Hire Truckers Podcast

00:00 - 00:05
Aaron Craddock: What do you hope people you have led would say about the way you made them feel and the kind of leader you were?

00:05 - 00:19
Mark Roesler: I hope that they feel respected. I hope they feel heard. I hope they feel enlightened by anything, any guidance I may have given them. And I hope and pray for their success to continue. I hope they see me as someone that that did good by then.

00:35 - 01:09
Aaron Craddock: Welcome to the Hire Truckers Podcast. I'm your host, Aaron Craddock, and I'm super excited to have Mark Roesler on today and just talk about all things leadership. And so trucking doesn't reveal leadership when everything is going right. It reveals leadership when freight disappears, costs climb, people disagree, and everyone looks to you for certainty you may not have. Today, we're talking about how strong leaders create stability in an unpredictable industry by making people feel valued, surrounding themselves with people who challenge them, and staying steady when the business is anything but steady.

01:09 - 01:11
Aaron Craddock: Mark, welcome to the Hire Truckers Podcast.

01:12 - 01:15
Mark Roesler: Thank you, Aaron. Glad to be here. Thank you for having me.

01:16 - 01:34
Aaron Craddock: So as I was doing my research for this show, one of the things that stuck out to me is a a statement you reposted on LinkedIn around leadership. And so you said real leadership isn't about titles or authority. It's about making people feel valued, seen, and inspired. What about that resonates with you?

01:34 - 01:49
Mark Roesler: All of it. All of it, Aaron. An old boss taught me that. He taught me that if you have to say you're the king, you're not the king. And so I've always lived by that because it just really makes sense.

01:49 - 02:09
Mark Roesler: If you got to say who you are, you got to use your title, then you're not doing it right. Don't ever use that. Even in discipline or whatever, I never say, Hey, I'm the vice president. You need to listen to me. I don't think that's how you approach it.

02:09 - 02:13
Mark Roesler: And so I truly believe, you got to say you're the king, you're not the king.

02:14 - 02:28
Aaron Craddock: That's good. So now we're going go a little bit back in time. So like thirty two years ago when you entered the industry. So you've spent more than thirty years at Acme Truck Line. Take us back to the beginning.

02:28 - 02:32
Aaron Craddock: How did you get into trucking, and what's kept you at Acme so long?

02:33 - 03:04
Mark Roesler: So I was in business with my brother-in-law for a little while, and we split, parted ways, and I took eight months off and did baseball with my young sons at the time. And when baseball was over with, I decided I needed to do something, so I bought a truck and came to work at Acne and started as an owner operator went from there. And so that's how I started as an owner operator. So I understand both sides. I think that's helped me in my career for sure.

03:04 - 03:25
Aaron Craddock: Yeah, I think very few leaders, like executives in the industry, have driven a truck, and much less done it as an independent contractor or as a company driver. So that's pretty awesome that you were able to because does that help you today in better relating to drivers and the business as a whole?

03:25 - 03:48
Mark Roesler: No, it's helped me the last thirty something years because I can relate to what their problems are, what their issues are when they're frustrated and why. And sometimes because I can relate, I can also help them and talk them down and calm them because I have been there. I get their frustrations.

03:48 - 03:55
Aaron Craddock: That's awesome. You mentioned it was when you had young kids. I'm curious, how old were your kids back then when you got started? My

03:56 - 04:01
Mark Roesler: boys that were playing ball were 10 and 12 during that time.

04:02 - 04:20
Aaron Craddock: Okay. That's awesome. So we have my wife and I have six year old boy, three year old boy, 16 old boy, and then we have which the world doesn't know this yet, but this doesn't come out for a couple weeks. But our our fourth is gonna be a girl on March March 9. So

04:21 - 04:23
Mark Roesler: That girl could change your world. I'm telling you.

04:23 - 04:51
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. Well, I you know, we so I actually found out yesterday, and my wife, like, she found out the results of the test. And and we were both in disbelief because all we know is boy world because that's all we've done. And but I told Lauren, I was like, the it's gonna give us a more balanced perspective on life, like having having girl and experiencing that rather than a fourth boy. So So that's my my

04:53 - 05:01
Mark Roesler: I have a theory that you can raise three boys for the price of one girl. It's definitely gonna be a balance for you because

05:01 - 05:10
Aaron Craddock: So girls this is why it's important that we that we have these conversations and the trucking industry keeps rolling because I'm all in on trucking. So

05:11 - 05:11
Mark Roesler: Yeah.

05:11 - 05:19
Aaron Craddock: But it did. I did. I did make a financial comment when my wife mentioned that yesterday. I was like, oh, well, time to grow the business faster.

05:20 - 05:22
Mark Roesler: Different world, I'm telling you.

05:23 - 05:37
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. We're excited. So going into, like, another another leadership thing that you reposted, It was insecure leaders want only yes people around them.

05:38 - 05:46
Aaron Craddock: Strong leaders want people who can challenge their thinking. So tell me more about how that like, that resonated with you.

05:46 - 06:12
Mark Roesler: Well, I think that's, like, super important that I'm not always right, even though I might think I am. And so I need my people that are around me to say, well, that might not be a good idea. We might not want to do it that way. What do you think about doing it this way? Or, hey, I've got a new idea, you know, and hearing what they're saying because, again, I'm not always right.

06:13 - 06:17
Mark Roesler: So I'd rather go the right direction than be right.

06:19 - 06:37
Aaron Craddock: Have you had that? I'm just curious. Like, as you've gotten more responsibility and your leadership and influence have spread throughout the organization, whether it's title or not, but you're more of a senior role, have you had less people that are willing to challenge you or say you're going the wrong direction

06:38 - 07:03
Mark Roesler: I've throughout your probably had more. Okay. I encourage people to give me their ideas or to say, you know, that might not be a good idea. And I've done the same thing with my boss. I worked for three generations of the same family and all of them have been awesome and they understand.

07:03 - 07:16
Mark Roesler: I can go to them and say, No, that's not a very good idea. Or, Let's try it this way. As long as you are respectful in your disagreement, I think you should always disagree if you have a different direction.

07:18 - 07:50
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. I just ask because it it has been harder for me, like, like, at different seasons in my career when I've led larger teams. And I think but I think it's because I was a little maybe immature in my leadership and was kinda thrust into that and had a lot of growth really early on in my career and managed a lot of people in teams. And and I think I didn't encourage that enough early on. And then now I'm just encouraging, encouraging, encouraging, like, like, please challenge my ideas.

07:51 - 08:20
Aaron Craddock: Because especially important because like, I try to hire people smarter than me in each category. And and so they, you know, I'm gonna I might know the biggest comprehensive view of the business or financial view of the business. But, I mean, in their given domains, they're always gonna know more. And so like, I'm gonna throw out an idea just because we have to make a decision. But I need them telling me if I'm like, this is wrong, and it's gonna cost us a million dollars.

08:20 - 08:23
Aaron Craddock: Like, okay, well, we should probably not do that.

08:24 - 08:50
Mark Roesler: Or we could lose drivers or there's a lot of things that could negatively impact the business. And maybe I'm not seeing that side of it. And so, yeah, you have to have that. When I first was promoted to vice president in 2001 or so, I asked the president at the time, Are you looking for a yes man? Or you need somebody to challenge?

08:50 - 08:58
Mark Roesler: He said, No, please don't be a yes man. I don't need that. I need you to challenge me. And so I've tried to live up to that for him.

08:59 - 09:07
Aaron Craddock: That's awesome. Yeah. I think that's so cool that y'all it sounds like you have that culture across your entire executive team.

09:07 - 09:07
Mark Roesler: Absolutely.

09:07 - 09:08
Aaron Craddock: Is that accurate?

09:08 - 09:10
Mark Roesler: That's cool. Yes. 100%.

09:11 - 09:31
Aaron Craddock: That's awesome. So then getting getting more into Agme specifically. So, like, Agme operates in markets that can change quickly, especially oil and gas. What have the different cycles taught you about creating stability when the business itself is unpredictable?

09:33 - 10:06
Mark Roesler: Well, as you know, oil and gas is a very up and down business, and we've had a lot of ups and a lot of downs. I think it's good to look at other markets so you can kind of spread that up and down out a little bit and maybe not the top off or bottom off of it. So we've gone into multiple markets. We have vans, we have cryogenics, we went into international. We can ship all over the world.

10:07 - 10:25
Mark Roesler: So that was a big deal for us. We do cross border into Mexico, in and out of Mexico. Just spreading out your business a little bit, still staying faithful to your core, which we are, but we do look at other opportunities.

10:26 - 10:41
Aaron Craddock: That's awesome. And so you guys have been able, like throughout your career, to be able to successfully expand into those other verticals and expand internationally. And do you think that's made your business more durable?

10:43 - 11:02
Mark Roesler: I think it will make our business more durable. I think some of those things have got us through. Some of them are still developing better. International was a huge expense for us, but it's paying off now. But it took a few years before it did.

11:02 - 11:14
Mark Roesler: It was a huge investment. And we did it at the worst time, which was during COVID. So it just took a while get it off the ground. But we're getting traction, we're making progress.

11:15 - 11:32
Aaron Craddock: That's awesome. So when conditions turn against you, so like in the market, you've been through some down seasons, what do people most need from their leader? Stability, not panic.

11:33 - 12:03
Mark Roesler: We can't overreact. It's gonna pass. Now, the last couple of years have been more of a flat than an up and down, in our business, we're kind of not used to flat. So we've had to work through that, but not panicking, just quiet, gentle leadership that says, Hey, we're gonna get through it. We're gonna come out the other side, continuing to look for opportunities so that we can keep our guys working.

12:04 - 12:12
Mark Roesler: They got families to feed and it's our responsibility to make sure they can. So just not panicking. Stability.

12:13 - 12:29
Aaron Craddock: That's good. Yeah, so this is kind of continuing on that vein of difficult seasons and navigating leadership. So can you take us inside a difficult season at ACME when your leadership was genuinely tested? What happened and what did you learn about yourself?

12:29 - 13:17
Mark Roesler: I don't know if I could think of one opportunity because there has been many. But one thing I learned was, I guess, that I have to be sure I'm listening, identifying the problem correctly and hearing both sides of what's going on. The old adage is there's always three sides and the truth is somewhere in the middle. So I try to get both sides, not react from something I hear first, make sure I get the other side, balance that out, see where the truth is or what I think is the truth, talk to my people and then, work through it. And what I've learned is to listen better, to make sure I get both sides.

13:18 - 13:42
Mark Roesler: Early in my career, I probably didn't do that as well. I know I didn't. And so sometimes I might overreact on something, before I got the other side of it. And then when I did, I felt kind of foolish because it wasn't what I thought it was. So now, years ago, I've learned to try to listen to, I'm not perfect, but I've tried to get both sides of any story before I make a decision on something.

13:42 - 14:19
Aaron Craddock: When I think through listening, because that's something I've struggled with a ton, like in my leadership is talking too much and not listening well. And in in that, like, as I'm working on becoming a better listener, I I kinda learned that it's not, which I you think you would think I should have realized this earlier, but it's not like, I thought listening was literally the act of my ears hearing what you're saying, but that didn't make people feel heard. And so how how do you as a leader, like, as you're listening, make people feel heard?

14:19 - 14:48
Mark Roesler: Well, one thing that I think is a common mistake a lot of people make is they start answering the question before the question has been asked all the way, or before the statement has been completely made, they've already formulated their response. So they're not really listening to what the person is saying. They're trying to get ahead of it. And we're busy, we got a lot of things going on. We got fires everywhere sometimes.

14:48 - 15:14
Mark Roesler: And to make sure stop and really hear what that person is saying, because they know when you're not listening, they know when you're blowing them off. And that's what makes a person feel less than if you just, you're blowing them off or you don't get their attention or they don't get your attention. That's not that much to ask. Take a minute, listen to what they're saying.

15:16 - 15:21
Aaron Craddock: Yeah, slow down and then let them just finish their thought, finish their question.

15:21 - 15:39
Mark Roesler: And then I like to repeat it. I like to repeat back, you know, so what you're telling me is, is that right? Make sure that I got what they're saying. Because sometimes I might misinterpret it. No, that's not what I mean.

15:39 - 16:01
Mark Roesler: I mean this. Oh, okay. I think, listen and let them get finished. Maybe repeat some of it back to them, the general, concept and make sure that you understand what they're trying to tell you. And then you might find that you really do have a problem, or you may find that, well, maybe they don't understand what's going on.

16:01 - 16:09
Mark Roesler: So maybe you can walk them through the process and then they come out better. Either way, you're gonna win. It's a win.

16:09 - 16:27
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16:28 - 16:57
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16:57 - 17:17
Aaron Craddock: Is there a certain time you're more apt? Like, mentioned, like, chaos in the business earlier and, you know, fires everywhere, specifically is the language you used. Is it has is is it harder for you to listen as a leader there, like, when there's chaos or stress to really slow down, or or do you think you've

17:18 - 17:43
Mark Roesler: of hold No, I on think to I thrive under that. The more pressure, the better I do. I'm just one of those people that I just do better when there's a lot going on, in my personal opinion anyway. Somebody else may disagree with that, but no, I think that I'm better when there's things going on.

17:44 - 18:13
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. That means you're built for trucking. Because trucking is just a hard I mean, a hard business. Like like, even even as a vendor, like, on our side and a partner with fleets, like, you know, we see, you know, maybe the safety lens or the crew recruiting lens, like hiring challenges. And but, you know, that's like, you know, one of 20 fires you may potentially have is a is one of those things.

18:14 - 18:34
Aaron Craddock: Yeah, and it's just a hard business to make money at and be consistent in that. So many things outside of our control economically, politically, legally, just all kinds of host of different challenges. So that means you're built for it, Mark.

18:34 - 18:35
Mark Roesler: Well, I'm here

18:35 - 18:38
Aaron Craddock: to If you like when the pressure heats up, that's awesome.

18:38 - 18:40
Mark Roesler: I love it. I love it.

18:41 - 18:59
Aaron Craddock: That's awesome. I I I say that often, like, when I'm talking about people, they're like, why are you in trucking? I I just like the challenge of it. Because similarly, like, when it doesn't mean I'm not exhausted at the end of the day when there's fires and issues and challenges. But, like, I just I have, like, a heightened focus.

19:00 - 19:22
Aaron Craddock: And then, yeah, just know I I'm still working on the listening piece. I think that's a gap I have is is that usually those days are the days I'm more apt to interrupt or not let my team feel heard. So that's something I'm working on. But as far as just plugging through and getting the work, the tasks done, like, I go into hyper mode.

19:24 - 19:35
Mark Roesler: Yeah, I do too, but I'm much better listening than I was when I first started off in my career. Not to say that all this pressure hadn't taken its toll. I actually had hair when I started.

19:39 - 19:45
Aaron Craddock: Oh, yeah. Yep. Yep, I have a few more gray hairs every week.

19:46 - 19:48
Mark Roesler: That didn't turn gray turn loose.

19:48 - 19:59
Aaron Craddock: Yeah, Yeah. I'm sure I'll get there too. So next I wanna go into, like, you're serving as chairman of the Texas Trucking Association. I think it was '20 it was '23, '24?

19:59 - 20:00
Mark Roesler: '24, '25.

20:01 - 20:09
Aaron Craddock: 2425. And so as you were serving as the chairman, what did that experience mean to you personally?

20:09 - 20:36
Mark Roesler: It was such an honor for me to move into that position, something I never expected to happen. I had an old boss that was headed in that direction. He was moving through the chairs on the executive committee and something changed and he ended up leaving. It just felt like to And honor him, just wanted to do that. But I never asked to be put on the executive committee.

20:36 - 21:03
Mark Roesler: I was called and asked and honored to be on there. And then I moved up to the chairs and became chairman during the legislative year when we were really busy, had a lot of things going on. And I was honored to serve, to represent the trucking industry in Texas. And it was a huge personal accomplishment for me. It meant the world to me.

21:04 - 21:06
Mark Roesler: I still serve on the executive committee.

21:07 - 21:35
Aaron Craddock: That's awesome. Sure with us being based out of Texas as well, I'm sure run-in now that we know each other, we'll run into each other for those things. So excited about that. So next is, As you look ahead, what are you most concerned about in the trucking industry? And then a second piece is what gives you the most confidence?

21:35 - 22:21
Mark Roesler: My most concerned about our drivers are the drivers in this industry aging out. We're not getting the younger ones in that we need to have to keep this industry going. We're not getting younger guys in, and there's a gap between the 18 year old graduate from high school that's not gonna go to college and being able to hire them at 21. Statewide, they can drive at that age, but they can't drive over the state lines. And so federally, we need some kind of change there where 18 year olds, can get into the industry because otherwise you're getting them, they go become a plumber or whatever, and you're getting them in their second career.

22:22 - 22:56
Mark Roesler: And what we need is the younger guys coming in first career to keep this business going because a lot of people are saying, and I'm seeing, we're just seeing our drivers getting older and older and then they just age out and they're or don't want to drive as much. So I think that's a big problem. What gives me confidence is there's always gonna be a need for truckers. If you got it, a truck brought it. Look around in your office, home, anywhere you are, anything you can see or touch came from a truck at some point.

22:57 - 23:16
Mark Roesler: So there's always gonna be a need. Drones are great, but they can't do everything. So I think it's a great industry to get into. I wish there was a way to encourage more younger folks to get into it, but we'll get there. It's coming.

23:16 - 23:19
Mark Roesler: It's going to change. It's going to have to.

23:19 - 23:45
Aaron Craddock: That's awesome. And I'm going to shoot you over that episode that I did recently with Lindsey with Next Gen and Trucking. We had her on the show, support. And We're a member of their organization. Yeah, because I think the more fleets that can get behind that and, just the work they're doing and advocacy at industry, industry events, schools, trade schools, just across the board.

23:46 - 23:52
Aaron Craddock: Yeah, I mean, as an industry like United, we have to work on that. We can't just ignore it. No.

23:53 - 24:16
Mark Roesler: But we have to close that gap, that 18 to 21 year old gap, because it's unlikely that a kid's going to sit around after school and work at McDonald's and then at 21 become a truck driver. They've moved on. They found a career in most cases. We really need to get those younger folks in there.

24:16 - 24:47
Aaron Craddock: Yeah, I was trying to think I got in on the technology side of trucking. Yeah, it was really my third, I guess third job, I would have been in my early 20s. But yeah, and so even on it, because I'm also thinking not just getting them into driver roles, that's the first place we go. But just across the industry, how do we get them in dispatch and technology and just the wide world of trucking?

24:48 - 25:02
Mark Roesler: I agree. It's tough to hire people, office folks. But if I don't have drivers, none of that matters. Yeah. If I don't have drivers, none of that matters.

25:03 - 25:11
Aaron Craddock: Yeah, I think, yeah, there's the truck driver and then everyone else in the organization is here to support the truck driver.

25:12 - 25:26
Mark Roesler: Absolutely. They're definitely top tier. And I want to mention also that, I don't know when this is going to air, but next week is National Truck Driver Appreciation Week. So Think A Trucker.

25:27 - 25:37
Aaron Craddock: Yeah, think a trucker. Yeah, this will come out right after that. But I think Truck Driver Appreciation Week, though, should be every week. So when you hear this, think a trucker. Yeah.

25:37 - 25:38
Aaron Craddock: Yeah, this week.

25:39 - 25:43
Mark Roesler: It should. We were heroes during COVID, but kinda it's kinda fallen off a little bit.

25:43 - 25:52
Aaron Craddock: So after more than three decades in trucking, what do you hope people you have led would say about the way you made them feel and the kind of leader you were?

25:52 - 26:14
Mark Roesler: I hope that they feel respected. I hope they feel heard. I hope they feel enlightened by any guidance I may have given them. And I hope and pray for their success to continue. I hope they see me as someone that did good by them.

26:14 - 26:30
Aaron Craddock: That's good. It's a good legacy right there. So yes, thank you. Thank you, Mark Ressler, for joining us today. And so, Mark, again, you guys just got a masterclass, everybody that joined joined the show, whether you join us on YouTube, Spotify, etcetera.

26:30 - 26:53
Aaron Craddock: So, Mark has been anywhere from owner operator to executive at Acme Trucking and been there for over thirty two years. Served as the chairman of the TXTA in that capacity, is currently on the Texas DMV board. So as people, Mark, are looking to connect with you, where's the best place for them to connect with you?

26:54 - 26:57
Mark Roesler: LinkedIn probably is the best place to connect.

26:58 - 27:11
Aaron Craddock: Awesome. So we'll put your LinkedIn. I just sent you a connection request right before this show because somehow we weren't connected yet. So I sent that over. And then I also wanna do a shout out to Willie Nelson with TXDA for connecting us.

27:12 - 27:22
Aaron Craddock: I really appreciate that. So anyway, Mark, I really, really appreciate your time today. I hope you enjoyed it. I think we're gonna add a ton of value to the industry. Thank you for your time.

27:23 - 27:26
Mark Roesler: Aaron, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. I enjoyed it.