Stephen Zambo on LinkedIn: We are quickly approaching Q4 and dare I say, 2025...?! It's important to… (2024)

Goals. We all have them. Professional goals, Personal Goals, Family Goals, Life Goals. Bucket List Goals.Every year I sit down, and put together a list of goals. I usually have somewhere between 5-7 goals for the entirety of the year.One of my goals this year was to read a book per month, 12 books in total throughout the year.I'm on my 8th book in the 8th month of the year.What books would you recommend I read? I tend gravitate towards business and leadership books. Also "self help" styled books. Growth is the name of the game. The more I take in, the more opportunity I have to expand and be better for everyone around me (family, friends, colleagues, clients, literally everyone).Let me know in the comments what I should add to my reading list! The list of books I've read this year are below:48 Laws of Power - Robert GreeneYour Next Five Moves by Patrick Bet-DavidHow to Make a Few Billion Dollars by Brad JacobsMillion Dollar Weekend by Noah KaganGood Inside: A Guide to becoming the Parent you want to be by Dr. Becky KennedyThe Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick LencioniPeople: Dare to build an intentional Culture by @Mark O’Donnell, Kelly Knight, and CJ DuBeThe Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive by Patrick Lencioni

35

13 Comments

AGL is a feedback driven organization. It's the lifeblood of any company that is trying to be better for it's clients, and it's internal team. We routinely look for market intel from our clients to get an understanding what they are going through, and what to expect in the future.The only word I've been able to think of that accurately describes the feedback we are hearing in the hardwood lumber space is uncertainty. It's an election year. Foreign and domestic markets are "off" from typical volume trends. Production is extremely low. Some report the lowest it has been since 1960. All signs point to a very ugly present and future. I've said it once, and i'll say it again. Flexibility, Resilience, and the ability to pivot are the only way to make it. We are fortunate to work with great clients. It's unfortunate the market is the way it is right now. Some things have stood the test of time. The market goes up. The market goes down. The world keeps on spinning and we will keep on shipping.

44

1 Comment

Really Exciting Times over in AGL's Export Division. We are getting very close to rolling out client portals in our custom built TMS, Groove. This will allow clients to see shipment status at any point in time, from anywhere in the world. We've been building this software over the last 12 months, and are really excited to see some of the "more advanced" features starting to be rolled out. To think, this time 11 years ago there were just 4 of us working out of an old dentist office. Time flies when you are having fun...or are in logistics. Either way, same same.

74

9 Comments

Had a really interesting conversation regarding the summer months in the business world. It seems for almost every industry you see some form of a slowdown.You can take two approaches when a slowdown occurs.1.) Pour gas on the fire and try to power through2.) Enjoy the reprieve, relax and get ready for the next waveDepending on the person, and the business both could be the right approach.I'm interested in learning what is your take? When July/August hit do you enjoy the summer, and the slower pace, or go into grind mode?

25

11 Comments

Are you familiar with our AGL Cares Program? We started AGL Cares back in 2020. Every Quarter the entire AGL team votes on a charity to donate to. We donate $1 for every load that we ship within the quarter. We've donated well over $100,000 to charities over the past 3.5 years. I love that our team picks a charity through company wide voting. I love that we are helping to make our clients lives easier AND doing good for the broader community while doing so.I also love seeing what the group votes on.This past quarter AGL voted on Child's Play. Child's Play seeks to improve the lives of children and teens in pediatric hospitals and other child welfare facilities through the kindness and generosity of the gamer community and the power of play. Growing up I played video games and who am I kidding, I still game. I was pumped to see the team voted on this charity. I'm proud to say in Q2 we donated $10,318 to Child's Play. Big shout out to the entire AGL team for making this a reality!

23

3 Comments

Both England and Colombia lost on Sunday. That made for a very tough Monday in our offices. Just 48 hours later the English manager, Gareth Southgate has "resigned" from his position as head coach/manager. There were calls heading into the tournament to have him step aside. Most of England is relieved to see him depart.In sport, and in business, appearing in the finals is a start. How many times have you been close to closing an account and have fallen short? Or you were invited to participate in an RFP/RFQ only to be beaten out by competition?Step 1 is being in the Arena. Step 2 is executing in the Arena. Step 3 win in the Arena. If you are unable to execute & win it's time to take a hard look in the mirror to understand where it went wrong. It could be one of many things. Being flexible and resilient is just the start in order to win in the arena.Sometimes a shuffle is needed, sometimes its out of your control. Regardless, as my colleague, Shae Vartanian says - you got to just ride the wave.

30

2 Comments

Many of you know I am an avid sports fan. Almost a month ago the Boston Celtics won their 18th championship which was awesome. About 1/3 of our company sit in our Weymouth, MA office 15 minutes south of Boston. Most of the team there are Celtics fans, myself included. Over the last month both the Euro and the Copa America soccer tournaments have been being played. In the Euro finals we have Spain vs. England & the Copa finals are Argentina vs Colombia. Our Export Operations Manager, Bryan Rutherford, MBA is from England. You can bet that he will be at the local English pub anxiously watching the finals on Sunday at 3pm. Rightfully so the way England has been playing. That will be a great game to watch. 1/3 of our organization is in our Barranquilla, Colombia office. You can bet that our team will be cheering on the TriColor Sunday at 8pm when they face arguably the best player in the world, Leo Messi. While our team in Colombia cheers them on, I will be in my Colombia Jersey watching the game at home with my daughter. Ryan Castro's El Ritmo Que nos une will be playing on repeat in the background, It's her favorite song right now and she won't stop dancing to it. It will make for a great Sunday night. I posted a link to the song in the comments if you want to join in on the dancing. Being a part of an international organization is fun. Cheering with team members is awesome. Learning about other cultures, and being a part of a larger collective is great. Having two of the worlds largest soccer tournaments on simultaneously is the best. Who do you think will win? England or Spain? Colombia or Argentina? Much to Bryans dismay, I think Spain wins. (Sorry Bryan)I'm pulling heavy for Colombia and think they have the better team BUT Messi is Messi.

56

38 Comments

I've been a bit quiet the last 10 days here on LinkedIN. I was overseas with some buddies on a non-work trip. The first real non-work trip i've taken out of the country in YEARS. We started in Amsterdam and ended in Rapollo, Italy. Over a 7 day stretch we went to the Cologne Cathedral, the Nürburgring ring, Mercedes & Porsche museums. We saw some absolutely stunning landscapes especially when passing through Gotthard Pass in Switzerland. Disconnecting was great. Observing the pace in other countries, and trying new foods was also amazing. As much as I loved being over in Europe, I realized a few things during the trip. I love Air Conditioning.Ice cubes are great.The US is a very car centric country.King beds are a god send.More Importantly, I realized by the end of my trip how ready I was to get back to my family, back to my routine, and back into the office. Happy belated 4th of July. God Bless America, and all of the creature comforts here I can't live without.

94

14 Comments

Heading into the July 4thHoliday week we usually see a slowdown in just about everything.This tends to be a good time to re-evaluate where you are in your current role and decide whether you’d like to join a domestic brokerage that is actively growing their sales team.Over the last 12 months we’ve been working to identify our exact target clients & put the framework in place to ensure we are meeting our clients’ requirements.We’ve also spent the last 6 months aggregating all of our data into our CRM (HubSpot) to target specific companies that fit what we are VERY good at.Companies that have time sensitive freight, that need a personal touch with enterprise capabilities, visibility & a group that communicates, some may say too often.We have 6 openings in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas & Jacksonville for Domestic Brokerage Sales Reps.If you are interested in an opportunity with us, send me a ping, or apply through our LinkedIn job posting! The Links are below in the comments.Let's make lives easier!

38

16 Comments