A featured contribution from Leadership Perspectives: a curated forum reserved for leaders nominated by our subscribers and vetted by the Manage HR Advisory Board.
Boyle Transportation, a UPS Healthcare Company
The Power of Connection
Laura Duryea
In a world that continues to pull us toward more automation, more technology, and more screen time, should we not wonder what is happening to our humanity?
What is humanity? What is the human experience?
As humans, we subconsciously need community. It has been shown that people feel more comfortable surrounded by other humans. This stems from our days living in tribes, closely connected and working together for the benefit of the tribe.
Now that we have all the information on the planet at our fingertips, we would like to think that we are more connected to each other rather than less, but the lure of the screen is powerful. We choose to doom scroll instead of picking up the phone to talk to our loved ones. Never mind actually meeting face to face to create shared experiences, whether they are moments of joy or loss. Maybe that is why we don’t want to meet face to face. It is less risky to communicate through a screen than to actually connect one on one with another human being. We become vulnerable when we make connections with other humans, but that is what makes us human. Take a risk and take a friend out to lunch, go on a walk, meet for dinner.
When it comes to truck drivers, we used to crave connection using the CB radio. Long stretches of highway and no radio stations were lonely times before cell phones existed and we had an onslaught of play lists, podcasts and audio books to capture our time. Back in the day, you could rent audio books on cassette at the truck stops, but once CDs came out, the availability of cassette tapes fell out of fashion.
The CB radio connected us truck drivers and allowed us to pass the time while headed in the same direction and also allowed us to lend aid to other truckers in need. Trucking was a community. We supported each other as strangers passing in the night and helped each other get through the miles.
“We have the power to turn the tide and return to a society where we care for each other. Help another trucker, lift someone up when they need support, reach out to a friend you have not connected with in a while, say hi or deliver a compliment to another driver you see on the road.”
There used to be more truck stops with lunch counters where weary drivers could meet and talk after a long day driving, but more and more truck stops have gone to fast food restaurants where everyone just scrolls on their phone while wolfing down a meal or take the meal back to their trucks severing any possibility of connection. Maybe it is fueled by fear of others that is ingrained in us by the media and the sensationalization of negative stories that further separate and divide us as a nation and the world.
The sense of community is missing in trucking today. I don’t know if it is the increased contraction of our worlds into the screen in our hands which can deliver any media we request or the slide of our society into disconnection and increasing feelings of despair conveniently delivered by the algorithms built into search engines and targeted tracking.
We have the power to turn the tide and return to a society where we care for each other. Help another trucker, lift someone up when they need support, reach out to a friend you have not connected with in a while, say hi or deliver a compliment to another driver you see on the road.
What does it cost you to be friendly and civil to another person?
You have no idea what a lifeline of humanity or positivity can do to someone that is struggling mentally or experiencing feelings of disconnection. One smile or wave can change someone else’s day at no cost to you.
If everyone reading this article can deliver one act of kindness, that could create an exponential effect on everyone with which you and they interact.
As companies, we have an obligation to support our drivers and create that connection. At Boyle Transportation, we try to provide those avenues of connection.
Connection will provide drivers with the support they need to excel in their jobs every day. Connection will allow support staff and drivers to develop relationships that carry on outside of work. Connection will allow drivers to find friends while on the road so they can support each other during stressful times. Connection will allow us to hold on to what makes humans unique in this ever increasing world of technology. A moment of connection can change someone’s life. Reach out to someone today and you will not regret that you did.
The articles from these contributors are based on their personal expertise and viewpoints, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of their employers or affiliated organizations.
