Taking the Hire Road host Jeremy Reymer sat down with Emily Williams, manager of business development for the transportation team at Geotab, to discuss the importance of empowered and outspoken leadership in the transportation and logistics industry. For positive change to take place, both in industry image and in driver health and satisfaction, leaders have to be proactive and unafraid to speak up.
Williams began her career as a receptionist at Dell but was eventually offered a sales position in a trucking company. This opened the door for her to join the transportation team at Geotab.
Now a dedicated member of the trucking industry, Williams is on the advocacy subcommittee for Women in Motion and focuses on connecting with legislators to make trucking a safer and friendlier industry toward women. “Women in Motion champions women in transportation,” Williams said. “It’s a place we can network, share stories and push for change. We have a lot of members, ranging from drivers to middle management to CEOs. We’re trying to unify women in the industry and build a community.”
The American Trucking Associations (ATA) launched the Women in Motion (WiM) program on July 15, 2022, and already, the organization is making an impact. “We had our first call on Washington in April of this year, so we’re so happy to be connecting and making change,” said Williams.
“Representative Kiley of California spoke on our behalf at the House Committee hearing on education and workforce, and he read directly from our material,” Williams said. “Him being able to tell our stories made a huge impact on the acting Secretary of Labor.”
According to Williams, the strides made in the trucking industry’s inclusion of women have been incredible in the last decade. “Ten years ago, I would go to an industry trade show and see maybe ten women out of a room of 400 people,” she said. “Now that has changed so much in the past few years. You see so many more women when you meet with various companies in the transportation industry,” Williams explained.
Likewise, regarding the health of truck drivers and industry standards as a whole, Williams says that it’s vital for leading voices to speak up about health issues. “The fact that the average life expectancy for drivers is 61 is unacceptable. We have to change that. It’s so important that we talk about eating right and staying active,” she said.
As Williams has observed, awareness efforts have made significant progress in recent years, and leaders in the trucking industry need to stay vigilant. “I love that programs are coming and fleets are adapting to that. We all understand how valuable our drivers are and that nothing works without them, so it should be an absolute priority to keep them healthy and fulfilled,” she said.
“When your health is at risk, it really opens your eyes and makes you take it seriously,” Williams said. Opening up about her personal experiences, Williams recounted a difficult period of her life when she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder while pregnant. “I lost weight when I was supposed to be gaining it, and I almost lost my daughter. I had a revelation – I will never take my health for granted again,” she said. “When your health shuts down, there’s nothing you can do to stop it. It brought a sense of urgency.”
According to Williams, that urgency made her realize that she had to continue to fulfill her leadership role and speak on behalf of others in trucking, particularly the community of women that she has helped to grow and foster. “Often, women don’t get the voice that we need, and we need to speak up. I’m not afraid to do that. I had to make the health changes and improve my diet to keep being able to fulfill my calling of speaking out in this industry. When you walk in that purpose, doors start to open,” she said.
At Geotab, Williams is proud to be a part of a company that endeavors to keep the industry healthy and growing. “Geotab is an engineering company that processes over 55 billion data points on a daily basis, and we help our customers take that data and help them turn it into action.”
Because every fleet is complex and unique, Williams says that Geotab’s modular ecosystem helps carriers orchestrate the various hardware systems and systems in place to make them work together. “We can make existing hardware work. We can pull in camera technology, your TMS, make you more compliant and improve your safety scores using what hardware and systems you already have in place,” Williams said.
Ultimately, Geotab’s goal is to keep their partners and clients productive by maximizing the benefits of each decision. “It’s important that our partners keep their drivers safe and employed, and of course that they stay compliant with the ever-growing regulations we face in transportation and logistics,” she said.
Book Recommendations: “The 360 Degree Leader” and “Unfinished Business”
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Sponsors: The National Transportation Institute, Career Now Brands, Carrier Intelligence, Infinit-I Workforce Solutions, WorkHound, Asurint, Arya By Leoforce, Transportation Marketing Group, Seiza, Drive My Way, F|Staff, Trucksafe Consulting, Seated Social, Repowr