Some of the most important leadership work happens when very little seems to be happening.
There’s no announcement. No major breakthrough. No obvious result to celebrate.
Sometimes there isn’t even certainty that the work will pay off.
Yet as I looked back at the three articles published in August, that idea kept resurfacing.
Great organizations are rarely built in the exciting moments alone. They’re built in the middle—when leaders continue reinforcing expectations after the initial enthusiasm fades. They’re built when experienced leaders remain willing to learn, adapt, and challenge what they think they already know. And they’re built when teams prepare for opportunities that may never come.
In different ways, each of August’s articles explored what leadership looks like before the results show up.
If you missed one, here’s a look back at the month.
Believers, Behavers, and the Middle
In early July, I listened to a sermon by Pastor Andy Stanley of North Point Ministries. One observation, in particular, stayed with me.
Most organizations believe in the right things. Accountability. Leadership development. Safety. Communication. Operational discipline. Continuous improvement.
The harder question is whether those beliefs consistently show up in their behavior.
Believers, Behavers, and the Middle explored what happens after the kickoff meeting ends and the excitement around a new initiative begins to fade.
That’s when the real work begins. The twentieth leadership meeting. The fiftieth review of the scorecard. Another coaching conversation. Another opportunity to reinforce the same expectation.
Strong cultures aren’t created because organizations announce the right priorities. They’re created when leaders reinforce those priorities consistently enough that the behaviors eventually become part of how the organization operates.
Belief may begin the journey. Behavior sustains it. And discipline carries organizations through the middle.
Old School. New School. Same Goal.
One of the best leadership lessons I’ve read this year didn’t come from a business book.
Clint Hurdle spent more than three decades in professional baseball before becoming manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He knew baseball.
But when the organization began embracing advanced analytics, Hurdle initially wasn’t convinced.
What happened next offers an important lesson for leaders in any industry.
Rather than forcing a choice between experience and data, Hurdle and Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington learned to combine them.
Hurdle didn’t abandon his experience. Huntington didn’t abandon the numbers. They learned from one another. The result helped produce three consecutive playoff appearances and end a 20-year losing streak in Pittsburgh.
The same tension exists in ground transportation today. AI. Telematics. Cameras. Maintenance software. KPIs. New approaches to recruiting and operations.
The technology changes, but the leadership challenge doesn’t.
The strongest organizations won’t be those that blindly embrace every new idea—or those that reject new ideas because experience tells them the old way works.
They’ll be the ones willing to learn, test, adapt, and improve.
Experience still matters.
So does remaining teachable.
When the Business Stopped, the Reinvention Began
Part 3 of the Minnie Van Leadership Case Study Series
The third installment of the Minnie Van Leadership Case Study explored one of the most unusual periods of my career. When COVID shut down Walt Disney World in March 2020, Minnie Van stopped operating. Eventually, its drivers and dispatchers were laid off.
There was no reopening plan. No budget. No timeline. And no guarantee the service would ever return.
But we kept preparing. We simplified the fleet and reduced financial exposure. We maintained the vehicles and equipment. Once the leadership team returned from furlough, we challenged old assumptions, refined financial models, and began redesigning the operating model—even though we had no idea whether we’d ever get the chance to use it.
Then, just before Christmas 2021, the opportunity finally came. Minnie Van was coming back. With one condition: “It cannot lose money.”
For nearly two years, we had been preparing for a conversation we weren’t even sure would happen.
When it finally did, we were ready.
The August Throughline
At first glance, these are three very different stories.
One began with a sermon. One began with a baseball manager. One began with a business shut down by a global pandemic.
But all three point toward something I’ve come to believe strongly about leadership.
Results are often determined long before they become visible.
Culture is built through ordinary behaviors repeated when no one is celebrating them.
Experienced leaders get better when they remain humble enough to keep learning.
Organizations become ready for opportunity by doing the work before opportunity arrives.
None of those things provides immediate gratification. That’s what makes them difficult.
It’s easy to remain committed when progress is obvious. It’s easy to embrace change when the results are immediate. And it’s easy to prepare when you know exactly what you’re preparing for.
Leadership is tested when those things aren’t true. That’s where discipline matters. That’s where curiosity matters. And that’s where preparation matters.
The results may come later. The work comes first.
Looking Ahead to September
September will be a special month for Ground Transportation Insights.
First, I’ll conclude the Minnie Van Leadership Case Study Series.
The first three installments have explored why a popular service struggled financially, how we discovered that the real problem wasn’t what we originally thought, and how nearly two years of preparation created an opportunity for the service to return.
The final installment will share what happened next—how dozens of decisions across pricing, labor, fleet, operations, and leadership ultimately transformed the business's economics.
I’ll also take a deeper look at AI in bus and motorcoach operations—beyond the hype.
Building on an article previously published in Busline Magazine, I’ll explore where AI can realistically create value for transportation operators, where its limitations remain, and why the opportunity isn’t about replacing experienced people but giving them better tools to make decisions and operate the business.
And September will mark another milestone:
The 100th article published by Ground Transportation Insights.
When I started writing GTI, my goal was relatively simple: share lessons from more than three decades of leading transportation operations and organizations, while continuing to learn from the people and businesses shaping the industry today.
One hundred articles later, I’m grateful for everyone who has read, subscribed, commented, shared an article, challenged an idea, or simply joined the conversation.
There’s still plenty more to explore.
A Closing Thought
August reminded me that leadership often requires doing the work before there is evidence that the work is working.
Keep reinforcing the expectation. Keep reviewing the numbers. Keep coaching the leader. Keep asking questions. Keep learning. Keep preparing.
Most of it won’t generate headlines. But over time, those ordinary decisions accumulate.
They become habits. Habits become culture. Preparation becomes readiness. And eventually, the results begin to show.
Great leadership isn’t only about what happens when the opportunity arrives. Often, it’s about everything you did before it did.
Question for readers: What is your organization doing today that may not produce an immediate result—but you believe will matter a year from now?
If your organization is working to strengthen leadership, improve operational performance, or build the systems needed for sustainable growth, I’d be happy to help.
Through coaching, advisory support, consulting, and fractional leadership engagements, I work with transportation organizations to turn good intentions into stronger execution and sustainable results.
Learn more at Bus Business Consultants.