🎙️ BONUS Episode: Pulling Back the Curtain: The Planner Behind the Mic

Before Season 2 officially kicks off, Gia is doing something a little different — pulling back the curtain.

In this bonus episode of Logistics at a Crossroads, Gia shares a real-time look at her own professional development journey as she finishes her bachelor’s in Organizational Management with a focus on Project Management. What started as a class assignment turned into a deeper reflection on strengths, leadership, and the evolving “why” behind the mic.

From finally putting language to her Arranger mindset…
to recognizing Empathy as a true operational advantage…
to rethinking the difference between time management and energy management…

This episode connects the dots between the work happening on the terminal floor and the leadership growth happening behind the scenes.

Because in logistics — and in life — the best systems in the world will eventually stall if we stop developing the people inside them.

As Season 2 approaches, Gia shares where the show is headed and why this platform remains committed to amplifying the voices of the planners, operators, and frontline teams who keep freight moving every single day.

If you’ve ever found yourself balancing growth, pressure, and purpose all at once… this one is for you.

🎧 Make sure you're subscribed — Season 2 is coming in strong.

 #LogisticsAtACrossroads #HoldingTheLine #SupplyChainLeadership #WomenInLogistics #ProjectManagement #FrontlineLeadership #FreightLife 

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 Find me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/reginahunter
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Transcript

Speaker 0:23

Hey hey hey, and it's your girl Gia and welcome back to a bonus episode for the end of season one. And while I can't wait to get into season two with you, I did want to kick things off um as this break. To do something a little different. I wanted to pull the curtain back a little bit more. Now, as you all know, I am finishing up my bachelor's in organizational management with a heavy influence on project management. Yes, on top of everything else. But again, I will say a recent assignment kind of forced me to do some serious reflecting on my career, my strengths, and what I'm even doing with this podcast. Now, I figured, why keep these thoughts to myself? Isn't that the whole point of this podcast is being real and sharing the stuff we don't normally say out loud?

Speaker 1:32

So consider this a look at my own professional development in real time. So in this course, I'm taking it had me dig into my own strengths. And you know the personality assessments, the ones like Strength Finder, MBTI, Career Fitter, My Plan. I did Clifton Strengths. So I will tell you a couple of things really hit home for me. For years, I've been the person who instinctively untangles the complex knots of planning. Vessel schedules, labor allocation, truck gates, all of it. I've been one of those people that manage, that figure out where the disconnect is. And this course finally gave me a name for that. A ranger. And honestly, it was kind of validating. It confirmed that I'm not just good at this work, but I'm actually built for it. The other one was empathy. Now, I spent a long time thinking of empathy as a soft skill, something nice to have, but not exactly operational. I was wrong. It's a real advantage when you're coordinating across multiple departments. And those departments are also under pressure. These days, when things get heated, I'm much more intentional about my tone and how I frame things. I'm not saying that I don't get heated and it can get loud. But I do think about how it comes across. And the right delivery can be the difference between a team that pulls together and one that falls apart. It's also made me realize that leadership isn't just about execution and reliability. I mean, I've spent my career getting the job done. But the best processes in the world will eventually hit a wall if you're not developing your people alongside them. The human element is the real linchpin. So that kind of brings me to something we talk about a lot in this industry: employee engagement. You can't give me a rah-rah speech on Monday and expect everybody, especially me, to be engaged on Friday. That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works. Engagement is built in the trenches, day in, day out, through credibility, follow-through, and respect. And in my experience, the moment communication becomes reactive instead of intentional, you start losing people. And a good manager or director creates clarity and psychological safety.

Speaker 4:44

People need to know what's expected of them, get feedback that's actually timely, and be able to see how their work connects to something bigger than what they do daily or what's in front of them. That's what drives real commitment. And guess what? It's not one size fits all. The way I talk to planners and other terminals is not the same as how I how I talk to the yard guys. And it shouldn't be. You have to adjust your approach based on who you're talking to. And that's not fake. It's being effective. Especially when the clock is ticking. All of this school, work, life, it's a lot. And I know you all feel that. The bigger shift for me lately has been around energy management, not just time management. Between school and terminal operations, the constant flow of requests will fragment my attention if I let it. And that has changed the difference in how my accuracy and my stress levels have actually been. And it's actually been a noticeable difference. And it sounds simple, but protecting your time is actually hard when everything around you feels urgent. Now, look, the tools I'm committed to is structured priority planning at the start of every workday. Before I even touch my email, I take a few minutes to think about the day before and look at what the most critical tasks are for that day. In my environment, things can shift in a heartbeat. And without that anchor, the important planning work gets buried under the urgent stuff. Every single time. The practice has been genuine. Has been a genuine game changer. I'm not about surviving the day.

Speaker 7:08

I'm truly about playing the long game. And that brings me to this podcast. To the why. As I look at the next five years, yes, I'm focused on finishing my degree and moving into a higher level project management role or management role or some type of upward movement. We don't know what it's going to look like because, as we said, changes happen every day in shipping and transportation. But a major source of my five-year plan is this, this platform. And there is a huge gap between front lines and the corner office. And people do have valid and real concerns, but they also have brilliant ideas that never get heard because they're afraid to speak up. This podcast is where I want those conversations to happen. I want it to be a voice for the people in the trenches, tackling issues they face every day, but also amplifying the solutions they already know will work. This is another form of leadership. One that builds a community and pushes our industry forward from the ground up.

Speaker 8:56

I want to be known as a logistics professional who gets results without leaving people behind in the process. Someone who brings clarity when things are complicated, who supports the team when the pressure is on, and who approaches every challenge with both the practical experience to solve it and the self-awareness to do it well. That's the mission. That's what season two is about. So thank you for listening to this little behind the scenes episode. And I appreciate you being on this journey with me. Keep ready, because we've got some incredible stories and conversations lined up for season two. Make sure you're subscribed, and I'll see you soon.