The Freight Pod Ep. #52: Cole Stevens, CSO of Stevens Trucking Co.
In this episode, Andrew welcomes Cole Stevens, chief strategy officer at Stevens Trucking, a family-owned trucking company based in Oklahoma. Cole’s dad, Kenney, founded the business in 1979 with a single hotshot pickup truck in an Oklahoma oil patch. Today, they operate 400 tractors and 1,800 dry van trailers across the U.S.
Andrew and Cole cover:
- The founding story of Stevens Trucking and how the Stevens family uniquely runs the business.
- All that Cole has learned from his dad about business and leadership, and what Cole believes has led to his dad’s success.
- How Cole evaluates what new tech to bring into the business, how he thinks about tech for a team of employees ranging in age from 20 to 80, and the three things you have to get right to ensure internal adoption.
- The current tech landscape for asset-based providers and where Cole sees the greatest opportunity.
- The challenges of managing drivers and driver turnover and how to get drivers to buy in to delivering exceptional service for Stevens Trucking customers.
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*** This episode is brought to you by Rapido Solutions Group. I had the pleasure of working with Danny Frisco and Roberto Icaza at Coyote, as well as being a client of theirs more recently at MoLo. Their team does a great job supplying nearshore talent to brokers, carriers, and technology providers to handle any role necessary, be it customer or carrier support, back office, or tech services. Visit gorapido.com to learn more.
A special thanks to our additional sponsors:
- Cargado – Cargado is the first platform that connects logistics companies and trucking companies that move freight into and out of Mexico. Visit cargado.com to learn more.
- Greenscreens.ai – Greenscreens.ai is the AI-powered pricing and market intelligence tool transforming how freight brokers price freight. Visit greenscreens.ai/freightpod today!
- Metafora – Metafora is a technology consulting firm that has delivered value for over a decade to brokers, shippers, carriers, private equity firms, and freight tech companies. Check them out at metafora.net. ***