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By Bill Wettstein, CFO of Nussbaum Transportation

What is our purpose?

In life? In our job?  In our marriages?  With perfect strangers?

Our primary purpose of loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves can seem simple to understand and yet difficult to apply.

For example, at Nussbaum, we can have multiple employees and other parties involved in the same situation, but their perspectives may be different because their purpose is different.

Picture This...

Let’s pretend there’s a maintenance issue with your truck. The shop may struggle to fit another truck into their busy schedule. Perhaps a tech or two is off work, or there were several unexpected repairs earlier in the day.

Bouncing into the office, Operations may have some frustration that the shop doesn’t understand how hot the load is.

The frustrated customer calls sales that we are late on the load.

The Business Development Manager at Nussbaum has now been put on the defensive and wonders why the Nussbaum Team cannot seem to grasp that we have to be on time with this customer.

Through all of this, you could be having a variety of thoughts. Maybe, “The load was planned too tight to begin with, now I won’t make it home for my child’s birthday.”

Or, “I told maintenance about this issue with the truck several weeks ago. This will surely hurt my pay for the week.”

Focus on Your Purpose

How do we keep our bigger purpose in focus when our job has been disrupted? How can we quickly walk a mile in our neighbor’s moccasins?  How can we be a blessing to everyone we interact with?

How do we keep our bigger purpose in focus when things at home do not meet our expectations or there are misunderstandings?

Why can it be so difficult to be kind to those we love the most?

I have a lot to learn. But if I have a humble and thankful heart, it is a start to loving God and loving my neighbor.

Have a blessed day, and Brighten the Corner where you are!