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CityLight.org
september 2011
ou could make the argument that
W.T. "Tobin" Cassels III is not
exactly an innovator, since his role
model goes back more than 2,000 years.
As the third-generation leader of South-
eastern Freight Lines, a primarily less-
than-truckload carrier based in Columbia,
S.C., Cassels continues the focus on peo-
ple started by his grandfather - a focus that
has been key to the company's success.
"Without question, the most effective
leadership model is servant leadership,"
Y
TOBIN CASSELS III
L E A D I N G B Y S E R V I N G
world's message of leadership has all to do
with power, dominance, control, position,
authority, and trying to do everything you
can to benefit yourself."
Southeastern Freight Lines has never had
a layoff in its 58-year history, and Cassels
and his leadership team are working hard
to keep it that way.
"When this most recent downturn really
went south in the fall of 2008, we had to,
as a leadership team, become what I call
`obsessed with keeping
our people working,' be-
cause if we didn't work
hard there was no way we
would be able to provide
enough hours for all of
our people," Cassels says.
He was surprised, he says,
by the reaction from the
employees to that ef-
fort. "I have a file that is
one-quarter inch thick of
e-mails, cards and letters
from our people thanking
us for all we've done to
take care of them during
this recent downturn. I never anticipated
the kind of response we're seeing to our ac-
tions. In fact, our morale is the highest right
now during this recession than it has ever
been in the history of company."
Cassels says SEFL leaders work in good
times and bad to create a family-type envi-
ronment full of encouragement and praise.
"We also balance this with a healthy dose
"I loved the trucking business from my very first day,
as I particularly loved working side by side with our
people, who are so down-to-earth,"
Cassels says, "and Jesus is my role model,
because there is no one who has ever per-
fected servant leadership like he has. Lead-
ership is all about taking care of people,
helping them to be successful, and to serve
their needs."
So why is this innovative? "This is the op-
posite message of what the world says
about leadership," Cassels explains. "The