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:
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