Page 16 - ATR 2 2020 digital

Comforter-in-Chief

Lessons in leadership through crisis from ATA chairman Dan Cushman

“I NEED TO BE HERE

BECAUSE THIS THING
IS SO DYNAMIC. IT’S
CHANGING EVERY
SINGLE DAY. IT’S
CHANGING BY THE
HOUR. I’VE NEVER
SEEN ANYTHING LIKE
IT. I’M COPING GREAT
FROM THE STANDPOINT

OF BELIEVING IN
OUR TEAM. I KEEP
EMPHASIZING, ‘THINK,
THINK, THINK, THINK,
THINK.’ THERE’S A
WAY FOR US TO DO
THINGS DIFFERENTLY
THAN WE HAVE IN THE
PAST TO HELP US ALL
had shut down operations. He walked
By Bethany May the floors of the PAM headquarters in GET THROUGH THESE
Managing Editor Tontitown, talking to his employees, THINGS.”
committing to the men and women he
Arkansas Trucking Report met with had to lay off that they would do every-
Dan Cushman, president and CEO of thing they could to make this a short- friends and contacts with some of the
PAM Transport, on Monday, March 23. lived experience. smartest and most successful trucking
Less than two weeks prior, Arkansas “What do we need to do to imme- executives in the state.
confirmed its first case of COVID-19. diately get our brothers and sisters Every U.S. president has had to
The Center for Disease Control had back to work? I’ve got to generate a rev- confront a tragedy and offer hope and
issued guidelines for social distancing, enue, I’ve got to generate more miles,” wisdom for the way forward even when
and many offices, including PAM’s, Cushman explains what he’s been that path isn’t fully illuminated. For
were in the early days of transitioning thinking about over the weekend. many leaders, they had the responsibil-
many positions to remote work. It was that headspace that prompt- ity of comforting in personal tragedies
The Friday before, Cushman had ed him to reach out to his colleagues like visiting or calling the families of
a very bad day at work—his toughest and friends in the industry for a confer- fallen soldiers to give condolences and
day, yet, he said—having to lay off 50 ence call on Saturday. As chairman of profound gratitude for the sacrifice. For
employees because the automotive fac- the board of directors for the Arkansas some, the crises were paradigm shift-
tories, some of PAM’s biggest customers, Trucking Association, Cushman has ing for entire generations like President

16 Issue 2 2020 | ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT