Daniel Stanton, most fondly known to most of us as Mr. Supply Chain, is the best selling author of Supply Chain Management for Dummies.
He has worked with Caterpillar, the U.S. Navy, APICS (now ASCM), MHI.
Daniel has also been a professor at Bradley University, Jack Welch Management Institute, and National American University and is currently a LinkedIn Learning Instructor of over 10 LinkedIn Courses. He is recognized as a "Pro to Know" for Supply & Demand Chain Executive Magazine, and a Supply Chain Futurist for IBM Sterling Supply Chain.
Discover more details here.
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Daniel Stanton, most fondly known to most of us as Mr. Supply Chain, is the best selling author of Supply Chain Management for Dummies.
He has worked with Caterpillar, the U.S. Navy, APICS (now ASCM), MHI.
Daniel has also been a professor at Bradley University, Jack Welch Management Institute, and National American University and is currently a LinkedIn Learning Instructor of over 10 LinkedIn Courses. He is recognized as a "Pro to Know" for Supply & Demand Chain Executive Magazine, and a Supply Chain Futurist for IBM Sterling Supply Chain.
Discover more details here.
Some of the highlights of the episode:
Follow us on:
Instagram: http://bit.ly/2Wba8v7
Twitter: http://bit.ly/2WeulzX
Linkedin: http://bit.ly/2w9YSQX
Facebook: http://bit.ly/2HtryLd
Hello everybody. And welcome to the leaders in supply chain podcast. I am your host radicle, Amani managing director of ELCA global. We have a great guest today. Daniel Fenton, as most of you only know him as mr. Supply chain is the best-selling author of supply chain management for dummies. Many of you I'm sure have read. It has also worked previously for Caterpillar and for the us Navy. He is a professor at Bradley university as well as has taught the Jack Welch management Institute and the national American university. And he's also a LinkedIn learning instructor with over 10 LinkedIn courses on different aspects of supply chain is a recognized pro to know for supply and demand chain, executive magazine, as well as the supply chain features for IBM Sterling supply chain. So very delighted to have you with us Daniel, and thanks for making the time.
Speaker 2:Radu always a pleasure. It's so fun to see, and I'm looking forward to it. Great conversation.
Speaker 1:And yet today, I think, you know, also to frame it a little bit for the audience, we'll be talking a lot about education, education and supply chain. Obviously, you know, a lot about that to do a lot of work, teach a lot, and it's a topic that is more relevant than ever because it's, we live in a world where we constantly need to learn. So I wanted to first and foremost kind of start on that, on that part of asking you what you've done in terms of LinkedIn learning the courses and what you're seeing as, you know, as, as people are picking it up and interest levels. And if you've seen also growth in demand in the last couple of months, when you know, we were all stuck at home.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. So, you know, this is one of the things that's really been an interesting trend across the board in learning, but especially in supply chain is online learning. Right. And so, you know, we we've been seeing it over the past couple of years, you see sites like Khan Academy and you, to me, we're out in front lynda.com, which then got, uh, Linda was the one that was acquired by LinkedIn and LinkedIn is rebranding it as LinkedIn learning. And that's, that's all sort of been happening over the past couple of years. And frankly, it may be kind of an example of a bit of a digital transformation and some disruption of a business model, right. Because, you know, where would you go to learn that sort of stuff before in the old days, you'd sign up for training classes, you'd go to a community college. Now, all of a sudden the stuff is basically on demand, right? You can get it anytime you want. It's relatively cheap. And there's a lot more investment made in making sure that it's high quality. Right. Good audio, good video, concise scripts. So, you know, that had been in the pipeline and I probably had about 10 courses up on LinkedIn learning coming into 2020, right. Just, you know, I've been doing probably four or five a year for the past few years and then Corona virus hit. And all of a sudden people have lots of time and we're trying to figure out how to use the time. Well, and people were asking lots of questions about supply chains, many of which, the term toilet paper. And then there were, there was just this explosion. So I don't have the statistics at my fingertips, but they're not hard to find the sort of just really explosive growth that LinkedIn learning saw, you know, over that time, February, March, and continuing right through the summer. So part of it is just, you know, people had more time and I think they had an appetite and there just weren't as many places you could go. But I think there's a, another piece of it. I just think it's really helped with marketing and raising awareness. People know that it's there now. And once, you know, it's there, then you start taking advantage of it. So, you know, the demand for the courses, the viewership of the courses went way up, but frankly it's stayed pretty high. And that's really exciting for me. And when I say high, like as a university professor, it's pretty typical that all, you know, I'll do maybe 20 students in a class for a semester, right. Great experience. We spend, you know, three hours a week together for three or four months. And I feel like I get to make a difference in these 20 people's lives by sharing what I know and getting them to think differently. My LinkedIn learning courses have been watched by over a million people, right? The scale, the impact that you can have on that sort of a platform compared to what you can do in person. You know, if you want to measure it by the number of people that you reach, just outsized impact online. So the LinkedIn learning stuff has been good, frankly, there's, there's just a lot of great information sharing that goes on on LinkedIn naturally. Right? You and I are always posting stuff and commenting when, you know, we find interesting things. You've really, I think, done a phenomenal job of using the LinkedIn platform to, to reach people, to build community, to organize conferences with, with really thought leaders. I don't know if you know, but so for my doctorate, my is Richard wildly from Cranfield, who was one of your keynote speakers for your last conference, your upcoming conference. You've got Yossi Sheffi, who was one of my advisors when I did my masters at MIT. So I feel a little bit like Radu is following me around and stealing my professors, but okay. On that.
Speaker 1:No. So, I mean, I, and I think, you know, to your point and thanks for the compliment to your point. So one, what has happened in the last six to nine months, apart from us all wanting more toilet paper, is that a lot of CEO's board members and in general, you know, people found out what is supply chain, right? So they Googled and they started talking. I think this is kind of being an important term, the second piece on what I wanted to ask. And I'll do that in a moment, is that also in terms of LinkedIn learning and some companies actually paid now their employees subscription so that they can learn stuff on LinkedIn and it's credible resources and library, I mean, 400 bucks, whatever the cost of LinkedIn premium is you have access to all this, but there's not a lot in supply chain, right? I mean, if you actually look supply chain operations, there's not, you know, compared to, I don't know, communication skills or not. So I guess then my question to you next is how do you see this evolving, right? So in terms of LinkedIn, there's a huge space. You know, you have 10 plus courses, but in the overall scheme of things, the topic of supply chain operations is not as developed in LinkedIn as it could be. Right. So do you see it broadening? Do you see them getting more experts or how do you see the next one?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it it's, it's growing and it's broadening and you know, it ends up being a, a couple of demand in terms of, and I, and I do need to say, I don't speak for LinkedIn learning, right? I'm just an instructor who contributes there. There are a handful of us that are really supply chain folks at our roots, who are our LinkedIn learning instructors. Stephen Brown is another one, Chris Croft over in the UK. There, there are a handful of us, but I feel pretty good about is it feels like we we've covered the base pretty well. The, the, the core. So we've got a pretty good course about purchasing. We've got a pretty good course about logistics. We've got a pretty good course about operations management. And then we've got a couple of supply chain management courses that talk about how you tie the pieces together, quality management stuff. And then, you know, it starts to bleed into project management, project leadership, defining requirements, and then you can kind of bleed over into the it stuff. There are some SAP classes, right? And so there, there's definitely sort of room around the edges that we could fill in some more. And, and I think we could go sort of higher up the stack in terms of complexity, right? So moving beyond, you know, probably the stuff that, that entry level or mid career sorts of folks need to have to, you know, either for folks that are really specialists in a particular area, MRP calculations, for example, there, there isn't, I don't think a LinkedIn learning course, that's really a deep dive in how MRP works or TMS is the challenge though, that, that you find when you think about it in terms of the business is, you know, the more specialized you get with, with a course that you're trying to put together, the smaller, the audience you're hitting. And so it, it really does seem like the strategy is let's, let's build a really strong base. Let's get the stuff out there that everybody needs to learn and then kind of let the market poll to see, you know, what do we need to do next? So, you know, I think that's kind of a nice natural way for it to evolve. The other thing to keep in mind though, is, you know, you put a course up there, well, you can't just leave it there forever, right? It's not like you're one and done. It's you put it up there and you're done with it for a little while, but a few years later, you know, in our world, stuff changes so fast radio, right. And you know, you look at, you look at something that you wrote or something that you recorded three years ago and you go, you know, it's like, uh, watching Magnum PI and looking at everybody's clothes. It's just like, the stuff is, is out of date. Right. We need to go, although I will say the Ferrari three Oh eight is timeless, but the clothes, the clothes are out of date, Magnum PI, you're looking at me like, you know what Magnum PI is. I forgot[inaudible], but, but the Americans will get the joke. The old Americans will get the joke.
Speaker 1:You know, this pops into my mind because I think where, where certain things are timeless are the principles and fundamentals that timeless principles are timeless and soft skills at times. So another aspect, which, and I've, you know, the last conference that you mentioned, you know, I actually specifically asked our main businesses executives there. So we need to hunt for certain skills, right? So I had this selfish curiosity as well, but I think it's a, it's a worthwhile sharing for the whole community. Right. I asked all the panels was the key skill that supply chain professionals need, right. To make it to executive level, board level, any general. And there were different, but the commonality of all 13 panels was storytelling. They need to know how to tell a story. They need to know how to communicate. They need to know how to sell something, you know, internally, whatever you want to call it, communication skills, getting buy-in whatever. Right. So why not a course on storytelling for supply chain, right? So such communication courses, Ubuntu, but in an interesting way, I think it's not necessarily about supply chain it's in general, you know, each industry thinks so you you're talking, you know, if you're in healthcare and it's automotive, it's not the same thing if you're in supply chain, but you're talk, you know, sales is not the same thing. So I'm almost having the sense of it.
Speaker 2:Well, I need to give you a royalty for that course with when, when I, when I put it out there is that w what you say.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Because I'm also thinking of doing something.
Speaker 2:It's a great idea. You know, we, it's part of why I think online video works so well. And, and, and, you know, you see this stuff that actually goes viral on, on LinkedIn. A lot of times, it, it, it is, it's a story, right? It's, you know, there are a couple of lines at the beginning that pull you in, and then you just have to read the whole thing, and then you like it and you share it. But I, you know, online video is all about storytelling and that's how humans have been communicating and sharing knowledge and building relationships since the Dawn of time, right before we were able to write, we were telling stories. So to, to not take advantage of that, when we're trying to communicate complex ideas, to win people over, to get their support, it doesn't make sense. So I, I liked that. I liked the thought process and I agree with it. I think storytelling is powerful and important,
Speaker 1:And it's not even, so I'm going to expand it a little bit. So the whole industry, the whole, you know, whether the industry, you mean transportation, logistics, manufacturing, because it's, it's fairly my impression. And I'm very passionate about this. It's fairly one it's so key. Right. So, okay. Now Pfizer news, great news, right. Vaccine is almost done. So we're all happy, but what, you know, who's making it, they're manufacturing it, right. And then there's a supply chain that will make sure that we distributed to all of us because otherwise how many people do even think of these things. Very few. Right. So there's a huge story that we could tell right now. Right. And it's, you know, we should, as an industry, as a supply chain function, capitalize on that, because then you attract more people, more talent, more for the cause. Right.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I completely agree. I think telling the story about COVID vaccine and what, what we need to do to be able to mobilize and execute on this enormous challenge facing the whole world is a huge responsibility right now that, that we, as a professional community really need to be taking on. So getting exactly what you're saying, helping people to think about the scale and the challenges of a vaccine that, you know, I think it's something like 90 degrees, centigrade, cold chain that needs to be maintained to get that vaccine from manufacturing out to the community, uh, out to, to the people who need it to do that on the scale of 300 million people, 330 million people in the United States, that's a significant challenge, right? That that's not something that that can be done overnight. So that's something that we can take for granted, but we have the advantage that by and large, in the United States, we've got pretty good infrastructure. We've got access to transportation, we've got fuel, we've got people that are, that are able to do the work, not universally true in other parts of the world. And so to, to scale from, you know, beyond the, the 330 million or so in the U S you're back to, you know, seven ish billion around the world, many of whom live in remote places or places where, you know, you have challenges with energy transportation infrastructure. I think this may well be the most significant logistical challenge that the human race has ever had to undertake. And it is literally the shining moment, the opportunity for supply chain and logistics to be held up and recognize exactly what you're saying, where, you know, people, people don't know what supply chain is. They don't understand what these jobs are, how they work, how things get to them. This is our moment to show and to explain it and to educate as well as execute.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, I mean, I, I'm getting the gist of what I, what you shared in the last 20 seconds. I really believe that this is as an industry, right. There's so much that we can share about it. And I really want to encourage people to jump on the bandwagon, because this is the moment of, you know, of making it happen. And plus, I mean, there's other things like industry coming together and different partners coming together, because I think what a lot of people don't realize, you know, I have some friends at world health organization and I've discussed great news with Pfizer, but right now it's minus 70 minus 80 degrees, uh, transportation. You're not going get that. I mean, like that's, you know, minus 20 is hard. So we are, you know, we're fairly far away from actually, you know, large-scale distributions. I think, you know, again, people don't, you know, don't necessarily understand the complexity and you might've talked about it. We have still a long way to go before we actually figure it out that the global scale, but that's, you know, that's
Speaker 2:The other thing that I'll throw in is, you know, Pfizer is early across the finish line, but there are, I've heard 50, and I've heard 250 different vaccines in the pipeline. Right. All of which have different storage requirements right. And shelf lives. Right. Cause you know, part of it is, you know, the temperature, that condition, the other part is the shelf life. Right. How, how long is it still viable, even if it's kept in the right conditions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly. So I'll just take one quick question. Cause it's a fairly specific question from clay. Clay's asking this question that I just put up on the screen in terms of numbers. Very specific question. I don't know if he wants to take your courses well, or he did it already, but I don't know, or not Daniel,
Speaker 2:You know, I, I don't, I don't know the numbers. I don't get the numbers. I get feedback in a lot of different ways, how how's that, but w without actually sharing any information that that's proprietary to LinkedIn. So the question is, has there been an increase in the answer is off the charts? Yes. One of the easiest ways for me to tell is like several times a day, somebody completes a course and says, Hey, thanks Daniel for this course. And they tagged me. Right. Which is, is the LinkedIn thing. And I love it. Right. Cause I, you know, otherwise I don't know that people are out there doing it until, you know, after the fact or when we meet. So yeah, there's been a huge increase. One of the things that, that also happened this year, and it was just kind of coincidental, as you mentioned, Ramu, I mean, there are, I don't know, we'll call it 30 or 40 courses out there that are pretty easy to justify that their supply chain courses, right. The title may not be supply chain, but it's operations management, it's logistics, it's quality. Well, what LinkedIn started to do is to bundle these courses together into learning pads. So you get a certificate for completing each course, but then you get sort of a master certificate if you complete the entire learning path. And so they created a learning path called become a supply chain manager and they created a second learning path called advance your skills as a supply chain manager. So as you would expect, the first one kind of covers the basics, right? And then the second one gets a little bit more into some advanced topics, leadership in a VUCA environment, supply chain, cyber security sorts of things. Right. And having that structure around it has made it a whole lot easier for people to go, okay. You know, it's not just that I'm going to go take a course. I'm going to go take a series of courses that are, you know, on this learning path that will give me a certificate. And, and so that's now become sort of the, I'll call it the benchmark, right. Folks that are, you know, it's, it's similar to, you know, setting the goal and saying, I want to get a certification from an organization, or I want to go get a degree. It gives you a target to shoot for and an objective set of deliverables that you need to get through in order to reach that target. So yes, the uptake on the courses has been huge in general overall, but I really think those learning paths, the become a supply chain manager certificate in particular has helped people to focus and narrow in on the courses that they really need to have. And what I'm finding actually is a lot of folks are going in and doing that learning path, which is it's about 20 hours worth of courses in the first one and like 15 hours in the, in the advanced one. So a lot of people will go in and do those learning paths either as a part of studying for one of the certifications like se pro or, or CSEP, or, you know, they'll do it as they're getting ready for the MIT X MicroMasters certificate. Right. Because it does, you know, it gives you the vocabulary, right? I like to say it, it, it, it helps you understand the tools, the rules in the language, so that you can sit down with, you know, a study guide or a textbook someplace else and not be so confused about what, what the words mean and really focus on. Okay. How do I solve these problems?
Speaker 1:I'll put up this question from Ruchi and we have another one sort of similar from Shan console. Thank you both for, for it. But you know, it, tech skills then kind of overlap with, with supply chain or not. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this.
Speaker 2:It's a, it's a great question, Richie. And you know, on the one hand, I think it's expected now that we're digital natives, right? You've gotta be comfortable with data. You've got to be comfortable with, with the tools. Cul is a tool. Excel is a Python is a tool. So to, you know, if you were a mechanic and you were interviewing for a job and you didn't know how to use a wrench or a screwdriver, well, you know, you're sort of limited in, in the value that you can provide and the chances that you're going to get hired. So the more tools that you know, and the more comfortable you are with them, I think the better candidate you're going to be when you're interviewing. And I think the more versatile you're going to be as an employee when you've got the job that said it depends, right? There's some jobs that are really data intensive. There are some jobs that you actually need to step away from the data and focus on the people, focus on understanding the flow and the relationships. You know, I guess my best piece of advice is there's never a downside to learning, right? Anything that you ever learn is like a tool that you put in your tool chest, that that could be what you need when the opportunity presents itself in the future. However, you know, if you want to be efficient about your learning, well, start by focusing on what job you want to have. Talk to people that have that job, look at the job description, to see what skills they're asking for, and definitely, you know, put in the effort to make sure that you're developing those skills. So you're putting those tools in your toolbox because you know, that that's an expectation for that role.
Speaker 1:Hmm. I wanted also to ask you about the, cause you, you put up a, you dummy course right on supply diversity was recently, uh, I think we on a discussion and I didn't personally understand the term when you ask the question, why I think it goes with Senator right from one release. And let's talk a little bit about, about that because you know, diversity in that context, and I think maybe you start by explaining first. Cause I think a lot of people might, might find it useful and then tell a little bit about the course and about how companies can use it.
Speaker 2:For sure. So I'll start with kinda the definition piece and you know, it, in two of the big challenges that we're facing in the U S but I didn't globally in 2021 is around risk management. And the other is about social justice and equality. And one of the ways that we in the supply chain deal with mitigating supply chain risk is by diversifying our supply base, right? So that's supplier diversification, but the way that we can use supply chains to promote equality and social justice is through supplier diversity, making sure that we have suppliers in our supply base who represent the broad range of groups in communities that are, you know, exist in the countries where we do business. So there are these days, I'll say most big corporations have within their strategic sourcing within their procurement function, a group of people, a goal, maybe some metrics focused on supplier diversity, right. And kind of the, the sort of the simplest way that I would explain that is how do you make sure that your suppliers and your supply base reflect your customers, right? So they, that you're balanced and, and you're not distorting or disproportionate to the, the social dynamics that, that the company exists in. So companies have these programs like hundreds of millions and billions of dollars that they say we're going to spend. We're, you know, we're, we want to make sure that we're spending money with companies that are owned by African-American native Americans, veterans, women, disabled people. But the challenge is we don't really do much training and education about what supplier diversity is or, or how to implement it and manage it as a part of most supply chain education programs. So my, my good friend, David Burton is the CEO of the diverse manufacturing supply chain Alliance, David and I, he in, in Washington, DC, me here in Charlotte put together a course on supplier diversity that we each recorded in our homes. We posted it up on you to me. So it's like 49 99 for the course I can, I can drop a link in the comments or, or, uh, feel free to message me and I'll share it, or you can just find it on you to me. But we, we walked through in about a half an hour, an explanation of what supplier diversity is, where it came from, why companies choose to do it, why some companies have to do it because actually in many cases, it's mandated by the government or by your customers. The really amazing thing when you realize that, I think most of us deep down inside want to live in a world where people are treated fairly and there are opportunities and you're not held back because of who you are. But, you know, we, we very often have these diversity discussions focused around the human resources team in a company. And how do we make sure that our hiring practices are balanced and, and not discriminatory very important. I don't want to discount that in any way. And yet, if you look at the potential impact of saying, well, what if we think about the money that we spend as a company, you know, w which is often 70, 80% of total revenue and say, can we make sure that we're using that money that we spend to it in a way that ensures that there's more diversity, more opportunities for, for diverse communities? We can actually have a huge impact through our supply chains and as supply chain practitioners on an enormous, enormous social problem challenge, but in order for that impact to be meaningful, and in order for it to be sustainable, it can't just be spending more money for the same stuff, but getting it from somebody different. What, what you need to do is say, okay, we we've made this commitment that we're going to actively look for a diverse assortment of suppliers, but, but we also recognize that anytime you're working with a supplier, there are going to be performance gaps, right? And anytime you work with a supplier, you have to recognize both companies evolve over time, things change. And so one of the, the fundamental arguments that, that, or points of view that David and I share is that in order for supplier diversity, all this money that companies say they want to spend in order for that to be effective, it has to go hand in hand with supplier development, right? I will say there's a little bit of a perfect storm scenario. When we think about the inequity that we have right now in the S the supply base, the lack of diversity and the ongoing trend towards digital transformation and automation, that if we aren't actively investing in helping small diverse companies understand that digital transformation and, and transform and evolve with large companies, it becomes harder and harder for them to compete. So that that really gets to the core of the course is, okay, how do you set targets for supplier diversity? What does it mean? How do you set targets? How do you implement a program, but then how do you pair that up with a supplier development program so that your diverse suppliers actually become your exceptional suppliers and help you generate value and innovate and reach new markets markets, and be more resilient to the changes that, that are disrupting supply chains, like, you know, in 2020, you don't even have to talk about all the different ways that supply chains can be disrupted.
Speaker 1:So I also wanted that we've gotten a few questions around the lines of what would be some of the program, whether it is a long before, right? Whether it is an MBA or rotational or master's, or, you know, there's different university, there's MIT, X, which is highly successful that you would recommend if somebody let's say is at the system level mid mid-level, they want to advance their supply chain career. Are there certain, you know, certain courses that you would recommend? So I, I won't, I won't
Speaker 2:Pick favorites because I love all of them. Right. It's like, you know, your children, right? Which one do you love the most in private? You tell each of them that they're your favorite, but in public, you love them all equally. So I think really, it depends on where you are and where you want to go, and what path is going to help you get there. That makes sense for you. You know, I, several years ago, moved out to Boston, spent, you know, 10 months paying, I forget like$2,000 a month rent for a tiny little apartment in a parking space. And that was like real money, 10 years ago. Right. For the opportunity to study and get my master's at MIT, wouldn't, wouldn't trade that for the world. It was an amazing experience. And I'm so grateful for it. Yeah. But I'll tell you that the truth is a lot of the content that we covered in the classroom. You can get online now through the MIT X. I mean, when they, when they first started running the MIT X program, I was one of the beta students. And I was a little bit annoyed because it was like Chris and Yossi were literally using the same slot right now. Like if I would have just waited a couple of years, I could have done this from home. So the, the MIT X it's evolved since they've updated the materials, it's an amazing program. It's an amazing community. I kind of don't see why anybody wouldn't do that. If you're serious about being a supply chain professional, it is, the quality is so high and it is so convenient and affordable. That's like, I think at some level that just becomes kind of a standard, right. That, you know, you're looking at candidates for a job and they're going to be 10 candidates and nine of them have the MIT X certification, right? So you start going, or, you know, they're in five that do and five that don't, but the five that do you, you know, what they've been through, it means something, you understand what that's word is great for the content, but, but I still am a huge believer in the value of face-to-face learning personally, I just learn better in a classroom. I get more out of it. I think more deeply, it's easier for me to focus and concentrate and make connections. I really value the relationships that I get from, but by getting to know classmates and getting to know professors, and it's not, it's not the same. I mean, you can, you can build good relationships online. It's still, it's just not the same. Right. And that said, you know, it, that program covers what it covers. Other programs cover some of the same stuff, but they cover other things too. And they have professors that have expertise, different areas that are also important. And, and they're located in different places, right? Sometimes it's just, it's easier to take classes in a school in your town or your state than to have to travel or to try and do it online. So the amazing thing is I just, I think we have this huge number of choices. I don't know that any one of them is the right choice or the wrong choice. I think it gets back to, well, where are you today? Where do you want to be in a few years? Look for examples of people who were doing that, or look for job postings to do that sort of thing. And then, you know, try to map out, well, what are the steps? Do I need a certification? Do I need a degree? Do I need to get another job first? That's going to give me the experience to be able to do that job. So I think that's a pretty straightforward and simple way to look at it. There, there is one, the American expression would be a fly in the ointment. There's one serious problem with that approach, right? So that approach is, choose your target, do the gap analysis, close the gap. However, a lot of the jobs that are going to be around in five years don't exist today. So I mean, if, if that's you, if you're an innovator, if you are a disruptor, if you want to be on the cutting edge, well, then we kind of go back to where we were earlier in the conversation, which is you just got to learn everything, right? You may not know what the job is, but you can start to figure out what tools are going to be important to be at the cutting edge of that disruption. If you want to create your own startup, if you want to, uh, develop some kind of a new solution, okay, what skills will you need when you get there? Start building that foundation. Now there's some stuff that everybody needs. You got to know the basics should have, have I mentioned the book yet, right? I mean, the stuff that's in supply chain management for dummies, I th I think is the fundamental stuff, right? That that's the basic language that allows you to communicate with other supply chain professionals and understand what they mean, where you go from. There depends on, on, you know, the, the sort of career and the sort of life that you want to build and the sort of impact that you want to have.
Speaker 1:And I, uh, this, this is, this is, you know, some very practical and useful and as well as down towards advice. And I just want to add one piece to it, which anybody can do if you put, you know, if you put effort in and that will be long lasting, no matter what changes in the world, which is invest in relationships and invest in mentors and investing network then will not go away. Right? I mean, the people that are running companies today, most likely with run companies in five years, right? The people that, that can help you along the way, and those relationships be built and usually are only built over time. So I'm going to, I'm going to actually name cause I just love, love what she's doing. So, so he already Vera, I mean, you could look her up on LinkedIn. So she's, you know, she's a young dynamic supply chain professional, she's all over the place, right? She's, you know, she's learning, she's posting her learnings on LinkedIn. She's giving credit, she's, you know, documenting her journey of, of learning along the way in supply chain is just fantastic. And she, he has a goal, I think, of joining L'Oreal one day and she put it out there and now people, whenever they see L'Oreal, I see that they take her and say, Hey, take a look at this and connecting her to people within L'Oreal that's one example of brilliantly using the platform that LinkedIn is right. So you can do it. I mean, I think LinkedIn is the best in terms of building networks and it's going to continue to be the best and, and, you know, leveraging that to really build well knowledge as well. But she's learning a lot and networks because ultimately both, and I would probably argue the network is more important sometimes than knowledge, but okay. I mean, you may disagree with me, but both are super, super important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I agree. You know, I've read a few studies on EQ versus IQ, right. And the role that each of them plays in career success and consistently it's like, I cue we'll get you so far in your career, but to continue moving up, it it's the emotional quotient, right? It's that emotional intelligence being able to build and maintain healthy relationships. And so that's been true for a long time. I think one of the things that's interesting about the time that we're living in is relationships are no less important, but how you build and maintain relationships in the age of LinkedIn and Twitter actually is different. You know? So if, if you, if your approach to, to, you know, meeting new people and developing professional relationships still involves going into the office or going to conferences 2020 has not been a productive year for you in terms of building social capital, right? Because we just don't have those opportunities. And yet, if you are comfortable in the digital space and using tools, LinkedIn, Twitter, what's up and Radu I'll point to you. And I, as an example, I very much consider you a friend and a colleague. You literally live on the opposite end of the earth. We have never met in person. We met this year online hardly a day, goes by that. We're not sending some joke back and forth to the other. Right. And so I think that's the sort of agility and ability to use digital technologies to build relationships. That's not only important for career development. It certainly is. But truthfully it's important for supply chains, right? Because supply chains are all about relationships. Yeah. Data's important. Technology's important process. Discipline is important, but at the end of the day, you do business with people that you trust and you help people that you like. Right. So,
Speaker 1:Yep. No, I it's. So it's fundamental. And so firstly, let me just apologize and thank you clay for correcting me Sophia Rivas era. So I think I might've baptized you a little bit Sophia, but I will bring you on this. So I, you know, I correct my mistake. Thanks, slate for that. And to build on your point then. Yeah. I think also what is quite prevalent and it's unfortunate is on LinkedIn and in generally in relationships that quick win or quick short-sighted focus. Okay. Can I have a job or like, I get so many messages, like, can you help me find a job? Like, okay. I mean, look, I mean, we do head hunting, but, but you know, like, can you give me some context? Like if you get that 500 messages like that, like what can I do? I mean, I'm not mother Teresa, right. I don't have to run a business and I cannot possibly help everybody. And if, I don't know, I mean, it's not just me. I think it happens to everybody. Right. So I think people are a little bit too shortsighted and like, yeah,
Speaker 2:Three head Hunter. I know I have the same conversation with right.
Speaker 1:And only head hunting. I think it applies in general. Right. You just connect with somebody and then you'll send him a sales pitch and literally blocking. So I'm, I'm open, I'm open to connect the moment I get the sales speech without having any idea of what the person who's, I just literally blocked them automatically. Right. Because like, what are you doing? Like, this is not the relationship on the first date. Right? Like, come on, like, you know, let's get to know each other. Right. So I think, you know, something fundamental that people also need to get their hands around it. Look, it took me a while as well. I mean, I'm not saying here that I was not maybe making the same mistakes a couple of years ago. I was, but you know, thing long-term and the relationship is built over time. Right. If you don't just become friends over one interaction. So I think that mindset and you know, whether it's, you know, your suppliers, whether it's, you know, in your career needs to be very clear. Well, that being said, I'm just also cognizant a little bit of time when I have my crappy internet connection today. So I have to watch the replay of this. Anyway. I want to thank you a lot for the time. I want to just end by giving you 30 seconds. Cause I think that there's something big coming up, right?
Speaker 2:That's right. But the pitch for the new book. So you know that the Kia is an author, that the hard part is getting the first book out there. Right. But the first book is really the first draft, because as soon as the thing is published, then, you know, first of all, you find all the mistakes that you missed and your editors, which is frustrating, cause I'm a perfectionist. But then like, as soon as the thing is in print, you realize, well, it's changed there. There are things I forgot. There are things I should have put in. There are things that, that aren't the same as they were a year ago when I started writing it, the book has done so well. It's been a bestseller on Amazon. Thank goodness. Since it was released three years ago. And so Wiley came back and they said, okay, we'd like to do a second edition, give you a chance to fill in those gaps that you missed and, and, and fix the things that you think should be done differently. And so we've just finished it, it, the book is in layout. Now it's going to be available. It's supposed to hit Amazon December 15th. We'll see. It may actually come out a little bit before that, but that's the official launch date. One of the things I love and it'll be available in all the normal bookstores it's, uh, you know, distributed through, through Wiley and their, their publication channels. But I know Amazon as a deal, the retail price is 29 99, but you can pre-order it. And if at any time between now and the release date, they run a special, if the price drops you'll automatically get whatever the best price is. So they create an incentive to, you know, go ahead and order early, you know, worst case scenario, you're, you're paying full retail, but if there is any kind of a sale, you'll get to take advantage of it. So it's available now for preorder on LinkedIn. And thank you for giving me the chance for the plug Radu.
Speaker 1:Look in Asia. It is 1111 today, right? I know you're in States. It's 11, 11 biggest sales day on the planet in the world. That will be commerce. I'm sure that again, Alibaba and all these guys are going to break records off the records once more. So, you know, I think it's fitting and you know, people in Asia following this going, or the Daniel's book with that being said placement to have you as always thanks for all the good sharing and, um, stay safe, stay, uh, stay healthy and keep inspiring people then. Yeah,
Speaker 2:You too Radu. Thank you so much. And everybody out there have a great day or a great evening take care.
Speaker 3:Okay. Thank you for listening to our program. If you like, what you heard, be sure to go to www.ellicottglobal.com and click the podcast button for all the show notes of the interview. Also subscribe to our mailing list to get our latest updates. First, if you're listening to a streaming platform like iTunes, Spotify, or Stitcher, we would appreciate a kind of view. Five-star works best to keep us going and our production team happy. And of course share it with your friends. I'm most active on LinkedIn. So do feel free to follow me. And if you have any suggestions on what what to do and who to invite next, don't hesitate to drop me a note. And if you're looking to hire top executives in supply chain or transform your business, of course, contact us as well to find out how we can help.