By John Wysseier, President and Chief Executive Officer, The CEI Group, Inc.

For the past decade or so, the press has been filled with stories about how difficult millennials are to manage. We’re talking about people born approximately between 1980 and 1996, and the complaints about them are legion: They lack a work ethic, question and disrespect authority, are needy, and want to be pampered.

The description sounds like a nightmare. But as a business leader for a number of years, that negative portrayal doesn’t fit. That’s not to say I haven’t come across individual employees with those traits, but I don’t think they are any more prevalent among people between the ages of 22 and 38 than they are among any other age group.

The reason I don’t share the negative perception of millennials is because I’ve seen a very different type of millennial.

READ MORE

By Mark Boada, Executive Editor

Amid all the political brouhaha coming out of Washington, one thing seems to have been forgotten: the sorry state of America’s highways and bridges.

I was prompted to ponder them when the bridge collapsed in Genoa, Italy in August. Signs are that rain-induced corrosion of the bridge’s steel cables that ultimately caused them to snap. 38 people died and another 15 were injured as a result.

The incident reminded me of the collapse of another bridge 11 years earlier, almost to the day. It was the I-35W Mississippi River Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which killed 13 people and injured 145 more. And that brought me back to a number of sad facts about both the quality and inadequacy of our roadways.

READ MORE

They’re all the same, but different, speakers say

By Mark Boada, Executive Editor

Fleet managers around the world share many of the same frustrations, but at last week’s AFLA 2018 Corporate Fleet conference, a panel of fleet management association leaders from three different countries, while agreeing on that sameness, pointed to some marked differences in conditions in each of them.

The UK is plagued by a number of stressors, not least among which are rising taxes on fleet-provided cars, which is causing their number to decline, and uncertainty over the effects of Brexit, the scheduled departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union. By contrast, in Australia fleet car sales are growing, powered in part by a relatively novel form of lease. And in Mexico, fleet management is still in its infancy, with low levels of professionalism, while fleets are plagued by chronic difficulties in license and titling, the recovery of stolen cars, and many of the routine functions fleet managers handle in other countries.

READ MORE for highlights of the presentations made by each of the speakers during the conference’s session “Understanding the Global Fleet Market.”

Forbes

Cars, SUVs, crossovers and trucks certainly could be the “ultimate mobile devices” if automobiles and the transport industry learned how to develop and leverage a “smartphone ecosystem” for electrified vehicles, integrating the emerging trends of autonomous, connected and shared vehicles.

The value lies in the seamless integration of renewable energy, connectivity, access to charging networks, smart use of parking and people-friendly spaces in cities, recognition of more fleet operators and the myriad of technology enablers required for self-driving. Some have claimed that a car is only a smartphone on wheels.

Read the article at Forbes.

Dramatic reduction in accidents, reduced fuel consumption, increase in productivity

By Mark Boada, Executive Editor

Ask Rhett Wheeler, operations risk manager who doubles as the fleet manager for Bill Howe Plumbing, Inc. in San Diego, what kind of return the company has enjoyed from its investment in telematics and he’ll tell you this: “We haven’t calculated the precise numbers, but with our accident reduction, fuel savings and improvement in productivity, it’s got to be 100 to one.”

READ MORE

The Washington Post

The Trump administration updated the federal driverless vehicle policy to cover buses, transit and trucks in addition to cars, and it remains voluntary, putting the onus for safety on the companies developing the technologies rather than government regulation.

The updated automated vehicle policy says the Department of Transportation “will modernize or eliminate outdated regulations that unnecessarily impede the development of automated vehicles” and argues that “conflicting State and local laws and regulations surrounding automated vehicles create confusion, introduce barriers, and present compliance challenges.”

Read the article at The Washington Post.

Bloomberg

Carmakers are discovering there are limits when it comes to influencing European Union climate policy. The European Parliament ignored industry warnings by voting for CO2 cuts of 20 percent in 2025 and 40 percent in 2030.

The EU wants to send a strong message regarding climate change amid public outrage over Volkswagen AG’s cheating on tests. “Politically in the EU the stance is hardening toward the need for action on climate protection,” said Raphael Danglade, program executive for energy and climate at the Friends of Europe think tank in Brussels.

Read the article at Bloomberg.

By Anthony Sasso, Head of TD Bank Equipment Finance

The transportation industry is experiencing a fundamental shift as fleet companies are adjusting to increasing expenses and changing industry dynamics.

Fuel prices have surged, wages have increased due to the driver shortage, and the federal funds rate, which has surfaced from historic lows, is expected to continue to rise.

To stay competitive, fleet companies are looking to acquire capital equipment that mitigates expense and meets the ever-changing consumer demands. And with the rapid pace of technological and efficiency improvements, such as increased mileage per gallon, collision avoidance, automatic transmission and alternative fuel options, many companies are looking to engage in shorter term lease options. According to 63% of fleet managers surveyed in April at the NAFA Institute & Expo, the expected cycle of upgrading to newer trucks and trailers will be shortened in the next three to five years.

READ MORE

The Verge

The number of people killed while driving or riding in SUVs rose 3 percent in 2017. It’s even more deadly to be outside of one. The number of pedestrians killed in crashes involving SUVs has skyrocketed by 81 percent in the last decade according to the latest National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s report.

The way SUVs are designed with larger bodies and higher carriage mean pedestrians are more likely to suffer deadly blows to the torso. And higher clearance means victims are more likely to get trapped underneath a speeding SUV instead of pushed onto the hood or off to the side.

Read the article at The Verge.

strategy+business

Women are a long way from being equally represented on the way to and in the C-suite. Increasing the number of women at every level of an organization is possible if its leaders are ready to use practical solutions.

The strategies are to (1) actively increase the pipeline of women in middle and senior management roles, (2) improve the culture and receptiveness of organizations toward women leaders, (3) develop creative solutions to structural job design issues that hold women back, and (4) move more women into general management and P&L roles from which CEO and other top management appointments are made.

Read the article at strategy+business.