Entrepreneurial Spotlight
Carolyn Gable, president and CEO, New Age Transportation, Distribution & Warehousing, Inc.

By Shari Lifland

Carolyn Gable is living proof that the American dream is alive and well. Gable, founder, president and CEO of New Age Transportation, Distribution & Warehousing Inc., based in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, started out from humble beginnings as a waitress at the Chicago Hyatt restaurant. She is also the single mother of seven children, ranging in age from 29 down to 4.

How did a woman, with no college education, make such a dramatic transformation? And how does this 51-year-old dynamo keep it all going? I sat down with Ms. Gable one-on-one to find out.

AMA: OK, everyone is dying to know. What did you learn as a waitress that affected you so profoundly when you started your own business?

Carolyn Gable: Here's what I learned from waitressing. This was how I made my income—by going to a table and finding something about that man or woman that I could connect to and build a relationship on. My gratuity was based on that. I learned that if you treat people poorly it would influence the gratuity and that if you treat people sincerely better, you'll do well.

Once, while I was working at the Hyatt's revolving restaurant, a customer told me that he was just dying for a baked potato. Well, that restaurant had a limited menu and we didn't serve baked potatoes. So I got in the elevator and ran downstairs and got him his baked potato. It was just natural for me. I didn't give it a second thought. He then wrote a letter about me to management.

Now in my own business I use that same kind of natural caring and I still see the outcome of it. We care about employees and we care about customers. You know the book "Everything I Learned I Learned in Kindergarten?" Well, everything I learned, I learned as a waitress.

AMA: In your very first year working in sales you were in the top 10% of the company's sales force. What personality traits and skills do you possess that help you succeed as a salesperson?

Gable: I've always been curious. I think that's key. Also, I've always built good relationships with my customers, intuitively, not knowing what the outcome was going to be. I would always ask about a customer's children, for example, because I really cared. Then the business end of it just came naturally. People would say, "I like her and I know where she's coming from. Therefore I'll trust her with my product." At the time I wasn't aware of the synergy that was happening. I never had one training class ever in my life. It was intuitive.

We all have fear, but I try not to let fear control my desires and my path. You have to step out of the box of fear and into faith. Also, I have the kind of personality that if you tell me I can't have something or can't do something, then I want it all the more!

AMA: You're a single mother of seven children. (Note: Gable's children range from 29 to 4 years). How has your experience as a mom helped you professionally? And how has your professional experience served you as a parent?

Gable: They're both so entwined. Every day I learn from my children. I learn patience, living in the moment, sadness and how to play. My five-year-old twins are teaching me about people's instinctive competitive nature. We want to be treated fairly. We want what the other one has. In business, it's the same thing—whether you're five or 55 years old. It's, "What is he or she getting? I want it too." And, "If you're spending time with her, I want you to spend time with me." Adults may not say that, but it's how they really feel. No matter how old we are we all want to be loved, accepted and appreciated. I believe that I'm a great leader and businessperson because I have so many children.

AMA: You don't have a degree in accounting, marketing, or administration. How did you acquire the skills needed to run a multi million dollar company? Did you take classes, learn on the job, hire experts, etc.?

Gable: I did it intuitively. In the beginning, it was easy. I started out with nothing, billing zero in 1992. Then the first month I billed maybe $50,000. $40,000 had to go to the carriers and $2,000 had to go to the rent. It's just like managing your personal finances, but on a larger scale. We've just grown and grown. The money comes in, then it's reinvested in people or technology. We just put up a $3 million building and purchased a $125,000 software system.

My goal is that the customers continue to be treated the way we've always treated them. I don't want to get so big that anyone ever says, "Oh, that company was really great 10 years ago!"

We have really great people. You could call right now. They wouldn't know who you are and they would treat you like you're the only person they've talked to all day. We hire people for attitude over aptitude.

AMA: Why did you choose the name "New Age Transportation" for your company?

Gable: In the mid-80s, President Reagan passed deregulation, so all these non-union trucking carriers were popping up. That's when I started my business. I decided in 1989 to consolidate and take control of my business. So New Age really refers to a new age in trucking. When the New Age movement arrived in the '90s I really got a lot of press because of the name.

AMA: You're in a business that is traditionally male-dominated. Did you meet much gender discrimination when you were starting New Age Transportation? How did you deal with it? Has the situation changed today?

Gable: A lot of people thought I was never going to last. What I was doing was different from everybody else. Because I was a commission rep for all these trucking companies, when I formed New Age the carriers were still picking the freight up direct. Almost 99% of my competitors were having their own trucks pick the freight up. They didn't trust the fact that the carrier could pick the freight up, take care of it and bill it. They wanted control. But it worked out fine. I had great relationships with all my carriers, so it wasn't a problem. It was like David and Goliath. I was this little entity that was really no threat to anybody, just doing my own thing. I wasn't perceived as a threat business-wise.

Now, I'm in a real niche. New Age has grown, but we're still small enough that if you have a problem you can call me directly. My customers are very supportive of me. And the carriers don't care what gender you are—they just want to be paid. What's happened is because I'm a woman and because I'm honest, my customers know that I care and that I'm doing my very best for them.

AMA: In 2001 you founded the Expect a Miracle Foundation to help single parents provide their children with opportunities that they wouldn't be able to afford otherwise. How did that come about?

Gable: I had a customer who had committed a crime. He was put on work release, working during the day, then going back to the jail at night. He had five children who were really suffering. I sent them some money, but then it really hit me. I thought, this is just one of how many families where innocent kids are paying for the sins of the parents? I know that as a single mom, by the time you pay all the bills, there's not much left. If you have a huge gas bill in February and that's when the fee for Little League is due, what are you going to do? You pay the gas bill. I know—I've been there.

So I decided to start the Expect a Miracle Foundation to provide money for tutoring, sports, pool passes, school trips and so on. The foundation is 100% run by volunteers from my company. They know that what you give in life you'll get back.

AMA: What mistakes have you made along the way to success? Is there anything you'd do differently?

Gable: My life has been like a house of cards. If I were to say, you know, I really didn't like that part, I'd take that part out, it could all fall apart. It's all been a learning experience. These were all lessons that I chose to learn in this lifetime. It's all part of who I am.

AMA: How do you handle the responsibility of having 45 people and their families depending on you for their livelihood?

Gable: I wear that responsibility well. I believe in the laws of the universe and I believe in doing the right thing. If you always try to do the right thing you can go to bed at night knowing that you've done the best you can do that day. Hopefully I've made an impact on these 45 people and they in turn have made an impact on their families. And those children are having an impact on their schoolmates and it's all because I appreciate them.

We have a program at New Age called "I Care." Each month employees submit packets explaining what they've done throughout the month that is above and beyond and then they're rewarded for it. They get a half-day off when they accumulate 100 points. They get monetary rewards. It's a bonus program designed to get them to be better people. And it works. It's like with a child. You have to push them along, then it becomes habit. And they are seeing the rewards of the good things they have done.

What can we do as a company to change the world? Well, we can do it like Michael Jackson said, by looking at the man in the mirror. Let me change me, start taking better care of myself, become a part of my community, start thanking people more and so on. I know I'm making an impact where I should be. But I still feel humbled. It could all be gone tomorrow. I could be back waitressing in two years.

If you want to learn more about some of the topics discussed here, including leadership and customer satisfaction, consider these AMA seminars:

• Developing Executive Leadership
  
• The Voice of Leadership: How Leaders Inspire, Influence and Achieve Results
  
• AMA's Course for Presidents
  
• Customer Service Excellence: How to Win and Keep Customers
  
• Customer Service Management: Delivering Satisfaction and Profit