Winner's Circle: Be Patient and Continue Learning

Welcome to the Winners Circle, the podcast for all Averitt associates no matter where you are or what you do. Don't forget to subscribe on your podcast app of choice so you don't miss out on future episodes. And now, host of the Winners Circle, Bailey Penicuff. Welcome back to the Winners Circle podcast. Firstly, I wanna say thank you so much for the warm welcome I got for hosting this podcast, taking the place of Amos Rogen, and really diving in to portray what it means to work here at Averitt, what it means to be in our culture. Today, I've got a really special episode that I think, honestly, we're gonna wanna listen in, dig in, and really pay attention because I'm excited. I feel like I'm gonna get to learn a lot today, and I'm honestly excited, to talk to who we're talking to today, which is Brandon Fox, someone who's been with our company since two thousand and two, full time since two thousand three, started in the call center, went as a transportation specialist, then stayed in sales for a few years after that, now a service center director in Decatur, Alabama. So without further ado, Brandon, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Bailey, thanks for having me. I'm excited, humbled, and very excited to be here to talk about our Avericulture and, who we are as a company. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. If there's one person that I've learned, this is the guy I wanna be like in our company. It's gotta gotta be you. From the people that I've known, my own mother telling me if I wanna be somebody in this company, model after you. So I'm really thankful that you're here today. Thank you again. I'm excited for myself, let alone everybody else who's listening. I'm humbled. That's very kind of you to say. Let's start with this. You started in Cookeville. You're a Cookeville citizen originally. Went to CHS Cookeville High School. Yeah. You started in two thousand and two. What about Averyt pulls in a person straight out of college? What what did you see that you were like, I wanna give this a shot? So I'll just be honest. I went to Cookeville High School, then I went to Tennessee Tech. Right? Born and raised here. That's just what you do. Right? And I was living at home mom and dad. I really didn't know what I wanted to do. I thought I wanted to be a pharmacist. That didn't turn up being the case. But Averitt's always been in the community. I have a lot of friends, that work here. I grew up with a lot of the, the authors of our company in the past, their children as well. So I saw Averitt, you know, going through school the entire time. And then you come to college and, that didn't quite work out for me, so I didn't finish that. I wish I would have. So I tell my children that to to finish that as well. But, the culture and, I know that's a easy word to say, but, when you look around, you talk with all the people. And having Bailey knowing all the people personally and who they are, their character, their morals, their values, it just seemed like an obvious choice. So, you know, two thousand two starting part time in the call center, you know, I didn't know anything. And then you go through a eight week training program. Woody Davis was the vice president at that time. Elaine was there. Grossholz. So just, getting to experience that as a as a young person, not really sure what I wanted to do, but thankfully and, I ended up at Averitt. Very, very thankful to be here, and, you know, twenty something years later. So Yeah. If anyone's got a good track record with the company, it's gotta be you at this point. Hey. There's there's a lot of folks who've been here thirty, forty years. Mister Sasser himself, fifty four. Absolutely. Is there when you were at the call center, was there ever a moment that you were maybe a couple years in, few years in that you were like, okay. Maybe this is more than just like a job. Maybe I enjoy being here longer. Was there ever that this could be my career? Did you have a moment? Was there anything that happened? Yeah. You hit the nail on the head. I think so I started in o two, got married in o five. You know? And then my wife's in, she's in nursing school. She finally graduated in o nine. So I think the point where it really became, hey. This could be my future. This is where I'm going to earn a living and provide for my family. Well, somewhere around the year two thousand eight, and, had a great opportunity come about and, knew about it and was researching it and thought, well, maybe this is something I can grow. All my leaders and mentors that I was looking to for guidance, so Woody Davis being one of them, was like, hey. I think this would be a good opportunity for you. It's gonna be difficult. You got a lot to learn. This isn't your skill set, but I think you can do the job. And I was working with our systems design group, you know, in between, the programmers, and the end user, all of us, using the s four hundred on a daily basis. So having to learn that seemed very, very challenging, but I was like, I have to think I'm up to it. It was at that point, I was like, this could be this could be a career for me. And, you know, that was from o two to o eight, so I was already, you know, six years in. And I've done a lot in the call center, and got to see our culture, how we talk to people, how we treat our customers, all those things. That's but that's really like okay. We're about to have baby number one in two thousand nine, and then, just learned so much from o eight on. Well, you'd say baby number one. I just wanna just ask you straight, real fast answer. How many children do you have? Yeah. We have six. You have six children. Yes. That's amazing. Kudos to you, guys. Hats off to mama for that. Absolutely. Absolutely. You were in the call center Yes. About to have baby number one. What did you think or what did you see that you were like, maybe to move further, I might have to move? Because you did end up going to Cincinnati, Ohio. Yep. What did you think was there a conversation with your wife? Was there conversations with leaders that you had? What made you feel like you were secure enough in this culture, in this company, that you feel comfortable enough to move your family? That's a great question. And I think everybody's, you know, got a different, moment or, hey. Here's a job opportunity that, within the company. I think the first thing you hit on is you gotta know that you wanna be a part of this culture and part of this company. Right? We got almost ten thousand people, at this point, fifty four years later, a bunch of like minded individuals that wanna do the right thing, wanna be their best every day, which which is our vision, mister Sasser set forth. We had a lot of discussions over the years because from o eight to eighteen, those opportunities that came about. We discussed them. We we looked into, hey. Can we make this work? The timing just never worked out for those things. But I kept thinking, okay. Everybody's telling me they think I'd be a good all my mentors are telling me, hey. I think you'd be good at at this position or or this particular, job function. I'm like, okay. Well, maybe maybe I can do that. I've never done it before, but I think I I think I can do it. I think you just have to you have to be on the same page if you're married with your spouse. And then at that point, you know, you gotta go out on a limb. And and we did. We had five children at the time. We moved in twenty nineteen, Bailey, to Cincinnati, Ohio. Like, I thought that was pretty much New York City. I was like, I mean, I'm from Cookeville. I don't know I don't know where that's at. Man, got up there with just such a great team, supportive, welcoming, so much domain knowledge among the team members there. I was just very thankful to have had that opportunity and to make that move. But that also comes, through decision making of my own, but as well as having, my wife, Lauren, our children on board. She homeschools the children and, does a fantastic job of that. She's very detailed, very organized, has goals set for all them on a daily basis. A lot of home cooked meals, a lot of, correcting going on at the Fox household, but, it was at that time, you know, two thousand eighteen, I was like, okay. I think we're at a point where we can make this move. And I'll tell you what, Bailey. You don't know until you make the move because, you know, twenty nineteen, December, we bought our house finally in Cincinnati. And, you know, we all know what happened in twenty twenty with the pandemic. So I'm just very thankful to be with the company I was at that time. Very, again, very supportive, very welcoming, and everybody helped me grow as I moved into the job of being a transportation specialist in Cincinnati. Very thankful for Eddie Atkins, Daryl McComas. Everybody on that's watching this podcast. They all have mentors in in their favorite career. And without those people, you know, pushing you and saying, hey. You I think you can do this. You may never make the leap and the jump, but, I think you obviously have to be on page if you're married, with, with your spouse. If you're not married, then, you know, if you think you can do it and, you know, Bailey says, hey, Brandon. I think you got the skill set to do this job. At that point, it's a decision for you to make, you know, if if you're not married and, to to what our owner says, mister Sasser, sky's the limit for you. Absolutely. With your with you being such a big family, man, how important do you think it is to have our what we call our family, our work family? How important is that, and how integrated are you with your at home personal family and your family together? It's a great question. My wife, just, yesterday, somebody was having an ailment at the service center, and she's also an RN, registered nurse. And they said, hey. Can I have your wife's number? I'd like to maybe get her thoughts before I, you know, head into the medical world and see what, what they're gonna say. And I said, sure. So I I gave her her cell phone number, and they talked through it. And, examples like that, I've experienced throughout my time at Averitt Express. It doesn't matter if it's in Cincinnati, Bowling Green, Decatur, Orlando, Dallas, wherever you may be, Nashville. I think it's it truly is a family, and it's an extension of that. I can think of at least the service center, where we're at right now with the in Decatur, Alabama. Everybody's been very welcoming. It feels like a family there. Everybody's been very supportive. You know, you're moving somewhere, Bailey, where you don't know you don't have a a school system yet. You don't know where you're gonna live. I mean, you you project all those things probably as you're thinking about where you might wanna end up and what opportunities arise. You know, do you wanna move to Florida? Do you wanna move to Texas? Do you wanna be in Tennessee? Do you wanna be in Chicago? There's opportunities all throughout, our Averitt service locations, but, you gotta find the right fit for you. But but then when you do make the jump, you wanna be on board and, part of that team there at the service center as an extension of your family, that you're with. Because you're with them eight plus hours a day. And I I say this, you know, we've we've got a lot of challenges. You know, folks may call out. They may be sick. Somebody may have a family health issue they gotta attend to, and now you gotta fill the gap. Right? So we're at work all day long with these folks, servicing our customer. Let's enjoy what we're doing. Let's be glad be glad and excited to, to be with the team. So, yes, we do a lot of texting, a lot of phone calls outside of, work hours that, mean a lot to me as far as being a part of the Averitt family. And being with that Averitt family, you've been going for twenty plus years now. How have you used that experience that you've gotten in the call center, transportation specialist sales, to now being a service center director? How have you used the family aspect to now be a service center director for your team indicator? That's a great question. I think, obviously, having a a large family, six six children, and me and my wife, there is a lot of, perspective and domain knowledge and wisdom, I guess, that comes from let's see. The oldest is fifteen, and we've been married twenty years this year. So, having that knowledge and experience raising a family, it does help you in your leadership. You don't have to be, you know, a mom or a dad to, to get promoted and do a great job, at at being a service center director or any other position within the company. But having those skills and talents that you're working with your family, they really do help as far as coaching on a daily basis at the service center, helping uplift somebody maybe that's down, maybe is going through a struggle in their life. I found that those skills as far as being a parent have really played a big part into being a leader as well. I know you you're hungry to keep growing, to keep learning, to keep pursuing new things. Yes, sir. Now it's your service center director role. Is there a an a path you still see of, I'm very happy where I am, but, man, do I wanna keep growing? So, yes, different for everybody. Absolutely. To each their own. I always say that. And everybody's got, different skill sets. Maybe there's limitations for folks. Maybe maybe they're not willing to move. Right? But you wanna do this position or this position. As far as for me, just speaking for me personally, I told my vice presidents when I interviewed for this, Decatur service center, director position. I said, hey. I have aspirations and, want to grow beyond this position within the company. I said, I hope that it nobody's offended by me saying that. Guess what? They're not because they want you to grow. They're looking for to build their bench. Everybody in the company is doing that, and we have to be thinking about the future. Everybody as a leader does. So that's something that I I definitely have aspirations to do things, beyond what I'm currently doing. But I will tell you this. It it would have to be the right opportunity. You gotta think about, all the variables. We got a large family. I've gotta think about, you know, where we wanna be as far as geographically in relation to I've got grand the kids have grandparents. My parents are here, and my wife's parents are both, here in Cookeville. So we wanna be close to them as well, if possible. So, again, everybody's situation is different in in that regard. But for me personally, I do have aspirations to grow. So, you know, I'm very thankful and happy for the opportunity. I got so much to learn here. I've only been, you know, doing the service center director, position for five months, and I've already learned so many things. I can tell you, Bailey, everybody, no matter what you're doing, you're part of a team. You may be really good at everything, but you're only one person. You can't do it by yourself. So, at Averitt having almost ten thousand folks along with you, you know, the shipment starts in Milwaukee. Maybe it's a UI, maybe it's coming out of Norcross, and it's going to Nashville where you got points along the way that everybody's doing their job coming together to to take care of that freight and provide good service to the customer, you know, from beginning to end. And that all starts with, with the people we hire. But, do have aspirations to grow beyond this, and, hopefully, it'll it'll work out that way. I think it I think it might. I think it might. And even I I can attest to what you said too. I've never once felt like me putting myself out to be like, I wanna learn more. I wanna do more. Never once has it been met with, yeah, but are you comfortable? They're like, absolutely. Let's figure out a way to do that where you are now. Let's see what could happen in a couple years. We've never once stopped somebody from wanting to grow. And we don't put limitations on you. Absolutely. If you if you have the if you have the desire, the willingness to work, and to learn and to listen, very key, point right there. I don't know that I've said that yet, but listening is very important. People gonna lift you up. You you you you can we don't wanna put limitations on any of our associates. If they have something they wanna do, they have the skill sets, desire, and ability to do that, wanna have the work ethic, let's lift them up and give them the coach them and give them the skills to do that. Yes? So you kinda tee me up for my next question, honestly. Alright. Let's go back to not beginning, Brandon. Let's go you're already bought in. What would you give advice to that Brandon? What little piece or nugget, as we like to say, of advice would you give to him? It's a really good question. I think if I could go back in time and and talk to that, Brandon, I think I would say be patient. You know, I'm already bought into the culture. I'm planning on retiring here. Just be patient. Enjoy what you're about to experience because it were it was a really great experience moving to Cincinnati and getting to go into sales. Man, I was so fired up to go into that door every day. I'd knocking on the door, not knowing if it was gonna get ran out by a dog or it's gonna be my, you know, my next biggest account. So I was really excited for that opportunity and enjoyed it so much and learned so much. But then I'm like, alright. What's the next thing I wanna do? What's the next thing I wanna do? Because, like you said, I have aspirations to grow and really love our company and our culture. I'm fired up about it. I would just say be patient. The time's gonna come. Just be patient. Continue learning. Continue doing a good job in what you're doing, at that particular time. And people are gonna notice. They're gonna ask you questions. Hey. Would you be interested in this? Or this opportunity may be coming open soon. Just be patient. Absolutely. I love that answer. I was hoping it would be somewhere around there just from the time we spent together. That was fantastic. Well, Brandon, I wanna thank you for coming in, for honestly teaching me. I feel like I've learned more about our culture in the last fifteen minutes than I have not in the year I've been here, but in a while. So Great. I'm very thankful that you came in. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. And thank you guys for listening, getting to just see a peek at what twenty years of experience, twenty years of culture can look like at Averitt if you just buckle down, buy in, see the work inside and out, make it feel like a family because that's what we are. That's what the winner circle is. We are for each other, and we are here to do a good job. Thank you guys so much.