Then and Now: Gaven Smith coaches at J. B. Hunt Transport - Talk Business & Politics
Gaven Smith jokes that his mom wouldn’t let him be a coach, but he found a way to coach anyway. As senior vice president of engineering and technology at Lowell-based J. B. Hunt Transport Services, he’s a. . .
Gaven Smith jokes that his mom wouldn’t let him be a coach, but he found a way to coach anyway. As senior vice president of engineering and technology at Lowell-based J. B. Hunt Transport Services, he’s a coach in a professional environment. The son of a mother who was a first-grade teacher and a dad who coached for 35 years, Smith grew up in Rogers, soaking up lessons from his parents: “I was learning leadership lessons in my early, early, early childhood years and didn’t know any better. “Those lessons I learned from being a coach’s kid, and being the ball boy, or water boy all those years, and seeing how to lead, and lead in an empathetic way – I’m thankful for, because I don’t know that I would’ve gotten those lessons otherwise, especially that early. I see a lot of people make leadership mistakes in their 20s and 30s that were lessons I learned in my teens from parents that were doing it all the time. ”Lessons like how to put teams together and how to balance styles when solving problems. “I’m somebody that thinks, how do we attack it? Who are the right people to attack it? I’ve learned that’s not always an innate leadership trait that all leaders think about. “Empathy matters and resonates with people,” he said. “Humility is an important lesson; being able to drop ego and hear other opinions makes you a better leader. That’s a hard lesson to learn but resonates with folks when they feel like you hear them and are willing to listen. ”Smith’s leadership mantra is “stand in front when things are going wrong and stand in back when things are going right. ”“The coach in me is most proud of the amount of leaders I’ve built and helped get promoted through my career. I find more joy in being able to promote somebody I’ve seen growing up in our organization. If you have to go outside and hire good leadership, it’s because you didn’t build it to begin with. ”Smith graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2000 in computer systems engineering, then worked for Acxiom before joining J. B. Hunt in 2008. He was part of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 class of 2015. Chief Information Officer Stuart Scott, Smith’s boss, shares the same entrepreneurial mindset and empowerment leadership style. “We’re both entrepreneurial in nature – so willing to take risks and wanting to move the needle of the company, not being somebody that wants to come and punch the clock nine-to-five, but wants to make a difference, and do innovative things, and push boundaries, and be willing to try new things, and occasionally fail, and learn fast from it and move forward,” he said. “In this industry in the last 15 to 20 years, change has been the only constant. ”With responsibility for 1,200 people, Smith oversees internal software development. He’s learned that “there’s different ways to skin a cat,” meaning “complementary styles paired together create a better outcome, meaning that diversity of thought and diversity of approach makes stronger teams,” and “creates balance and creates better results. ”Smith believes artificial intelligence is “the biggest tipping point” he’s seen in his 26-year career in the industry. “It’s just a massive step change,” he said. He’s trying to lead through helping the business and its people “get their head around it with how they approach work and how to do work differently, and what it means for the future. ”AI has changed J. B. Hunt’s approach to software development. “Development used to be the longest hole in the tent, and it used to take the most time,” Smith said. “That no longer appears to be a bottleneck. In the past, things you might not have done because you thought they were too hard or would have been too big of a financial barrier” can be done. “I personally think it creates more opportunity for innovation and more opportunity to drive efficiency for business. So as a problem solver, I’m actually excited. I see it as a better tool in the belt to try to help our business move forward. ”Related