on the
road
Carolyn Gable: From
“Never say waitress to CEO.
never” is Carolyn Gable’s
this woman’s keys to
mantra success
E xpect 1. Never take clients for
granted. Always come up
with new ways to service
your accounts.
2. Keep your word and follow
through on promises made
a miracle to clients.
CAROLYN GABLE
3. Never forget Gable’s
golden rule: “It’s all about
building relationships.” Keep
the personal touch in dealing
with clients.
4. Hire employees with a
By Peter J. Malcolm positive attitude who will be
A FAMILY OF pigs flying south for the winter, the Gable found that her “waitress mentality” enthusiastic about their work
Mediterranean Sea parting to accommodate pedes- helped as she established her new company. and your customers’ needs.
trians, King Kong living happily ever after. What do “As a waitress, you learn to get along with the 5. Never criticize the
these have in common? bartender who’s a jerk, the cook who’s a jerk and competition. Focus on
Well, each would be a miracle, and anyone hold- everyone else if you want to go home with money in your business, not theirs.
ing their breath for them to materialize might want your pocket,” she says. “And that’s how it is in busi-to look for a soft place to land. ness—you’ve got employees, customers, the bank,
So why does Costco member Carolyn Gable live this and that. And you have to keep them happy at
by the motto “Expect a miracle,” banking on occur- the end of the day if you want to be a success.”
rences that by their very nature are not likely to hap- Gable, now in her 50s, credits her truckload of
pen? It could be because she made the improbable children (ages 7 to 32) for teaching her the virtues
transition from airport waitress to head of a multi- of patience, tolerance and awareness—traits she says
million-dollar company. It could be because she’s a translate favorably to the business world. In fact, she
single mother of seven children and she still retains draws many parallels between her children and
her sanity. Or it could be because unending opti- her employees.
mism is infused into the core of her being. “There’s a similar bond and love,” she says.
Whatever the reason for her sunny disposition, “That really great feeling when you can see your
Gable parlayed it into professional and personal child start to read is similar to seeing your employee
success. Gable is president and CEO of New Age who’s been struggling finally get it.”
Transportation, Distribution & Warehousing Inc. As an admittedly pathological multitasker (she
( www.newagetransportation.com), an Illinois-based describes herself as a circus performer spinning one
company that offers freight operations for compa- too many plates), Gable is constantly looking for
nies around the world. The company racked up new endeavors to satisfy her super-charged ambi-
more than $22 million in sales for 2005. tion. She plans to write a book, begin public speak-
That’s not to say any of this has come easily. ing and continue promoting The Carolyn Gable
“There are moments in both situations [run- Expect a Miracle Foundation (www.expectamiracle
ning a company and a family] when the high is foundation.org), whichprovidesaidforlow-income,
higher than you could ever, ever describe,” she tells single-parent families.
member
profile
The Connection from her Chicago-area office. “And Gable acknowledges she has been blessed with
then there are lows when you think, ‘What the heck tremendous success and knows not to take any of it
did I get myself into?’” for granted.
Gable’s path to corporate success began while “You can never stop being grateful for the grace
she was waiting tables at a Chicago airport hotel, of it all,” she says. “Because in a heartbeat it could all
where the endless stream of women travelers in be gone. I’ve had many miracles in my life; I could
business garb fueled her ambition to change career die tomorrow and know that I’ve lived the life that
paths. “I thought, ‘I could do that,’” she says. Indeed I’ve imagined.
she could: She got a job as a customer service repre- “How many people could say that?” C
sentative for Leeway Motor Freight. During the next
few years, she worked her way into sales, changing Peter J. Malcolm is a graduate of Western
companies and positions several times before Washington University and was an intern at
founding her own company, New Age, in 1989. The Costco Connection.
Name: Carolyn Gable
Company: New Age
Transportation, Distribution &
Warehousing Inc.
Employees: 1,900
Address:
1881 Rose Road
Lake Zurich, IL 60047
Phone: (847) 545-9200
Web site: www.newage
transportation.com
Comments about Costco:
“One of our employee incentives is a Costco card. We are
always at our local Costco. I
love the store; I shop there
whenever I can. Any function
we have, we shop at Costco.”
