, like, I
can say this stuff in front ofa crowd of 500 people.
(26:23):
Why can't I say it on a webinar?
Why can't I say it on a podcast?
And obviously, like youmentioned, like we've been on
many podcasts together and Ihave no problem speaking my mind
sure don't and.
But I also learned how to tellstories through that, being able
to tell a story that weavesthrough every competitor but
also overnight attempts for thesame competitor, because I, I,
(26:43):
you know even though, yeah, I'mgetting to know you over the
course of you know, 60 secondsfrom when you're called, bars
loaded until you complete yourlift, like that's cool and that
allowed to get allowed for a lotof confidence in how to tell
stories and how to piece thesethings together.
And then do the post-mortem.
People ask was like, hey, greatjob, and you did this.
That no different than when I'mdoing meetings, when I'm doing
(27:06):
networking events.
So, hey, I can piece thesethings together from all the
different things.
Oh you, great example this Iwas at manifest and I met
somebody from a, uh, from uberfreight and they are working on
this, really, really unique uh,or from uber technically, uh,
like home delivery service,essentially for like, um, small
packages into like appliance,like all types of different
(27:27):
stuff.
And one of the issues they haveis like how do we set up, you
know, for, uh, somebody has noinfrastructure whatsoever.
How do we set this up for them?
Like, I need to introduce youto Matt over at PopCapacity
They've got warehousing, likeAirbnb for warehouses.
I'm just like, what a greatmatch for this.
You guys can basically go tosomebody and say, hey, we can
get you warehousing in your area, we can have the delivery set
(27:47):
up and you can be in Sacramento,in Atlanta, georgia.
But piecing those kinds ofthings together, it's like, well
, start doing that and thenstart putting my networks
together and never being afraidIf it doesn't work, it doesn't
work.
No one holds me accountable.
I'm not a bad person for saying, hey, make new friends.
It's what helped break downthose barriers, the mental
(28:11):
barriers of like, oh man, whatif something doesn't go perfect?
Well, what if it does?
Oh my God, what if somethingdoesn't go perfect?
Well, what if it does?
Oh my God?
Like what if things do go right?
And so that's.
That's a very long winded wayof saying like Strongest man.
Logistics went from just I liftheavy circles to it built this
confidence in me that I I don'tphysically fear anything, but
(28:31):
like I'll go into the boardrooms.
I carry myself uniquely, I havea very unique look and I don't,
you know, non-traditional saleslike most, just don't have this
laying around.
You know, um, and I'm cool withthat and and I can be me, and
we've talked about this.
Jenna, what I kind of developedmentally and I've told me about
this is you get the same,robert Bain, whether I'm at home
(28:54):
, I'm at a powerlifting.
Whether I'm at home I'm at apowerlifting meet, I'm at the
bar, I'm, you know, at aconference, whatever.
It's just the volumes turn at adifferent level.
That's it, and that's that'sreal.
If I had to kind of synthesizeit all together, it's like
powerlifting gave me a volumeknob and taught me how to use it
.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
I think it's a really interesting story and part of
the pieces is because I feellike we have our passion
projects, but they tend to livereally far away from our
professional lives and you havefound a way to kind of embrace
both of those things and bringthem together and it's only like
your passion project has only,like, amplified who you are as a
(29:39):
professional, instead of beinglike this weird thing you do on
the side that you never talkabout in your professional life,
which I think is really cool.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
And it's important because that people see that
level of passion.
But they also see it when I'mworking in a professional
setting too.
Not just about powerlifting,but about like logistics,
technology, people processoperations too.
Not just about powerlifting,but about like logistics,
technology, people processoperations.
And when they see that, I'lltell you it, because typically
they see the passion for sportand physical culture first, and
when they see it translate to aprofessional side, it's like oh,
I can, I can do this too.
I too could be excited aboutstuff, I too could be excited
(30:08):
about leading, and that's okayand so it's it's it's not a
better way to say.
It's like the four minute milesyndrome, like once it's been
done, like anybody can do it.
I can do this and then.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
So I like, because, like we, we kind of started
talking about the, the mentalfortitude of your strength and
the like psychology pieces andall that, but like one of the
pieces like I want to talk aboutis she's so adorable, um, but
you have like.
So you have this strong manpersona, you live this strong
man life.
But part of that is like howhard you support strong women.
(30:46):
And I wanted to call this outbecause I feel like, as a woman
and a female in the industry,like there's a lot of men who
are like, oh yeah, I supportwomen, but like not really or
not all the way.
And I you talked a little bitabout how you have spotted for
the past six years and you'vebeen staff and all that, but
part of that has been with yourdaughter and without her but at
(31:09):
women's events to support verystrong women, and so I want to
talk about that and what thatmeans to you and how you've been
.
I know you're kind of likeclosing the door on that to
protect your own body, but likewhat has that meant to you and
why do you do that?
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Yeah, and I also want to add a little bit to that.
So, like I, I I do love tosupport strong women.
I'm not perfect at it.
You know there are still somethings I got to work on.
I'm I'm just a crotchety oldman, so it's tough sometimes
when I hear and see certainthings and there's a lot of
stuff I've got to work on.
I was already very clear aboutthat, that I'm by no means
perfect, but I do love my strongladies.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Well, before I'm going to cut you off, I agree,
no one is perfect, but I can sayfrom a personal experience.
We have different opinions.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
We've talked a lot about this off the record, but
you still listen and can respectpeople yeah, so so let's talk
about the women's program, um,and I will do my best to not get
emotional as I talk about this,because it is an event that's
been very, very near and dear tomy heart.
Uh, the lady who you knowstarted it, has run it and uh
(32:09):
does get help from her, herstaff.
But laura phelps, realisticallythe best power lifter of all
time.
She's incredible Dozens ofall-time world records, has
coached dozens of all-time worldrecords, different ladies
across the board.
She very much is the type thathas opened the door and then
held it open for others to comethrough, and that's what I think
is so important about her andthis event.
(32:31):
As I got to know Laura and sheknew my skill set on the
platform, I said, hey, if youever want me there for the
program, I'll come through, andso sure, we love you.
And when I got there for myfirst one, it was like, oh, are
you just gonna like help out?
I'm like, well, if you guyswill have me, I'll backspot
everybody and they said, sure,yeah, and so in in that um, I
(32:56):
was able to meet all theseincredible, strong women and
really start to understand theirstories and start to understand
different things about theplight of these strong women.
I'm like, hey, you don't looklike everybody else and people
say things and people do thingsand it expanded my mindset, it
expanded my understanding of thehuman experience.
(33:16):
It expanded my mindset, it'sbeen in my understanding of the
human experience, and so then,when I realized that this event
was so much more than justlifting heavy circles, it was
like it is just the ladies, it'sall for them.
It is not about us, it is notabout any of the staff per se,
it is all.
And so, once again, if I cancreate that special moment for
each and every one of them,whether it was my girl, soraya,
who is 14, did her second pro-amjust recently who, this girl
(33:37):
steals the show every time, allthe personality Picture, conor
McGregor, just 15 years old andwith a singlet, that's her.
Like she'll, she'll walkthrough, do the walk and she's
just.
She's all this personality.
To people like Leah Reichman,who she, she broke a 21 year old
record the all time biggesttotal by a woman, first woman
(33:58):
ever squat 900 pounds as thelargest woman squat of all time
954.
Like, these women do incrediblethings.
That like, when you really thinkabout it, it's so outside the
norm of thinking that all I wantto do is say, hey, what like?
What else can we done?
What else can we do?
And and then it's also thewhole concept of right I'm doing
things that should scare me.
How do I just give you theconfidence?
(34:20):
The only thing you got to do isjust under the stupid bar, go
down and up, and so that'ssomething I say, something I do,
and every single one of them Iwanted to make sure I gave the
same enthusiasm, from first oneto the last deadlift, whether
it's somebody who I would nevereven look at, otherwise do it's
my own child, y'all have thesame experience.
(34:40):
So, um, and then it was makingsure they all got their props.
It's like, hey, like you knowyou, this is the age of social
media, your comments, you'reengaging with all that.
You tell them that they did agood job, did all, and so, being
a part of that, and then makesure to follow all that.
You do it throughout the year,like, hey, what's the next,
what's the next one?
And then, with laura, and it'salways telling her like, listen,
(35:00):
like you have me, and also,what I'm doing is I am here to
serve.
That is that is why I'm here,and I said this, um, I said this
when I hung up the elbowsleeves.
It has been one of my greatesthonors to serve those ladies,
(35:21):
because people like my daughters, people like yourself who have
never been in this family You'veheard about these people for
years and little girls.
There was a young lady there.
She was eight years old,running around getting pictures
with all the the ladies becauseshe'd heard about the pro-am
three years ago.
I'd never gotten to go.
She finally got to do a reverseone.
You are setting up the nextgeneration of powerful, strong,
(35:45):
insane women the best kind ofinsane and we want that and we
love that, and so that's alwayscame back to us.
My daughters will see stufflike this, and then now my
daughters will see stuff likethis, and now my granddaughter
will see stuff like this.
I want them to understand whatit's like to my boys, to
understand what it's like tosupport women.
And again, I'm not perfect.
I still have a lot of work todo on that.
(36:06):
There's certain stuff that Isee that I lose my mind on, but
again, it's it's.
It's all.
I wanted to create thatexperience with them and I
wanted to make sure these ladiesknew that they are so special
and they are incredible.
And if any of you all see this,again, it has been my honor to
serve you.
And yeah, saturday I did hangup the elbow sleeves and
(36:27):
received one of the mostbeautiful tributes I could have
ever asked for, because I didn'task for it.
I didn't need it Again.
I was there to serve.
Laura took time at the end ofthe meet, um, and put the
spotlight on me, which shedidn't need to, and it was, um.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
It was incredibly humbling well, I think it's an
amazing story, an amazingjourney, and I do think that I
love that for you, that she gavethat space like no, it's not
about you.
You're there to serve and tosupport others.
But you also showed up andsupported in a really real and
authentic way, which isn'tsomething that everyone gets all
(37:01):
the time, so you can feather inyour cap yeah, yeah, I need it
because I'm over here.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
um, what was really nice is that the amount of
messages I I've received frompeople as it's gotten kind of
out and into the ether, but thatthere were lifts that they got,
that I would not have gottenthat lift if you had not been
back there.
I would not have gotten thatlift if you were not there to
keep me safe.
I would not have had theconfidence.
And my favorite one was like Iwould not even have the audacity
(37:29):
to get under that bar unlessyou were there and that listen,
I've done a lot of crazy stuffin my life.
There's not a lot better highsthan that.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Well, I think it's beautiful and I'm so happy that
I think it was a good time, likeI knew that these were all
questions I wanted to ask andthen, when I saw that, like this
, this journey was coming to end, I'm like, well, what a perfect
time and I'm sure you're stillgoing to be there to support and
show up in a different way.
It's not like you're justabandoning the community because
you have to protect yourselftoo.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Yeah, absolutely and yeah you're right, the whole
thing.
I think it's important to notethat it is focused on my
training.
My time as a high level lifter,as an elite lifter, is very,
very small.
My window is very short and Ijust turned 43.
So I realistically have liketwo to at most five years left.
So, knowing that like I need tokind of focus on my own
training.
But no, I mean, saturday wasthe last day spotting Sunday I
(38:21):
was back at the venue, I was onthe mic all day and seen,
because I still had the gift ofgab.
I like to yap, obviously, aswe're going through this.
So, yeah, I very much continueto support it and even if it's
just me showing up there andmake sure I pay my 10 bucks a
day and clap for the ladies, Iwill do that until Laura's done
(38:43):
with it and that was the wholeconversation after the meet on
what that looks like.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Well, you do have the gift of gab, for sure, and I am
taking advantage of this byhaving you come to TMSA.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Hey, which I'm so excited.
So you are speaking on flex,your brand, building a powerful
identity in logistics, whichwe've obviously talked about and
highlighted bits and pieceshere.
This I was also at Manifest,and this came out of one of our
many chats that we had.
But what can people expect fromyour session if they are going
to watch you?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
My shirt more likely will stay on.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Perfect.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yes, is it more likely?
I didn't say for sure, I saidmore likely, you know, you know.
So you know I will talk alittle about the beginnings and
kind of what, like how theconcept came about and then what
I kind of did, you know, movingforward.
You know, I'll talk a littlebit about what it meant, like
(39:40):
the whole, like why I say it andI don't feel like what, what a
strong brand is going to be.
You know it's going to besomething that is is
complimentary, is catchy, isexciting for people and
something like ultimately, likewhy do people want to keep
following?
Like why, why do they care?
Like certainly there's going tobe enough when it comes to the
operational expertise,technology expertise.
But what is it?
Is it stuff about my life?
Is it stuff about my lifting?
(40:01):
How do you fully engage peopleand humanize people that you've
never met before?
I'll tell you.
People will come up to me andsay, listen, I've never met you,
but I feel like I know you verywell and I think that tells me
that the branding is working.
So we talk a lot about that andkind of how I do it and um, and
(40:24):
honestly, how I I made a postabout finding your voice and how
I learned for my voice to comethrough type and through the,
the written word um, and make itsound like I'm talking to you
I'm really excited about it andI know we talked about how you
build the brand and that's whoyou are, but it does, and you
talked about it makingconnections, making business.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
all that's all a piece of it too, and so I feel
like too often when we talkabout brands, sometimes people
think it's just like justmarketing.
But it does equate to sales andbusiness, which is actually I'm
putting you like I told youright after a keynote speaker
who is talking about the powerof not just storytelling but
story selling, because you haveto tell the right story at the
right time to the right peoplein the right place, or you're
(41:06):
just talking.
So I'm really excited aboutthat and I think it's going to
be really great, super excitedto have you on on stage and this
is also the first time I'vegotten you to then come to a
tmsa event.
Um, you know I've asked everyyear since I've had you.
But besides taking the stageand sharing a bit about your
journey, what are you lookingforward to being able to come to
(41:28):
tmsa?
Speaker 2 (41:30):
uh, honestly, it's to see the environment you've
created.
Like.
I've heard so many amazingthings, amazing things about
what the organization's beendoing.
I think it's unique that it isan organization that's, you know
, 100 years old and I thinkthat's so important that when
you have that much history, likethere's so much that can be
gleaned from that, from theorganization, from the archives.
(41:50):
So I'm really excited to learnmore about the organization, see
the culture, the vibe and whatyou know obviously you've helped
foster in your time as thechairman, but also, like what
was laid, the foundation laidbefore that.
So you know, the networking isalways huge.
Austin's nice.
I do like Austin.
Though I will say part of mewishes it was going to be in
Savannah again, only because,for those who don't know, I have
(42:15):
a doppelganger, apparently, andthat is the umpire of the
Savannah bananas.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Oh, I saw him.
The amount of people that sendme his videos.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
So I actually reached out to him and say, dude, like
I love, I love the energy, it'sawesome.
You'll probably never see this,I kid you not.
He messaged me back in likefive minutes.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
They are great, but everyone um, I so, yes, in 2023.
We were at in Savannah, we hadthis, you know, we got to go to
Savannah's banana game.
I got to throw out the firstbanana.
So to, you know it, and it wasone of those where I just like
I'm gonna just keep asking andand just keep saying yes and so,
because I was even like OK, youguys are going to come speak,
(43:00):
can we have the banana?
Come to conference, like atwhat point are you going to just
tell me now we can have thebanana?
Speaker 2 (43:07):
That is sales 101.
Keep asking until I say no.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Yeah, so that's what I just kind of like.
We put it in the contract toverify to make sure that happens
and but yeah, I, it's beenreally cool to watch.
I feel like I remember being inOrlando in 2022 and announcing
we were going to Savannah andeveryone that day just kept
whispering Savannah bananas atme.
(43:30):
I'm like I don't know what thatis, and from watching it, from
that moment to watching wherethey have catapulted over the
past you know, four years hasbeen an amazing thing.
It made us look phenomenallycool to have them.
So I was excited.
But yeah, we're in Austin,texas, this year, but we will
(43:51):
have our own fun, surprises andthings occurring there, and so
I'm excited about that, excitedto have you as a part of the
show and to um bring you intotms so you can see we're excited
for it.
I can't, I cannot wait so thattakes us to my very last
question that I ask everybodywho comes on the show, and that
is if you could go back in timeand advise a younger robert
(44:12):
anything, and that could bepersonally or professionally
when would you go back to andwhat would you tell him?
Speaker 2 (44:18):
so I would go back to 18 year old Robert and I tell
them a couple things.
One, dad's a lot smarter thanyou realize.
And then two, you are theauthor of your story.
Make Make sure you don't let goof the pen.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
I love that.
We're going to put that on aclip and post it everywhere.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
I think I was very, very guilty of this early in my
life.
Honestly, until probably thelast 10 years, I was still
guilty of it.
I allowed way too many peopleto hold that pen and since I
took control of it andespecially you, you know, lately
taking control of it even more,it's been all for the best.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
I love that.
I'm going to sit in that for aminute myself, but such good
advice for everyone.
I love asking that questionbecause it goes so many places,
but I also feel like acommonality is either trust
yourself more, love yourself,sleep, take care of yourself.
(45:27):
That is the commonality of somany of those answers and I just
hope that people who watch theshow in a younger version think
about that as they're enteringtheir careers, like, yes, you
can go hard, but you also haveto take care of yourself and the
longevity of your life and thework-life balance is really
important.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Great Well, thank you so much for coming on the show.
Thank you for coming.
Yes, thank you for having me and, if you want to catch us next
week, I will be interviewingMariana Veith with WSI and we'll
be talking all kinds of stuffabout.
She's got a lot going on.
I'm really excited to talkabout it and about the
importance of being in industryassociations and joining them
(46:11):
and actually contributing towhat they do and how it helps
you with your professionalgrowth.
So check us out here next week,on on the move and until next
time, I'll see you later.
Bye.
Hello everyone, Welcome to On the Move, a show
where we share transportation,sales and marketing success
stories.
I'm Jennifer Purpose Romaine,Executive Director at the
Transportation Marketing andSales Association, which is a
trade nonprofit educating andconnecting marketing and sales
professionals in transportationand logistics, and today I have
(00:39):
on the show Robert Bain, who isknown as the strongest man in
logistics Super pumped to haveyou here.
We've been doing podcaststogether for years, but this is
the first time I actually get tointerview you, so pretty
excited.
So you've had a really variedcareer in logistics.
I have.
Yes, I talk about this, but Ijust love doing these interviews
(01:01):
with my friends because I justgo deep dive into their LinkedIn
and see actually like what theydid before I met them.
So what brought you tologistics?
What kept you here?
Tell us about your career.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, so I started my professional career after
college in the restaurantbusiness service industry.
I love the service industry.
It is.
It's fun, it's exciting, it'snever dull the downside to it,
of course, until you get to likethe management level, some of
the income is a little lowerthan I prefer, especially as you
grow a family and I didn't,like you know, not having nights
(01:35):
to myself or holidays orweekends Like that's usually
times you're working is whenyou're serving people that have
more traditional working hours.
So start looking around forsomething a little more
traditional and found thisoffice job and when interviewed,
I love telling the story of howI literally fell into this.
I had no.
The only thing I knew aboutlogistics is that you moved
(01:56):
stuff and I liked the concept ofthat because I wanted a career
that was long-term, sustainable.
That was why I wanted to be inthe service industry.
My dad worked in telecom for along time and he wasn't able to
keep up as things really startedto exponentially grow and so,
knowing that I'm like I need acareer that's sustainable and
that I can really kind of getengaged with and follow, so I
(02:19):
interviewed this company and theguy who's interviewed me
actually was a guy I playedagainst in high school.
I played soccer against in highschool and played soccer in high
school and john and I did notget along at that time.
Um, I am one of those playersthat I would push everything to
the limit.
So if the rest gonna let me doit, I'm gonna do it, and even it
makes you uncomfortable, I'mstill gonna do it.
Uh, so he didn't like that andso, knowing that, uh, he had no
(02:41):
intention of hiring me, and butstill toward me around the
office to kind of just save faceand do you know what he
normally does as part of hisroutine?
And as we're walking around theoffice, I overheard this
conversation going on with oneof the account managers and
she's talking to her client.
He's on speakerphone and he'sexplaining that he's moving a
(03:03):
Mercedes McLaren SLR which, forthose who don't know, this is
the first Mercedes and McLarensupercar mashup, basically, and
McLaren's known for their racecars, their F1 vehicles, for the
supercars that they build, andthese things were retailing at
about $3.25 million and theywere in the secondary market in
the $1 a half to two and a halfmillion dollar range.
(03:25):
So I'm like, hey, make sure youhave somebody with the right
insurance for that, because I'mseeing an AMG 63 on your screen
with $183,000 MSRP.
Like that is not the vehicle.
She said no, no, no, that'swhat my client sent to me.
I'm like, well, your client issending you the wrong
information, because, well, yourclient is sending you the wrong
information, because I get itLike, the rider for that
(03:46):
coverage is going to bedifferent than the rider for you
know, an exotic vehicle.
And she looks at me and goes Ithink my client knows what he
has.
And I even said I'm like sir,do you have an SLR, mclaren or
AMG 63?
Oh, it's an SLR.
I'm like no problem.
So I walked away.
It's a 20-second conversation.
About two weeks later I get aphone call hey, you're off to
the job.
Blah, blah, blah.
(04:06):
Great, give my two weeks to myemployer and I go to work for
them.
I go to find out on my first orsecond day hey, what happened?
Was I right?
It's like being right?
And she is not there.
In fact, her desk is empty,empty.
And I asked my new boss, thisguy John.
(04:29):
I'm like hey, what happened?
He's like well, I'm going tointroduce you to somebody.
He takes me to the VicePresident of Operations Office.
I said hi, I'm Robert Bain,nice to meet you.
All John says is this is the guyI'm like.
Am I already in trouble?
I'm like my first day here.
Like, like what has happened?
And oh you're, you're themclaren guy.
So yeah, yeah, I guess, likewhat happened with this I don't
(04:52):
know, I don't know if that's agood or a bad thing that I'm the
mclaren guy.
And so they were doing apost-mortem after the uh
shipment had moved, because intransit they had moved it as the
amg and used that type ofinsurance, and in transit the
upper hydraulic moved it as theAMG and used that type of
insurance.
And in transit the upperhydraulic on the car carrier
(05:12):
failed and smashed out on top ofthe vehicle.
It was a $175,000 damage claim.
Carrier only had $150,000 ininsurance.
So for those who don't know, ifyou're an intermediary and the
(05:33):
carrier that you hire to movefreight damages the freight to
the point that it's over thevalue of their cargo policy, you
are on the hook for that Delta.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
So if someone had just even researched what.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I said because what I was told afterwards was that
when they brought him in thepostmortem, said, yeah, that guy
you know, I guess he knew whathe was talking about.
And the VP of ops says did younot at least look Well, no, like
who is he?
How does he know this?
And he's like obviously he did,because he overheard three
seconds of your conversation.
He corrected you.
You said no, it cost us $25,000.
You're fired, hire him.
(06:01):
And the company was absorbed byCRST.
They're a large carrier inCedar Rapids, Iowa, and that's
really where I learned a lotabout trucking because they're
huge, a massive, multi-billiondollar operation, and got to
kind of see all sides of thebusiness With that.
(06:23):
I then having conversationswith my family, I did not like
living in Iowa.
Iowa's a great place to livefor some people.
It's a great place to raisekids, it's safe, it's nice.
It was just too slow for me.
So we started looking atdifferent places and my wife's
best friend at the time lived inthe Chicago suburbs,
specifically in Des Plaines, andI'm like, cool, that's where
(06:44):
we're going.
And so we moved out here,helped start a couple of brokers
out here, one of which, througha series of acquisitions, got
acquired by Blue Grace Logisticsdown in Tampa.
I then moved on and I ran aprivate carrier for about five
years in Waukegan, illinois,first time really being in like
a higher level leadershipposition.
I was the GM there and Ibasically took that carrier from
(07:05):
about six vehicles, six powerunits and about you know two
dozen trailers to 50 vehicles,75 drivers, a couple hundred
trailers around the MidwestReally like a nice little
regional operation and did allthat before I had turned 32 and
then got recruited to go over toUber Freight.
I was part of their first groupof industry hires there.
(07:26):
I took them with that group outof stealth into basically go
from no one even knows Uber hasa freight brokerage to.
We're running a billion dollarannual revenue run rate in 14
months, which was insanity, likeit wasn't real life Moved on
from there and I really startedconsulting after that either
short or long term engagements.
(07:46):
I've worked for awesomeorganizations like Shipwell,
like Quad Graphics and QuadExpress, which is now Holistic,
worked for a couple of stealthstartups that you know were kind
of on the cusp of some reallycool things and kind of helped
push them along to the nextstage.
So now I work for anorganization called GLCS.
We are a managed IT andtechnology consulting firm and
(08:09):
our focus is helping ourcustomers, specifically trucking
companies and intermediarieswith their IT, with their tech
stacks, and augmenting the staffthey have so that they're able
to fully support the on-premisestaff they have, on-premise or
remote.
So everything from your TMS toyour pricing engines, your
maintenance software, whateverit may be, if it touches your
(08:30):
organization technologically, weare able to assist with that.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yes, so all around, all of the logistics.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Every operational seat you could think of.
I've probably sat in it.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, I think that's cool.
That's how I feel about myrelationship with the written
word, because I was a journalist.
I worked for pr newswire.
I've been a marketing agencylike press release versus seeing
the press release and nowworking with sales marketing
professionals in this space.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So I I think it's cool when you see things full
circle yeah connect all the dotsI think it's important because
when, when you can see it fromthe 50 000 foot view, that's
super important because beingleaders have to kind of focus on
that.
We have a lot of family in thebackground because we're my
opposites, um, but then alsolike being at a c level when
you're very much in the weeds.
It's important because thereare some things that sometimes
(09:18):
can get lost in translation.
So being able to kind of bethat sherpa back and forth with
the needs of the organization,but also the goals of the
organization and the needs ofthe individuals that are
actually going to execute, Ithink are super important for
people to be successfuloperationally as well as just
from a scaling and grossingpoint.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Absolutely, and when I was looking at your long list
of things that you've done inthe industry, I went all the way
back to actually what you wentto school for, which was
psychology, which I thought wasreally interesting, in part
because I do think thatunderstanding how people's
brains work and how theirbehavior is and why they are
that way is just fascinating ingeneral.
(09:56):
But I do think it can helpsales and marketing
professionals, and so I'm justcurious your perspective, with
that kind of training, of beingable to do that, has that helped
you with your career inlogistic, sales and management?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I mean, basically I just hypnotize people, they do
what I say, so it's reallyreally nice, it's super easy.
So it actually doesn't allow meto do it on LinkedIn, but I had
two majors.
I was psychology, elementary edand so it was also what I
wanted to do initially when Iwas in school.
I mean, really, I went tocollege to play soccer party and
find somebody to marry, did allthree.
It was great, you know.
(10:29):
So that was fine.
But like from a professionalperspective, like I really
wanted to work in the schools asa psychologist or as a social
worker, somebody that was, youknow, helping kids on some level
that either were not gettingthe attention they needed in a
positive way Kids need somedirection or like I don't like
the term role model, but if Ican like, show kids like, hey,
(10:50):
you can screw up a lot of stuffin your life and still come out
okay on the other end, that'sreally very much what I wanted
to do and that plays into a lotof the other things I've done in
my life too.
But then you look at the twomajors and what I, you know,
kind of learned there isunderstanding that there's some
base level things that work foreverything.
From an education perspective,how curriculum is developed for
(11:10):
the kindergartner is not toodifferent than how it's
developed for the 401 in college.
It may be more advanced on thesubject matter, but the actual
curriculum development is very,very similar.
And so, knowing that from aleadership perspective, I know
somebody is an X, I need them atY, I can develop curriculum to
get them there, but they have tostill execute on that
curriculum.
And so then psychology comes inand say all right, ultimately,
(11:33):
in leaders, if you hear this,this is what is most important
for any C-level.
You're giving them the bestcomp plan, the most simple
technology that's going to maketheir life easier.
What they want to know iswhat's in it.
For me, yes.
Why does it matter to me?
If it doesn't matter to me, Ilisten, you can give me all the
different reasons of like, oh,the organization do great things
, we're going to scale it.
I don't care if I don'tunderstand what's in it for me,
(11:56):
because I any person that'slistening to this you have all
these things going on.
You've got kids, you've gotsports, you've got your spouse,
you've got your family, you'vegot the world.
All these things going on.
Why do I care?
And this middle manager may noteven be my direct boss saying,
hey, we need to change thisprocess because X, I don't care.
So the psychology of it comesback to what's in it for me.
(12:17):
Cool, if I can show you here'show to do it, here's why you're
doing it, here's why it benefitsyou, all these things that play
into change management and howI'm able to progress.
The organization.
That is what has served metremendously in understanding
both the leadership anddirectional part, but also just
dealing with people.
So, ultimately, like we'rehuman, we're human beings, and
(12:39):
to treat people like anythingother than that is one terrible.
So it's super important to beable to do that for folks and
give them all these things.
And so then, once youunderstand that they're human
beings, you can then sort ofserve them at that human level.
And again it goes back to what'sin it for me.
In some cases what's in it forme is I just need another human
(13:00):
to hear me and I need to be seen.
So that's helped.
And, to be fair, that's notalways natural for me, cause a
lot of times, like I am verymuch, I'm very independent, I'm
very much like I keep to myselfit doesn't affect me, I don't
care.
So that was and it has been.
So I have to continuously workon it.
It's still something I work on,because I don't always see the
world that way.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I think it's that you're like people are human,
and because it's so often that Imean I'm not, but the rest of
you are.
Yes, robot Bane, but I thinkthat that's really important.
It's a piece we forget aboutand, just like everyone is wired
a little bit differently andfor multitudes of reasons just
(13:41):
as who they are, how they grewup, what they did, and, yes,
they want to be able tounderstand their, their piece of
it.
And if you are making processimprovements and you are making
changes, they need to know howthat, what, how does that change
affect them and how does itaffect the business?
And what is their piece of it?
Is their role changing?
Or just like how you're doingsomething?
(14:02):
Are they taking on moreresponsibilities?
Or like, if you are havingshifts in employees, what does
that look like?
And I feel like actually I wasjust talking about this not that
long ago but like a merger andacquisition.
It's a huge thing.
It happens all the time.
I think everybody has lived ahorror story through it.
I feel we always talk about itlike, oh, this is the efficiency
it's going to have on thecompany, but we don't sit and
(14:23):
talk about how it affects ourpeople and just listen like, hey
, there's, this is happening,but you're still going to have a
job tomorrow and this is whatthe job's going to be.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
That is forgotten I mean, I can tell you that that's
something that we talk about,uh, within our organization.
Actually, I'm very, verypassionate about is so their
organization is designedspecifically around mergers and
acquisitions, and they're greatat mergers and acquisitions.
They are awesome at that.
What they suck at isassimilation and transition
(14:56):
those two things.
M&a is great, uh, but yeah, therest of it, no, they don't do
so.
The tna, they're not so hot on.
So that's an issue, and that issomething that uh, folks have
to really focus on is, yes,we're gonna use, uh, all these
different efficiencies.
Where do they come from?
What?
How does it impact the people?
To your point, is my roleimpacted if you bring in like
(15:17):
two logistics organizations, two, two brokerages, you're do you
need two vice presidents ofsales.
I don't know, Do you need twopresidents?
I don't know.
Do you need you have 10 accountmanagers on each side?
Do you need 20?
If you share customers, whogets who?
All these things you need tothink, and these are things that
are on a base level or talkedabout, but also you need to look
(15:39):
at do these people fit into thenew culture we're building?
And if they don't, how do youhelp them?
And if they do, but they're notwhere they need to be, because
if you're looking at differentroles and again, you may only
need 12 account managers in thisnew case, or 15 carrier sales
reps or three finance folks, butyou've got seven on the roster
(16:01):
well, where else do we go?
How do we do that?
So thinking about that, andreally that that is where change
management starts, is likeassuring people that, whatever
the outcome is, they're okay.
Because what are we afraid of?
We're afraid of losingeverything.
We're afraid, like I have myhouse, I have my car.
I've always been like, and I'vemade this assumption I'm going
to be in this organization untileither I retire or I'm ready to
(16:22):
stop.
That's and when people get thatsudden change, that's where you
get the pushback Like, oh,it'll never work.
It'll never work becausethey're afraid, like I'm going
to lose my role or machines andtake my job, whatever the case
may be.
So that and that leadershipcommunication again back to the
psychology piece we justmentioned that's so huge is
understanding where they sit aspeople, how you communicate that
(16:44):
to them and, honestly, how Isay it and how you say it, even
though we're saying the samething may hit them very
differently.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Yeah, I think it's.
Just a little bit of empathycan go a long way, and also
acknowledging that you are alsohuman and not perfect and you're
not always going to have theperfect messaging, but creating
(17:11):
a space where people can saythat and feel comfortable asking
questions.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, and listen, if you create the space in the
organization that a challenge tochange is not a death sentence,
when a mistake is not a deathsentence, when anything other
than perfect performance is nota death sentence, this
strengthens your culture morethan you can know Certainly.
You want good performance, youwant people that are strong, you
want people to not necessarilydo what they're told, but you
want them to follow kind of theguidelines.
But people asking the questionnine times out of a hundred, it
(17:39):
is not malicious in intent.
It's like hey, just like,either A help me understand or
is this truly the best way?
And listen, leaders.
This is one of the soundbiteshere you don't always know what
is best.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
So what I love about this conversation is I feel like
it shows a mental strongness toyou that maybe you don't talk
about as much, because everyonejust knows you as the strongest
man in logistics by your brutestrength, which is definitely a
big piece of it.
I'm really curious.
So, like you are that is yourlike moniker, that's who you are
now but like when did thathappen and when?
(18:16):
When are you like yes, that'sfor sure, Something I'm going to
run with, and just not like belike, oh yeah, I'm super strong.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
So, so I think it's important to give context on
what led me to kind of where Isit now within the strength
community and then how Iassimilate it all together,
because that plays into a coupleof things we're going to talk
about today.
So I got obsessed with strengthand being strong, traveling
around doing baseball card andmemorabilia shows with my dad
(18:44):
and late night we would sit upeating popeyes, watching, uh,
world's strongest man in schoolwrestling and I just found this
stuff fascinating.
I thought it was so cool.
Like guys you can pick up big,heavy rocks or you know 400
pound men that move.
Like guys that are 120 pounds,like I just I love this.
Like these are, even though youmight look at something, oh,
that's not an athlete.
No, they, they're athletes, letme tell you.
But then I talk to my dad aboutit.
(19:07):
I'm like I'd love to dosomething like this.
He's like, yeah, but theproblem is you're probably going
to end up being like 5'10 atthe tallest.
And the shortest guy that wewere watching was 6'3".
Strongman, specifically thattype of competing Typically the
elite guys.
They're large in everydirection.
You've got Hathor Bjornsson.
A lot of people know him as theMountain from Game of Thrones,
thor at his biggest.
He's 6'8".
(19:27):
He's 460 pounds.
That is a large human being.
Even when he cut down to do hisboxing match with Eddie Hall,
he cut down to 310.
He dropped 150 pounds and gotshredded at 6'8".
All that being said, I'm likeokay, like no problem.
I continued to play soccer.
(19:47):
I started lifting weights incollege and got pretty big by
the time I, when I graduatedhigh school, I was 155 pounds.
When I graduated college, I was225.
And for the most part, therewas very minimal fluffiness in
there.
Like, I hit the weight room, Ihad a lot of stuff going for me.
I, there was very minimalfluffiness in there.
I hit the weight room, I had alot of stuff going for me.
I was young, testosterone wasreally high, unlimited meal plan
, all those things helped me alot and I continued lifting
(20:09):
weights and then I find thiswhole powerlifting thing get
into it really like it.
But it's always this extrathing about me Like, oh yeah, I
lift weights.
You see it pretty quick If youever meet me in person, um, I
fill out a shirt pretty well, um, and so it came to 2020 and I
(20:30):
had started helping out and kindof give back to the sport,
because sports given me a lotlike.
I've traveled all over the worldfor this game.
I've coached my children um.
One of the coolest moments ofmy life is representing the
united states at a awpc worldswith my daughter in 2019, then
Orlando whole family went downthere, watched Lily and I
compete.
Um, super cool and and a uniqueexperience.
(20:52):
Like how many parents get to dothat with their kids represent
your country at at the same timeLike it's.
It's really cool.
So I wanted to start giving itback.
So I started helping out umspotting and loading and being
the safety crew at meets, andpart of that was I would start
to get the crowd involved if thecrowd was not about
(21:14):
powerlifting.
For those who've never been toa meet is the most boring thing
in the world.
You're literally watching yourfriends work out with their
friends.
It's not fun.
It's neat to see big numbersDon't get me wrong but it's like
what do they do?
They walk up, get under the bar,down and up, put it back.
Next person up, get under thebar, down and up.
It's boring.
And then you get to bench presslay under the bar, down and up,
put it back, lay under the bar,down and up.
(21:36):
Deadlift is different up and godown.
It's super simple.
So, but if I can get the crowdinvolved in it, because a lot of
the crowds don't have anycontext like, oh, here's a large
man, his name is Barzin and helooks Persian because he is, and
he's 360 pounds oh, by the way,he's got a thousand pounds over
his face Maybe we get excitedfor this.
(21:57):
So start doing that, and I'mreally excited about it.
It's super fun.
I ended up getting anopportunity to be on ESPN, you
know, when the WPO, the WorldPowerful Organization finals,
was on that, and then we come to2020.
And I give it that buildup,because then we go to 2020 and
the world shuts down, right, thewhole world ends.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
And.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
April 29th of 2020, I'm in my garage training,
because straight never stops andI'm deadlifting.
I'm deadlifting against bands.
I've got 425-ish pounds on thebar.
I've got monster minis on therewhich add roughly 100-plus
pounds per side, so it's like600, almost 700 pounds.
(22:42):
At the very top of the movementand at the very top of that
deadlift, I think I'm pulling myhips through, but while I am,
I'm also pulling my arm up and Ihave a mixed grip like this and
I rupture the distal tendon inmy arm.
So there's two tendons thatconnect you, the bicep here to
the forearm.
Uh, there's your uh biceptendon, your distal tendon, and
so the distal tendon rupturescompletely off the bone and
(23:04):
comes away.
So I have now blown my armapart and the world is ending
and I don't know what to do.
So I go through the process, Iget diagnosed Yep, that's it.
And thankfully they hadreopened elective surgeries
because it was weird, because itwasn't a life-threatening
injury.
But if you don't operate onthis tendon within a couple of
(23:31):
weeks it will start to die.
So get in, doc.
Heals me up or patches me up,great, fill the cast on.
That's a whole other story aboutme coming to after that surgery
.
But and I'm sitting in mygarage one night and I am just
depressed, I am upset, I, I, Iam drinking very heavily, like
things are like, things are very, very bleak in my mind because
I can't go anywhere, I can't doanything, I'm stuck in my house.
I love my family but again, I'mstuck in my house.
There are times when I'm afraidto go outside because I
(23:56):
literally see cops driving upand down the street because
you're not supposed to beoutdoors Wild.
And later on that week I end uptalking to Trey Griggs.
This is actually when we weregetting ready to start Word on
the Street.
He was kind of kicking the ideaaround about doing this online
luncheon with everybody, andthat's what eventually turned
into Word on the Street.
And he's going to say hey, howyou doing man with all this and
(24:17):
I let it all out and I think atone point I was crying on the
phone.
It was rough and I didn't havea lot of people to talk to about
it and Trey being the greatfriend that he is and he I don't
think at that moment he had anyclue that what he was about to
do, no, none of us did.
And he said listen, man, you're, you're the strongest guy I
know and you're probably thestrongest man in logistics.
(24:39):
You're gonna get through this.
And that.
That sat with me for over ayear actually.
And as I thought about, like Ido, I, I am the strongest man in
logistics like nobody does whatI do.
And I'm like you know what?
Linkedin's fun social media.
I don't do a ton on it, but Igot a decent following.
(25:00):
I had a few hundred connections, like a thousand followers or
something.
I'm like, ah, screw it.
And I just threw it on my titleand I started getting all this
react.
People were making fun of meand so finally, I came out one
(25:21):
day and I, uh, violet agrees.
And I said is anybody else thatcan squat 700, bench four, pull
750.
I will hand my title over, noproblem and they shut a lot of
people up.
Cool, I continue spotting anddoing these events uh, a staff
while I was still competing too,which was very, very difficult.
By the way, my body did notlike that, but I got very, very
(25:41):
confident.
I learned how to work withcrowds and kind of identify the
people that were going to help,you know, get the crowd up and
moving, and I was able to createan experience for lifters and
for athletes that from what.
I've been told I get thisbragging on myself a little bit,
I don't always like to do that,but, um, that that is
exceptional, that is, that isunique and that, uh, people
(26:01):
really wanted to to engage in.
And so the the gym that I washelping a lot of, at a lot of
meets almost every other weekend, people would intentionally
sign up for meets.
If they knew I was going to bespotted, they would sign up for
me so they knew I was going tobe on the mic and so.
So it was cool and I gainedthis confidence and I I then
kind of transferred that to myprofessional life where, like, I
can say this stuff in front ofa crowd of 500 people.
(26:23):
Why can't I say it on a webinar?
Why can't I say it on a podcast?
And obviously, like youmentioned, like we've been on
many podcasts together and Ihave no problem speaking my mind
sure don't and.
But I also learned how to tellstories through that, being able
to tell a story that weavesthrough every competitor but
also overnight attempts for thesame competitor, because I, I,
(26:43):
you know even though, yeah, I'mgetting to know you over the
course of you know, 60 secondsfrom when you're called, bars
loaded until you complete yourlift, like that's cool and that
allowed to get allowed for a lotof confidence in how to tell
stories and how to piece thesethings together.
And then do the post-mortem.
People ask was like, hey, greatjob, and you did this.
That no different than when I'mdoing meetings, when I'm doing
(27:06):
networking events.
So, hey, I can piece thesethings together from all the
different things.
Oh you, great example this Iwas at manifest and I met
somebody from a, uh, from uberfreight and they are working on
this, really, really unique uh,or from uber technically, uh,
like home delivery service,essentially for like, um, small
packages into like appliance,like all types of different
(27:27):
stuff.
And one of the issues they haveis like how do we set up, you
know, for, uh, somebody has noinfrastructure whatsoever.
How do we set this up for them?
Like, I need to introduce youto Matt over at PopCapacity
They've got warehousing, likeAirbnb for warehouses.
I'm just like, what a greatmatch for this.
You guys can basically go tosomebody and say, hey, we can
get you warehousing in your area, we can have the delivery set
(27:47):
up and you can be in Sacramento,in Atlanta, georgia.
But piecing those kinds ofthings together, it's like, well
, start doing that and thenstart putting my networks
together and never being afraidIf it doesn't work, it doesn't
work.
No one holds me accountable.
I'm not a bad person for saying, hey, make new friends.
It's what helped break downthose barriers, the mental
(28:11):
barriers of like, oh man, whatif something doesn't go perfect?
Well, what if it does?
Oh my God, what if somethingdoesn't go perfect?
Well, what if it does?
Oh my God?
Like what if things do go right?
And so that's.
That's a very long winded wayof saying like Strongest man.
Logistics went from just I liftheavy circles to it built this
confidence in me that I I don'tphysically fear anything, but
(28:31):
like I'll go into the boardrooms.
I carry myself uniquely, I havea very unique look and I don't,
you know, non-traditional saleslike most, just don't have this
laying around.
You know, um, and I'm cool withthat and and I can be me, and
we've talked about this.
Jenna, what I kind of developedmentally and I've told me about
this is you get the same,robert Bain, whether I'm at home
(28:54):
, I'm at a powerlifting.
Whether I'm at home I'm at apowerlifting meet, I'm at the
bar, I'm, you know, at aconference, whatever.
It's just the volumes turn at adifferent level.
That's it, and that's that'sreal.
If I had to kind of synthesizeit all together, it's like
powerlifting gave me a volumeknob and taught me how to use it
.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
I think it's a really interesting story and part of
the pieces is because I feellike we have our passion
projects, but they tend to livereally far away from our
professional lives and you havefound a way to kind of embrace
both of those things and bringthem together and it's only like
your passion project has only,like, amplified who you are as a
(29:39):
professional, instead of beinglike this weird thing you do on
the side that you never talkabout in your professional life,
which I think is really cool.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
And it's important because that people see that
level of passion.
But they also see it when I'mworking in a professional
setting too.
Not just about powerlifting,but about like logistics,
technology, people processoperations too.
Not just about powerlifting,but about like logistics,
technology, people processoperations.
And when they see that, I'lltell you it, because typically
they see the passion for sportand physical culture first, and
when they see it translate to aprofessional side, it's like oh,
I can, I can do this too.
I too could be excited aboutstuff, I too could be excited
(30:08):
about leading, and that's okayand so it's it's it's not a
better way to say.
It's like the four minute milesyndrome, like once it's been
done, like anybody can do it.
I can do this and then.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
So I like, because, like we, we kind of started
talking about the, the mentalfortitude of your strength and
the like psychology pieces andall that, but like one of the
pieces like I want to talk aboutis she's so adorable, um, but
you have like.
So you have this strong manpersona, you live this strong
man life.
But part of that is like howhard you support strong women.
(30:46):
And I wanted to call this outbecause I feel like, as a woman
and a female in the industry,like there's a lot of men who
are like, oh yeah, I supportwomen, but like not really or
not all the way.
And I you talked a little bitabout how you have spotted for
the past six years and you'vebeen staff and all that, but
part of that has been with yourdaughter and without her but at
(31:09):
women's events to support verystrong women, and so I want to
talk about that and what thatmeans to you and how you've been
.
I know you're kind of likeclosing the door on that to
protect your own body, but likewhat has that meant to you and
why do you do that?
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Yeah, and I also want to add a little bit to that.
So, like I, I I do love tosupport strong women.
I'm not perfect at it.
You know there are still somethings I got to work on.
I'm I'm just a crotchety oldman, so it's tough sometimes
when I hear and see certainthings and there's a lot of
stuff I've got to work on.
I was already very clear aboutthat, that I'm by no means
perfect, but I do love my strongladies.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Well, before I'm going to cut you off, I agree,
no one is perfect, but I can sayfrom a personal experience.
We have different opinions.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
We've talked a lot about this off the record, but
you still listen and can respectpeople yeah, so so let's talk
about the women's program, um,and I will do my best to not get
emotional as I talk about this,because it is an event that's
been very, very near and dear tomy heart.
Uh, the lady who you knowstarted it, has run it and uh
(32:09):
does get help from her, herstaff.
But laura phelps, realisticallythe best power lifter of all
time.
She's incredible Dozens ofall-time world records, has
coached dozens of all-time worldrecords, different ladies
across the board.
She very much is the type thathas opened the door and then
held it open for others to comethrough, and that's what I think
is so important about her andthis event.
(32:31):
As I got to know Laura and sheknew my skill set on the
platform, I said, hey, if youever want me there for the
program, I'll come through, andso sure, we love you.
And when I got there for myfirst one, it was like, oh, are
you just gonna like help out?
I'm like, well, if you guyswill have me, I'll backspot
everybody and they said, sure,yeah, and so in in that um, I
(32:56):
was able to meet all theseincredible, strong women and
really start to understand theirstories and start to understand
different things about theplight of these strong women.
I'm like, hey, you don't looklike everybody else and people
say things and people do thingsand it expanded my mindset, it
expanded my understanding of thehuman experience.
(33:16):
It expanded my mindset, it'sbeen in my understanding of the
human experience, and so then,when I realized that this event
was so much more than justlifting heavy circles, it was
like it is just the ladies, it'sall for them.
It is not about us, it is notabout any of the staff per se,
it is all.
And so, once again, if I cancreate that special moment for
each and every one of them,whether it was my girl, soraya,
who is 14, did her second pro-amjust recently who, this girl
(33:37):
steals the show every time, allthe personality Picture, conor
McGregor, just 15 years old andwith a singlet, that's her.
Like she'll, she'll walkthrough, do the walk and she's
just.
She's all this personality.
To people like Leah Reichman,who she, she broke a 21 year old
record the all time biggesttotal by a woman, first woman
(33:58):
ever squat 900 pounds as thelargest woman squat of all time
954.
Like, these women do incrediblethings.
That like, when you really thinkabout it, it's so outside the
norm of thinking that all I wantto do is say, hey, what like?
What else can we done?
What else can we do?
And and then it's also thewhole concept of right I'm doing
things that should scare me.
How do I just give you theconfidence?
(34:20):
The only thing you got to do isjust under the stupid bar, go
down and up, and so that'ssomething I say, something I do,
and every single one of them Iwanted to make sure I gave the
same enthusiasm, from first oneto the last deadlift, whether
it's somebody who I would nevereven look at, otherwise do it's
my own child, y'all have thesame experience.
(34:40):
So, um, and then it was makingsure they all got their props.
It's like, hey, like you knowyou, this is the age of social
media, your comments, you'reengaging with all that.
You tell them that they did agood job, did all, and so, being
a part of that, and then makesure to follow all that.
You do it throughout the year,like, hey, what's the next,
what's the next one?
And then, with laura, and it'salways telling her like, listen,
(35:00):
like you have me, and also,what I'm doing is I am here to
serve.
That is that is why I'm here,and I said this, um, I said this
when I hung up the elbowsleeves.
It has been one of my greatesthonors to serve those ladies,
(35:21):
because people like my daughters, people like yourself who have
never been in this family You'veheard about these people for
years and little girls.
There was a young lady there.
She was eight years old,running around getting pictures
with all the the ladies becauseshe'd heard about the pro-am
three years ago.
I'd never gotten to go.
She finally got to do a reverseone.
You are setting up the nextgeneration of powerful, strong,
(35:45):
insane women the best kind ofinsane and we want that and we
love that, and so that's alwayscame back to us.
My daughters will see stufflike this, and then now my
daughters will see stuff likethis, and now my granddaughter
will see stuff like this.
I want them to understand whatit's like to my boys, to
understand what it's like tosupport women.
And again, I'm not perfect.
I still have a lot of work todo on that.
(36:06):
There's certain stuff that Isee that I lose my mind on, but
again, it's it's.
It's all.
I wanted to create thatexperience with them and I
wanted to make sure these ladiesknew that they are so special
and they are incredible.
And if any of you all see this,again, it has been my honor to
serve you.
And yeah, saturday I did hangup the elbow sleeves and
(36:27):
received one of the mostbeautiful tributes I could have
ever asked for, because I didn'task for it.
I didn't need it Again.
I was there to serve.
Laura took time at the end ofthe meet, um, and put the
spotlight on me, which shedidn't need to, and it was, um.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
It was incredibly humbling well, I think it's an
amazing story, an amazingjourney, and I do think that I
love that for you, that she gavethat space like no, it's not
about you.
You're there to serve and tosupport others.
But you also showed up andsupported in a really real and
authentic way, which isn'tsomething that everyone gets all
(37:01):
the time, so you can feather inyour cap yeah, yeah, I need it
because I'm over here.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
um, what was really nice is that the amount of
messages I I've received frompeople as it's gotten kind of
out and into the ether, but thatthere were lifts that they got,
that I would not have gottenthat lift if you had not been
back there.
I would not have gotten thatlift if you were not there to
keep me safe.
I would not have had theconfidence.
And my favorite one was like Iwould not even have the audacity
(37:29):
to get under that bar unlessyou were there and that listen,
I've done a lot of crazy stuffin my life.
There's not a lot better highsthan that.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Well, I think it's beautiful and I'm so happy that
I think it was a good time, likeI knew that these were all
questions I wanted to ask andthen, when I saw that, like this
, this journey was coming to end, I'm like, well, what a perfect
time and I'm sure you're stillgoing to be there to support and
show up in a different way.
It's not like you're justabandoning the community because
you have to protect yourselftoo.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Yeah, absolutely and yeah you're right, the whole
thing.
I think it's important to notethat it is focused on my
training.
My time as a high level lifter,as an elite lifter, is very,
very small.
My window is very short and Ijust turned 43.
So I realistically have liketwo to at most five years left.
So, knowing that like I need tokind of focus on my own
training.
But no, I mean, saturday wasthe last day spotting Sunday I
(38:21):
was back at the venue, I was onthe mic all day and seen,
because I still had the gift ofgab.
I like to yap, obviously, aswe're going through this.
So, yeah, I very much continueto support it and even if it's
just me showing up there andmake sure I pay my 10 bucks a
day and clap for the ladies, Iwill do that until Laura's done
(38:43):
with it and that was the wholeconversation after the meet on
what that looks like.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Well, you do have the gift of gab, for sure, and I am
taking advantage of this byhaving you come to TMSA.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Hey, which I'm so excited.
So you are speaking on flex,your brand, building a powerful
identity in logistics, whichwe've obviously talked about and
highlighted bits and pieceshere.
This I was also at Manifest,and this came out of one of our
many chats that we had.
But what can people expect fromyour session if they are going
to watch you?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
My shirt more likely will stay on.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Perfect.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yes, is it more likely?
I didn't say for sure, I saidmore likely, you know, you know.
So you know I will talk alittle about the beginnings and
kind of what, like how theconcept came about and then what
I kind of did, you know, movingforward.
You know, I'll talk a littlebit about what it meant, like
(39:40):
the whole, like why I say it andI don't feel like what, what a
strong brand is going to be.
You know it's going to besomething that is is
complimentary, is catchy, isexciting for people and
something like ultimately, likewhy do people want to keep
following?
Like why, why do they care?
Like certainly there's going tobe enough when it comes to the
operational expertise,technology expertise.
But what is it?
Is it stuff about my life?
Is it stuff about my lifting?
(40:01):
How do you fully engage peopleand humanize people that you've
never met before?
I'll tell you.
People will come up to me andsay, listen, I've never met you,
but I feel like I know you verywell and I think that tells me
that the branding is working.
So we talk a lot about that andkind of how I do it and um, and
(40:24):
honestly, how I I made a postabout finding your voice and how
I learned for my voice to comethrough type and through the,
the written word um, and make itsound like I'm talking to you
I'm really excited about it andI know we talked about how you
build the brand and that's whoyou are, but it does, and you
talked about it makingconnections, making business.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
all that's all a piece of it too, and so I feel
like too often when we talkabout brands, sometimes people
think it's just like justmarketing.
But it does equate to sales andbusiness, which is actually I'm
putting you like I told youright after a keynote speaker
who is talking about the powerof not just storytelling but
story selling, because you haveto tell the right story at the
right time to the right peoplein the right place, or you're
(41:06):
just talking.
So I'm really excited aboutthat and I think it's going to
be really great, super excitedto have you on on stage and this
is also the first time I'vegotten you to then come to a
tmsa event.
Um, you know I've asked everyyear since I've had you.
But besides taking the stageand sharing a bit about your
journey, what are you lookingforward to being able to come to
(41:28):
tmsa?
Speaker 2 (41:30):
uh, honestly, it's to see the environment you've
created.
Like.
I've heard so many amazingthings, amazing things about
what the organization's beendoing.
I think it's unique that it isan organization that's, you know
, 100 years old and I thinkthat's so important that when
you have that much history, likethere's so much that can be
gleaned from that, from theorganization, from the archives.
(41:50):
So I'm really excited to learnmore about the organization, see
the culture, the vibe and whatyou know obviously you've helped
foster in your time as thechairman, but also, like what
was laid, the foundation laidbefore that.
So you know, the networking isalways huge.
Austin's nice.
I do like Austin.
Though I will say part of mewishes it was going to be in
Savannah again, only because,for those who don't know, I have
(42:15):
a doppelganger, apparently, andthat is the umpire of the
Savannah bananas.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Oh, I saw him.
The amount of people that sendme his videos.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
So I actually reached out to him and say, dude, like
I love, I love the energy, it'sawesome.
You'll probably never see this,I kid you not.
He messaged me back in likefive minutes.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
They are great, but everyone um, I so, yes, in 2023.
We were at in Savannah, we hadthis, you know, we got to go to
Savannah's banana game.
I got to throw out the firstbanana.
So to, you know it, and it wasone of those where I just like
I'm gonna just keep asking andand just keep saying yes and so,
because I was even like OK, youguys are going to come speak,
(43:00):
can we have the banana?
Come to conference, like atwhat point are you going to just
tell me now we can have thebanana?
Speaker 2 (43:07):
That is sales 101.
Keep asking until I say no.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Yeah, so that's what I just kind of like.
We put it in the contract toverify to make sure that happens
and but yeah, I, it's beenreally cool to watch.
I feel like I remember being inOrlando in 2022 and announcing
we were going to Savannah andeveryone that day just kept
whispering Savannah bananas atme.
(43:30):
I'm like I don't know what thatis, and from watching it, from
that moment to watching wherethey have catapulted over the
past you know, four years hasbeen an amazing thing.
It made us look phenomenallycool to have them.
So I was excited.
But yeah, we're in Austin,texas, this year, but we will
(43:51):
have our own fun, surprises andthings occurring there, and so
I'm excited about that, excitedto have you as a part of the
show and to um bring you intotms so you can see we're excited
for it.
I can't, I cannot wait so thattakes us to my very last
question that I ask everybodywho comes on the show, and that
is if you could go back in timeand advise a younger robert
(44:12):
anything, and that could bepersonally or professionally
when would you go back to andwhat would you tell him?
Speaker 2 (44:18):
so I would go back to 18 year old Robert and I tell
them a couple things.
One, dad's a lot smarter thanyou realize.
And then two, you are theauthor of your story.
Make Make sure you don't let goof the pen.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
I love that.
We're going to put that on aclip and post it everywhere.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
I think I was very, very guilty of this early in my
life.
Honestly, until probably thelast 10 years, I was still
guilty of it.
I allowed way too many peopleto hold that pen and since I
took control of it andespecially you, you know, lately
taking control of it even more,it's been all for the best.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
I love that.
I'm going to sit in that for aminute myself, but such good
advice for everyone.
I love asking that questionbecause it goes so many places,
but I also feel like acommonality is either trust
yourself more, love yourself,sleep, take care of yourself.
(45:27):
That is the commonality of somany of those answers and I just
hope that people who watch theshow in a younger version think
about that as they're enteringtheir careers, like, yes, you
can go hard, but you also haveto take care of yourself and the
longevity of your life and thework-life balance is really
important.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Great Well, thank you so much for coming on the show.
Thank you for coming.
Yes, thank you for having me and, if you want to catch us next
week, I will be interviewingMariana Veith with WSI and we'll
be talking all kinds of stuffabout.
She's got a lot going on.
I'm really excited to talkabout it and about the
importance of being in industryassociations and joining them
(46:11):
and actually contributing towhat they do and how it helps
you with your professionalgrowth.
So check us out here next week,on on the move and until next
time, I'll see you later.
Bye.
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