Part 1: The Warehouse Is My Classroom: Why Teaching Is a Logistics Superpower

He showed up fifteen minutes late and wouldn’t make eye contact. First day on the floor. Nervous. Fidgety. No steel-toed boots. No lunch. Just a borrowed backpack and a look in his eyes that said, “Please don’t give up on me today.”

I’d seen that look before.

As a warehouse manager collaborating with a workforce development program, I trained dozens of people like him, young men, and women from tough backgrounds, many of whom had never seen what most of us would call “normal.” They hadn’t grown up watching a parent go to work every day. No morning routines. No sense of structure. No idea how to budget time for catching a bus, packing a lunch, or showing up on time, never mind how to pick orders, rotate inventory, or wrap a pallet.

But they weren’t lazy. They weren’t unmotivated. They just hadn’t been taught.

So, I did what I’ve always believed good logistics leaders should do: I taught.

And when I did, I started to notice something. These so-called “unreliable” workers, when given time, structure, and belief, often became the most loyal employees I had. They showed up. They tried harder. They stuck around.

The Big Idea: Great Logistics Leaders Are Teachers First

We don’t talk about this enough in supply chain circles, but leadership in logistics isn’t KPIs or labor efficiency ratios. It’s about people who don’t respond to commands like machines do. They respond to clarity, confidence, and care.

The warehouse is more than a place where goods move. It’s a place where people grow.

That’s why teaching is a logistics superpower. Especially now, as automation accelerates, labor churn increases, and warehouses become more complex. You can have the best WMS in the world, but if your team doesn’t understand how to use it—or worse, doesn’t feel valued—you’ll be solving the same problems over and over.

The leaders who stand out, the ones who retain people, hit numbers, and build strong teams, are the ones who teach first and lead from the front.

Teaching Builds Trust—And Trust Drives Productivity

When someone’s never been shown the basics—how to clock in, organize a pick ticket, stack a pallet so it doesn’t collapse in transit—it takes more than a policy binder to get them up to speed. It takes time. Patience. And respect.

When you teach someone the right way to work, you’re not just giving them instructions, you’re telling them: You’re worth the investment.

I remember one young man in particular who kept showing up late, not because he didn’t care, but because he was sharing one bus pass between himself and his younger brother. I worked with him on how to budget his time, helped him understand expectations, and gave him a grace period while he figured it out. Three months later, he was mentoring other new hires. He didn’t need a warning notice; he needed a teacher.

That kind of trust is contagious. I’ve watched people who couldn’t get to work on time transform into reliable team players. Not because they feared getting written up, but because they finally had someone who believed they could succeed. Once they felt safe to make mistakes and learn from them, they flourished.

Teaching Isn’t About Knowing More, It’s About Seeing Potential

Years ago, I was serving as the Supply Chief at Weapons Training Battalion on Parris Island. I was a corporal (E4) filling a billet usually held by a gunnery sergeant (E7). Instead of giving me a handpicked team, I got what the base called “the rejects,” Marines who had failed in other departments or had run into trouble.

Every time a new Marine arrived, I pulled them aside and said:
“I don’t care what happened before. That’s done. What I care about is what you do here, starting now. If you do what’s right, I’ll back you 100% even if someone outranks both of us.”

Every single one of them improved. Some went on to reenlist. Our supply shop scored the highest marks in inspections and audits. We earned the right to talk a little trash to the other supply chiefs on base—and believe me, we did.

But more importantly, those Marines learned to believe in themselves again.

That’s the impact of teaching with purpose: you don’t just fix processes, you change lives.

Command Is Not Leadership—Understanding Is

People often assume giving orders is leadership. It’s not.

You can bark instructions all day long, but if your people don’t understand why they’re doing something or how to do it correctly, you will fail as a leader, and your operation will suffer for it.

I’ve found repeatedly that leadership is a loop: you give direction, you teach, you watch them try, and you adjust your coaching. You don’t just tell someone how to do something, you stay close enough to see if they got it. That’s how you build competency and confidence.

This approach matters more than ever in fast-paced warehouse environments. Mistakes happen fast, and communication gaps grow quickly. Teaching slows things down just enough to make everything work better overall.

Why This Matters to Me

I didn’t have it easy growing up. I moved around a lot, eleven schools before I graduated from high school. There weren’t many adults in my life who were invested in my success. But the ones who were—my mom, and a few teachers changed everything.

They didn’t just teach me. They saw me.

They saw a kid who wanted something more. They ensured I stayed on track to chase my dream of becoming a United States Marine. Without them, I don’t know if I would’ve made it.

That’s why I teach. That’s why I lead. That’s why I stay patient, despite the steep learning curve. Because I know what it’s like to need someone to believe in you, and what it means when they do.

The Takeaway: Teach with Patience. Lead with Curiosity

In an industry obsessed with optimization, we forget that human potential can’t be rushed. If we want to build warehouses that retain talent, outperform expectations, and stay resilient in the face of change, we need to stop treating training like an afterthought.

We need to treat the warehouse like a classroom.

When we lead with patience and curiosity, we don’t just train better workers, we create stronger teams. We build trust. We will reduce turnover. We make space for second chances. And we send a message: this isn’t just a job. It’s a place where you can grow.

That’s the kind of leadership automation that can’t replace.

✏️ Next in the series: “Purpose > Process: How Human-Centered Leadership Transforms Performance.”