Business View Magazine - August 2023

164 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 8 was a very challenging year for the business.” Before taking over the helm, Hartman said he had to consider certain questions, among them: was the business unique? Did it have a competitive, marketable and saleable advantage that would allow it to create a differentiation within the industry? “And the business truly does,” he said. “We have very few competitors that are able to provide the full-service offering that we do.” And then there was another important set of questions Hartman contemplated. Did FST’s customers like doing business with the company? Did they like FST’s employees? And did they want to continue to do business with FST Logistics? Further, were FST employees engaged, and did they truly care about the company? The answers, as Hartman noted, were obvious. To each question, the response was a resounding “yes.” He cited FST employees that have been with the company for 10, 20 and up to 25 years and more. “It’s unbelievable,” he said, “the amount of people who have been committed to this business for so many years. And answering ‘yes’ to all of those questions created a great amount of opportunity, in my mind, to take the company to the next level. And we’ve been able to maintain that through all of Jill’s leadership efforts and all she has done