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Episode 13 - Investing In Your Team and Company Culture With Bill Lally Jr.
107 Plays4 years ago
Our guest is BILL LALLY JR., President of the Janel Group, a world-class seamless supply chain solutions company that operates with an agile, customer-centric, team-based approach that provides measurable, transformational value to the supply chain community.
Bill has led the integration of acquired companies, spearheaded technological connections with customers, and maintained close relationships with customers, agents, partners, and industry leaders around the globe. He also believes deeply in the Servant Leadership model of leadership, and we’ll dive a little deeper into the Janel Group’s company culture in this episode.
TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Janel group consistently espouses its culture on social media. What motivates that, and what does it take to create a culture like the one at Janel Group?
- The impact of having a solid company culture established and reinforced consistently, especially in light of hard times like the COVID 19 pandemic.
- Who has influenced Bill during his career to be the kind of leader he is
- The challenges facing newcomers in the supply chain and logistics line of work
- Newcomers need mentors
- Challenges the supply chain and logistics industry is facing today
- Factors to consider when your logistics business is looking for new customers
- What’s next for the Janel Group
“Make sure you have that talented staff because…they really pay their dividends…”
EPISODE LINKS:
- Bill Lally Jr. - LinkedIn
- Janel Group
Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts so that you’re updated when we post a new episode!
Take care and until next time,
Brian Glick
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Transcript
Introduction and Overview
00:00:02
Speaker
If we didn't have the all hands on that culture, everybody chipping in, everybody helping out, you know, we would have been dead in the water. And it speaks volumes to me, you know, our people and specifically the people on the tech side of the house that just really stepped up big time and those talented people, they really paid their dividends. Welcome to Profiles by Chain.io. I'm Brian Glick, Chain.io's founder and CEO.
00:00:28
Speaker
Over the coming weeks and years, we'll feature the partners and customers who make up the Chanayon network. We'll focus on learning about the individuals within these companies and how they've helped build the organizations that drive our network. Together, we'll learn what drew them to the industry, why they made it such a big part of their lives, and where they see us all going in the future.
Meet Bill Lolly of Genel Group
00:00:52
Speaker
In this episode, we'll be talking to Bill Lolly. Bill is the president of Genel Group,
00:00:57
Speaker
Bill has been in the industry more than 20 years and has done nearly every job up and down a logistics service provider. He's led the integration of acquired companies, led technical leadership positions in customer integration, and maintained very close relationships with everyone he's encountered through the industry.
Exploring Leadership and Team Dynamics
00:01:15
Speaker
In this episode, we're going to be talking quite a bit about servant leadership and
00:01:20
Speaker
how important it is to be genuine in connecting with not just customers, but also your team to build a positive experience for everyone. And without further ado, here's the episode. Hey Bill, thanks so much for joining us. Yeah, absolutely Brian. Thanks for having me. So always like to get started really understanding your journey through the industry. So can you tell us a little bit about how you got into this business?
00:01:48
Speaker
Yeah, sure. Absolutely. You know, I really got into logistics. My father was actually in logistics. And, you know, I started in high school for extra cash. I used to come in, unload containers, you know, the days before wires and digital check scanners in the office, you know, do the check runs, getting the cash into the bank before three o'clock, making copies of entry packets and all that fun stuff. So that was really, really how I started. And then
00:02:16
Speaker
after high school, went off to college, and stuck with a little bit for some part-time work, but kind of got addicted at an early age. So logistics, it's in my blood. So here I am. Yeah. I've heard so many people across my career, and I find that there's the people who were born into it, the people who fell into it. Sure. Right. And as one of the people who fell into it, I've always been a little jealous, I guess, of those of you who have been born into it, because it's more like a fish to water situation, it feels like. Absolutely. Yeah.
00:02:44
Speaker
So you obviously have choices in your life and you've managed to really stay relatively stable. So, uh, why did you stay in the business? What motivated that? Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, the, the simple answer is I love it, right? I love the, I love the business. I love the excitement of it. I love that everything's kind of constantly changing, right? Never very rarely is there a dull moment in logistics.
00:03:11
Speaker
But I think one of the real big reasons too, uh, you know, I love Janelle group and I, and I love the people
Culture and Teamwork at Janelle
00:03:18
Speaker
here. Um, I've had so many great opportunities to travel the world, meet so many different people and experience so many different things that I probably wouldn't otherwise have been able to do in my life. So it's, it's really a, I'd say love hate, but you know, I don't hate much of it. I, you know, it certainly gets stressed out at times, but it's more love for sure. Little follow-up question on that.
00:03:39
Speaker
you guys, your social media for jail group is you guys really wear your culture on your sleeve. Absolutely. And, uh, you know, I'm curious what motivates that and kind of what it takes to, to create a culture where people are comfortable doing that. Yeah, absolutely. So it's really a great question. Um, you know, obviously, you know, the culture of Janelle, we, you know, I am the benefactor of having a lot of great leaders before me and who have really set the tone and
00:04:08
Speaker
It's a raise your hand culture. It's it's an all hands on deck. We're all on the same team. We try to keep it as much of a family type atmosphere as we possibly can, especially in today's world. It's really easy to allow technology and allow growth and expansion to separate us and disconnect us a little bit. But the culture of Janelle is 100 percent driven by the people. And like I said, I've been the benefactor of
00:04:37
Speaker
of coming into a company and being part of a company that has had a lot of great leaders that have really everyone has continued to build upon that culture and just make sure that everybody feels like part of the team and that everyone can raise their hand and ask a question, ask for help and they're listened to, they're not ignored. So I know for Chain.io, one of the things that I've been thankful for this year is
Navigating Challenges with Culture
00:05:04
Speaker
you know, that we put in the effort on the culture in previous years, that we're now kind of getting the dividends from. Has that really affected the way that you guys have moved through COVID, already having sort of that goodwill in place? Yeah, sure. Absolutely. And, you know, getting to COVID and everything, it certainly speaks volumes of our team, right? And all the people that we've had here and
00:05:28
Speaker
especially on the tech side of the house, we were forced into this and thrust into it. And if we didn't have the all hands on that culture, everybody chipping in, everybody helping out, we would have been dead in the water. And it speaks volumes to me, our people and specifically the people on the tech side of the house that just really stepped up big time and
00:05:52
Speaker
It was, as I'm sure everyone can relate to, it was a bit interesting there in mid early March when all the lockdown orders started coming out. And it was just, it was a free for all trying to figure out where you could get laptops at.
00:06:07
Speaker
how we could scramble to keep the wheels moving, but we did it. I'd like to take more credit myself, but like I said, it was absolutely the people of Janelle that just figured out a way. We dug in and we figured out a way to get it done and keep our customers moving as best we could and keep their freight moving. I think interesting is a very generous word for what it was. Absolutely. But yes, I agree.
00:06:36
Speaker
So you talked about having a lot of leaders before you, right? And then setting up that groundwork. Who are some of the influences for you? So I think, you know, this one was, this one was a pretty, is a pretty interesting question, right? And it's, you know, for, for me, uh, one of, you know, hands down, my biggest influence was my father, right? I mean, he, in the career coming from the industry, you know, originally started working for him and he certainly taught me
00:07:03
Speaker
I don't want to say everything I know because the industry has evolved quite a bit, but the core values really stay the same. And it's about putting the employees and the customers first and making sure that you're making decisions that are in the best interest of those two groups, the employees and the customers, and the rest kind of falls into place. But yeah, hands down, he has been my biggest influence.
00:07:28
Speaker
I think a lot of the people in Janelle, a lot of the sayings that he kind of preached to me over the years have stuck in my head. And a lot of people are probably a little sick of hearing some of them, but they certainly have rung true through the years.
00:07:43
Speaker
You know, something as simple as, you know, the dullest pencil will always remember more than the sharpest mind. Right. And I think that was a nice way of saying, all right, you know, buddy, I know you think you're going to remember all this, but write it down. And it's just, it's a phrase that I constantly find myself using. And like I said, I'm sure a lot of people are a little, uh, a little tired of hearing them, but, but absolutely it's, it's been a, he's been a huge influence on, on me.
Mentorship and Career Influences
00:08:06
Speaker
And in addition to that, there's been tons of people along the way. And the journey at Janelle has been one that has really evolved. And, you know, I could probably, you know, there's a lot of people that have influenced me over the years. And, you know, most of them, most all of them in a positive, a positive way. So I find myself very lucky to have had so many people that have left the mark on me. My, my wife and I were actually laughing over the weekend because there's a
00:08:35
Speaker
slightly off color saying that one of her bosses, before we even met, had said to her, which was, you can, I'll tone it down slightly, but you can crap in one hand and hope in the other and see which one fills up first, right? But it's very effective. And he said that to her 20 years ago, right? And we're still saying that in our house to this date, right?
00:09:01
Speaker
There's things that we say to the younger people in the organization. They really do stick. Absolutely. Mostly to repetition. Yeah, absolutely. And to that note, I kind of toned it down a little bit, but essentially, I always took it as it was a nice way of saying, write it down, stupid. Just take out the pen and the notebook and write it down. And to this day, it's
00:09:24
Speaker
It's something that stuck with me and people make comments to this day that like, wow, how do you recall all this stuff? And it's my notebook that from an early age in my career, it was preached to me to just write it down.
The Complexity of Modern Logistics
00:09:38
Speaker
So I was thinking the other day about how when I got into this business and I came in through the customer's brokerage side, that you could basically describe what our customers did, most who were
00:09:54
Speaker
you know, mostly consumer goods wearing apparel and the like, as they made stuff in Asia, they brought it to Los Angeles and they put it on a truck, right? And now the world is much, much more complicated than that, right? And we're helping, you know, Janelle integrate with people who are moving stuff in all sorts of directions, all over the world, multimodal, real-time visibility, all of these things, you know, across all these situations.
00:10:21
Speaker
For people starting today where it's not so simple coming into it, what do you think the challenges are that they're facing that maybe we didn't a couple of decades ago? Wow, yeah. It is a large question. I think one of the things is the industry is so large, like you mentioned.
00:10:40
Speaker
Figuring out where to focus is certainly a challenge that people as they're starting out, because I do truly believe that being well-rounded and being able to offer those solutions to your customers is absolutely the name of the game and what the end goal has to be in this industry. But for me, I think just finding the right things to focus on upfront, finding the things that move the needle for you, figuring out ways to build those relationships,
00:11:09
Speaker
and find the right mentors to help you through your journey. Those are the types of things that starting out are immensely important. Like anything else, you're finding that right Rolodex. You can't know all the answers, but having the Rolodex and the people to call and reach out to is absolutely a massive challenge that pays huge dividends down the road for you in this industry.
00:11:37
Speaker
together kind of as an industry, what do you think the next set of challenges are? And I know that we're living, we're living through a big one right now. If we can, if we can, if we can look over the, over the top of the hill a little bit, kind of, or at least the Janelle, what do you guys see as sort of the next things?
Continuous Challenges and Technological Integration
00:11:55
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. So.
00:11:57
Speaker
For us, when you think about it, fuel costs, driver shortages, equipment shortages, government regulations, I think about it now. Those are the same challenges that I was facing 25 years ago for starting out in the industry. I think those are just always going to be there.
00:12:22
Speaker
just linger forever and essentially probably 25 years from now are going to be the same challenges. But in terms of something unique to today, I think as we were kind of talking, you know, a little bit before about, you know, how we, how we leverage technology and, and how we use it to, to kind of help us in our day to day, you know, at Janelle, our big focus is out always, how do we improve the customer and employee experience?
00:12:49
Speaker
And one of the main ways that we do that is through leveraging technology, but figuring out ways to keep the personal touch. So for me, it is absolutely one of the biggest challenges that we're facing and that we're always trying to remain focused on is how do we leverage technology? How do we increase the transparency that our customers demand from us, right? But keep that personal touch and keep it so that we can
00:13:19
Speaker
you know, have the conversations and, and make sure that we're building the relationships, but give them that real time information that they need. So does that influence how you look for customers, you know, or what areas you might focus on when you're, when you're trying to evaluate what a good customer looks like to you, that somebody who wants that personal touch or wants that engagement, because I know I personally have had customers on all points in that spectrum.
00:13:47
Speaker
Yeah, sure. Absolutely. So great question. And I know for us, it is, it is absolutely something that, you know, there's times where we have to tell customers that, right. Listen, this, this just might not be the right fit for you. Um, you know, some of the, some of the players that are looking for the, you know, the absolute cheapest, you know, dirt cheap rate in the industry and, uh, and just kind of looking for no service, no solution, just that pure commodity sell on
00:14:16
Speaker
lowest possible rate. Odds are they're not going to be a great fit. Do we have some that we can make work? Absolutely. But at the end of the day, the value that that we bring to the table is not that kind of wholesale commodity sell. The value that we sell is our people, our technology, our investment in the technology and our industry knowledge. We're selling a solution versus a commodity. So
00:14:42
Speaker
Are there companies that that doesn't fit with? Absolutely. And we're constantly trying to match ourselves up and make sure that we're driving value. Cause at the end of the day, if we're not driving value, we can, we can be swapped out tomorrow and the customer won't really miss a beat or really feel anything. So we absolutely target specific, uh, service oriented customers. Yeah. I used to try to express to customers that you're going to pay us a little bit more on every shipment.
00:15:10
Speaker
But that one shipment, when you need us to be there at three in the morning on a Saturday night and your job's going to be on the line, you're going to really appreciate spending that extra couple of dollars. A hundred percent agree. And it's funny you say that. I was just down in our Houston branch.
00:15:31
Speaker
We had that we have a gentleman there who is phenomenal right and it's the same right you're not paying for the 30 minutes it takes me to do the job you're paying for the 30 years it took me to learn how to do the job. And you know it was extremely evident to me because we were out it was a massive move c one thirty fuselage right a huge.
00:15:50
Speaker
Huge move and he makes it look easy, right? Everything's out there. Everything's coordinated. You know, I was with just because it's more fun than, you know, sitting in an office there and at a computer screen. So you, right, you get out there, you're, you're, you're in the field, you're getting your hands a little dirty, but it's really amazing to sit back and watch him kind of coordinate the whole thing. And right. They're paying for us to be there and for John specifically to go out there, coordinate the whole thing. And
00:16:16
Speaker
it's stress free for them or as stress free as it can be. And they kind of get to sit back, put their feet up and, and watch him, you know, apply his, you know, 30 plus years of experience to just make it look easy when it clearly is not right. It's, uh, it's certainly, certainly a complex move. So I, uh, I'm always jealous of those of you in the industry who get to move the really cool stuff. Those of us who used to move 30, 40, 50,000 containers of
00:16:44
Speaker
plastic toys and t-shirts and whatever. Never get a cool social media picture out of that. Don't let me fool you. We do that too. The big cooler moves are few and far between, but it is fun and I always take advantage when I can get out there and go meet the customers, shake the hands and
00:17:03
Speaker
And just get to see it because, uh, it sure beats, like you said, moving, uh, 10,040 foot high cubes of widgets, right? From, from China to LA. It, uh, it adds a little bit. We love those customers too. Absolutely. Yep. They keep the lights on. So well, and they often have problems that are just a little more subtle, right? Yep. Yep. Origin consolidation and free trade agreements and all that fun stuff. So what do you guys have coming up? What's kind of the big priorities at Chanel for the next.
00:17:33
Speaker
however long we can all see in front of our noses at this point. Yeah, so aside from the fact that it's hard to see more than a week in front of you in the current environment that we are in, barring any drastic lockdowns or spikes in COVID or anything else, we are certainly focused.
Growth Strategies and Talent Investment
00:17:56
Speaker
One of our big things is making technology a core competency of everything we do and building that into the transactions and
00:18:04
Speaker
and making sure that we're using it to enhance the customer and employee experience. That is front and foremost in front on our agenda. And I think one of the other things that we really are focused on going forward and it piggybacks off the same COVID model, right, is just finding, attracting, and developing talent.
00:18:29
Speaker
I think that COVID absolutely just really highlighted and demonstrated the need for a talented workforce and staff because I can't praise them enough in terms of, you know, when we got kind of dumped and, all right, you know, everybody pack up your stuff and go home and don't come back. We thought it was two weeks. Here we are eight months later, right, still kind of
00:18:52
Speaker
in the same boat, but just making sure that you have those talented staff members because they really made it look easy. And as a management team, I don't think anyone was prepared. We had contingency plans for one or two offices going down due to a natural disaster, but
00:19:11
Speaker
We admittedly didn't really have a plan for the whole country shutting down nationwide for eight plus months, but having those talented people. After everyone else did. Everyone else just took it in stride. Yeah, absolutely. But those talented people
00:19:30
Speaker
they really paid their dividends. Right. And for us, you know, we looked at it and we've been talking about it and finding a way to double down on that. And, you know, how can we, how can we find more a talent, talented people? How can we attract more talented people and how can we invest in the talented people we have and, you know, and really, really kind of supercharge them and turn them all into, you know, just absolute superstars. So, so that is absolutely on our agenda.
00:19:57
Speaker
And one of the other things that we've been really focused on for the future is acquisitions. By no means are we the DSV model, right? Where we're just trying to gobble people up and then kind of absorb the business and cut out all everybody in our path. We actually have the exact opposite approach. I think probably half of our leadership team now has come through acquisitions and
00:20:25
Speaker
The way we look at it is a lot of those talented people and staff members and customers and all that stuff has come through those acquisitions. So we look at it kind of from the opposite angle that some of the bigger players do and that it's a great way to strategically grow our company, but also it's a great way to strategically develop our staff and our workforce and bring new people and product offerings in that really just develop and make us stronger as a company.
00:20:51
Speaker
That is, that is certainly our focus and it's, and it's a lot of fun too, right? It's, it's a lot of fun to get out there and talk to new people and meet new people and, and kind of see how they're, they're operating and dealing with the challenges of today.
Conclusion and Shared Values
00:21:03
Speaker
So I'm going to wrap this up with a genuine compliment, which is that in, in all these episodes I've done and really in through my career, you hear a lot of people talk about their staff and some of them.
00:21:20
Speaker
pay service to them begrudgingly and some of them do it because it's what you're supposed to say. But you have to, every single thing I've asked, you're just bar none. I think in this over this last 24 and a half minutes, you've brought back to your team. Yep. Right. And that is, that is probably I'm going to venture. It is more rare than you are probably even aware of just because you do live it. Right. It is not the experience that I have had.
00:21:49
Speaker
It's certainly not sliding anyone in the space, but to really just have that always be the first thought. I hear, why do you invest in technology? Most people, it's a cost savings, or, generously, it's a customer benefit. But to say customer and team in the same breath is pretty rare.
00:22:10
Speaker
Absolutely. Well, I put us on that. Yeah, no, absolutely. Thank you. I appreciate that. And and I think it really, yeah, it certainly highlights the way I feel and the way we look at the organization. Right. It's like we like we've said a couple of times, you know, they make us look good at the end of the day. You know, we like to fancy ourselves right as being the smartest person in the room. But nine times out of 10, it's it's the team behind us that really just makes us look good.
00:22:41
Speaker
Thanks so much to Bill for that wonderful episode. Really appreciate his insights and his genuine care for his team and for everyone he encounters in his work life. And I hope we all took away great lessons on how we can bring a positive environment into our industry and our teams in general. Thanks again.