The closure of one of our most respected trucking companies this month has made me reflect on the legacy we will leave behind and it made me think of two things.
Quite a few years ago, at a luncheon, a female speaker asked the question, “What do you want on your tombstone” meaning what you want to be remembered for, and what legacy are you leaving behind.
The second thing was that one of the Transport Women Australia Limited sponsors’ business cards not only stated their name and their roles in the company but on the back, it also stated things like mother, cake baker, runner, soccer player, and various other roles they played within their lives and communities. So, then everybody could relate to what other roles played outside of work.
I think this is something really important as we go through life, we should think about the legacy we leave behind, because it should be something that we are proud of, and the companies today who are phoenixing or just closing and disappearing with millions left in debt for their suppliers and their workers who are sometimes left in very dire straits.
They may be proud of this slick and sly way of doing business but what is going to be on their tombstone? That they were a thief and a con artist; that they deceived a multitude of people under the guise of doing business. Someone for their children to look up to, I am sure.
These are the ones who go broke and within days or at most weeks are back with a slightly different name and still operating while leaving huge debts and employee entitlements under the old company name. They start up under the new one and sometimes do this more than once.
Some businesses do go broke because the owners are just clueless and are too far in before they realise they cannot get out and they do go broke and disappear into the wilderness and do not return under a different name and do the whole thing again and I’m not referring to those businesses.
People do make genuine mistakes; the economy does suck and running a business is very hard yakka.
The Don Watson Transport family has left a legacy of good business and amazing service to the trucking industry.
Mrs Watson can be incredibly proud of her children, her life, her honours, her years of service to her family, company, and the trucking industry. She has worked tirelessly and with dignity for years for the industry and she is an incredible role model for everyone within the industry for just pulling up your bootstraps and getting on with it.
She has been doing it quietly and with courage and she has brought up the children to be the same.
We can only hope to follow suit. The companies who are building their businesses or are holding strong today under very difficult circumstances can take a lesson from how to exit before the ship finally sinks.
There is no shame in knowing when to fold them and doing so while still holding the respect of your suppliers, workers, and the industry.
To do so, means when things change for the better, you will still have your reputation and your dignity if you want to start again and you will be able to do it with pride and support.
- Jacquelene Brotherton is the Chair of Transport Women Australia Limited.