Ryder System CEO Robert Sanchez has worked for trucking and logistics companies for more than 30 years, including as CEO and chairman of that year. The Miami-based Fortune 500 Company has a fleet of 250,000 commercial trucks and generates $12.6 billion a year. Sanchez first started at the company in 1993 wealth There are two key approaches that keep him sane and fire on all cylinders.
The first one was exercising, he tried to do it every morning. Nothing fancy, just weightlifting training as he watches CNBCSanchez said. He used to run, but his doctor told him that it would be better to stick to weight as he gets older, and Sanchez said his exercise routine has not changed since high school.
The second one, he said, is about time management.
“When I first started at Ryder, I was really bad at time management; I didn’t write anything down, and I had a hard time following up and tracking what I needed to do,” Sanchez said. “I relied heavily on little yellow stick pads.”
Sanchez said he would take notes and stick them on his computer screen. At that time, his boss quickly realized he needed some extra skills and sent Sanchez to a time management course led by the leadership training group. Franklin Covey.
“Basically, it’s a one-day course, and they teach you how to keep a calendar of what you want to do and then do a list of what you want to do every day,” Sanchez said. “It sounds very basic, but I haven’t figured it out yet, so it’s a game-changer for me.”
Sanchez, 59, works in the field of asset and transportation management and played a role in the company’s executive leadership team when he was appointed chief information officer in 2003. He was appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2007 and served as Chief Operating Officer in 2012. Less than a year later, in January 2013, he was appointed CEO. The board of directors elected him in May of the same year.
The lessons that day helped Sanchez get more organized about his working hours over the years, which also made him more organized at home. He has a wife and three sons, and is now adults. The oldest is 30, and the smallest is 25.
Baseball coach CEO
Sanchez’s children engage in competitive sports. As a father, Sanchez felt the pressure to get into the game and be there, which led to some creative solutions. Sanchez coached one of his son’s baseball team while maintaining a heavy travel schedule. He did this by setting up exercises on Friday nights – the parents didn’t like it, but he knew he would fly home on Friday and get into the venue.
Even then, sometimes he has to produce solutions.
“Sometimes my flight would be postponed,” he recalled. “I would drive from the airport to the park, I would change it in the car, and my wife convinced a day that the police were going to arrest me – changing me near the children’s park – but fortunately, it never happened.”
Sanchez also sobered up with his need for sacrifice. He didn’t play golf until his youngest son went to college because he never had time to do it.
“My life is work, family and children,” he said. “You have to make choices on your priorities and then you have to stick with it.”
Sanchez’s family life also provides him with a healthy humility and vision, provided by his wife, Melly. The two have been married for 33 years. He said Melly was figuring his hair out when he was appointed COO at Ryder, another client found the connection and commented that Sanchez is now the company’s second order.
Meli’s response? “Oh my goodness, how cute. It’s like being at home,” Sanchez told wealth.
But despite their jokes, Sanchez believes his 33-year marriage is crucial to his success.
“Being able to know that you have a real support at home and help your family unite and keep moving forward while you have to focus on your work,” he said. “It would be impossible without that.”
And the reward is that while Sanchez isn’t perfect in the kids’ race, he did it on purpose, even if it means occasionally switching to his coaching gear in the airport parking lot.
“I was able to feel good about that balance because I knew if I wasn’t going to do Tuesday’s game, I would definitely do Wednesday’s because I had it on my calendar and got blocked.”
