LOCATED IN CONLEY, FEPCO Container Inc. operates in 48 states with its fleet of dry vans, containers, flatbed, reefers and step decks. Owners Wayne and Paula Smith recently opened a truck and trailer repair and wrecker business; they now have a total of seven businesses at their location, fulfilling a long-time vision of offering a one-stop shop for the trucking industry.
HOW/WHEN DID YOU FIRST BECOME INVOLVED IN THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY?
Wayne: I started working at Bowman Transportation, Inc. when I was 17, and I had 90 people under my direct supervision by age 21. The company was liquidated 27 years later after Mr. Bowman’s death, and I went to work for a firm that was brought in to liquidate the company’s assets. Then Felton Pearson contacted me to take over the operations, sales and administration of his two trucking businesses. I took the job and got 1 percent ownership in each business initially. We went on to open FEPCO Container in 1995.
Paula: I have been in trucking most all of my adult life. I started with FEPCO in 1995 as an operation manager and grew from there to where I am today.
WHY DO YOU CHOOSE TO LEAD?
Paula: Both of us are very strong-willed people as far as seeing our vision and growing it. We try to bring people together and engage them so we can build a better working group.
WHAT IS YOUR MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY?
Wayne: It can be summed up in three words: faith, mentor and partner. Faith: We have to put God first in everything we say and do. Mentor: We have to be role models, and lead by example. We do whatever needs to be done and we never ask anybody to do anything we wouldn’t do ourselves. Partner: This is one of our favorite words. We tell people all the time that if something is good for me and not for you — or vice versa — then we are not going to do it. But if we partner together, we can make it work.
We try to inspire people, motivate, empower and delegate to them and let them do their jobs. We don’t believe in micromanaging.
Paula: Three words: Trust the process.
WHAT STEPS DO YOU TAKE TO RETAIN EMPLOYEES?
Paula: We listen to the pulse of our people. We spend a lot of time talking with them to learn what makes them happy versus what doesn’t. We have a close relationship with them; there’s not one of our drivers who doesn’t have our phone numbers, and they know if they have a problem they can call or text us 24/7.
We also do exit interviews to see what we could be doing better, and we try to use that to help us grow internally. We look at other companies; if a company is doing one thing, and they’re losing a lot of drivers, we want to make sure that we stay away from that.
HOW DO YOU APPROACH PLANNING?
Paula: Wayne and I ride together to and from work, so we do a board meeting just between us on a daily basis. We talk about everything that is going on. If we have an issue come up, we look at it and say, “How do we prevent this from happening in the future and grow beyond it?”
Wayne: We try to engage our people. It’s not just about Paula and me, it’s about our family here. We’re a bottom-up, not a top-down company; we want to hear from our people, no matter who they are or what position they have within the companies. They got into one of our companies because we’re invested in them, and that’s been our success.
WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS?
Wayne: We’re now where we envisioned being many years ago. A colleague suggested that we should write a book or start a class teaching other people what to do and how to do it right.
But we don’t have to start a class to do that. Every day we’re sitting down with people and trying to counsel them and help them. We see so many people through the years who have been taken advantage of, and we try to give them options, second chances. Helping people is more important than just making money.
LEADERSHIP CAN BE STRESSFUL. WHAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT?
Paula: Strategic planning, what we’re trying to accomplish and how to get to those goals. The insurance world is constantly a bad situation, because everyone looks at truckers and thinks they’re all bad. We were heroes during the pandemic, and now we’re back to being zero.
WHAT’S THE LAST GOOD LEADERSHIP BOOK YOU READ?
Wayne: I’ve read many books, but there’s only one that I would recommend on leadership, and that’s the Bible.
Paula: There’s a very good book called Teamwork by Natalie Dawson. We have challenged all our staff members to read it.
HOW DO YOU STAY ON TOP OF YOUR GAME?
Paula: I think iron sharpens iron. Wayne and I are very competitive, and we challenge each other daily. If you cannot learn something daily, you’re behind, because this industry changes so drastically every day.
