[00:00:01] Welcome to your Play Now in Spanish, presented by Better Global Logistics and Supply Chain Now. This is the program we give to Spanish-speaking people in the ever-changing logistics industry. Join us as we discover the inspiring stories of our guests and learn from their collective experience. Our goal is not only to entertain you, but to foster your passion for this exciting industry and support your professional development along the way. And now, here is today’s episode of your Chain Now in Spanish.
[00:00:35] Hello! Welcome everyone to this new episode of Supply Chain Now in Spanish. Today I am very happy because I have a guest coming who is very dear to me and whom I recently met in person. Then I could put a face, voice, sounds, expressions to the name. This person is Isabel Agudelo. I will introduce her as the leader of the Warrior Logisticians tribe, but she will already introduce herself in multiple ways. How are you, Isa?
[00:01:08] Very good, Sofia. Thank you very much for this, for this invitation and this conversation with you that again was a gift that brought us this event of that 12th where we were together and. And not at all happy to be here.
[00:01:22] I am also very happy. And well, I think that normally podcasts, especially logistics and create supply, sometimes go very straight to the point of the topic, but here we would like to know a little behind what’s behind you, your story and anything you want to share with us as a background and something more personal.
[00:01:47] Let’s see what I have to tell you. A Colombian woman, Sofi, who coincidentally, and I would say as if by a very strong influence of my mother, I ended up studying engineering, working all my life in logistics, infrastructure and transportation, and that has been like the DNA of my professional life, which has also nurtured my personal life. As I hope we will discuss today. A woman from Cali, with a lot of passion for what I do, a lover of reading, of music, of sharing with other people and there we will talk about how all these characteristics of mine have shaped my life and my experience in this. In these infrastructure, transportation and logistics issues.
[00:02:43] Right, you don’t comment. Is there something cool that your mom was the one who pushed you into engineering, how was that? That decision of I’m going to study this on the way out, what was it? I don’t know what your first job was? Did you fall right into logistics or was it something that happened afterwards?
[00:03:04] Let me tell you, I was born, I was born in Cali. Cali is a city in the southwest of Colombia and it is a city, let’s say. No, it is not the capital of the country, it is the capital of one of the departments and nothing. Sofía I was born there, I studied at my school, a women’s school there, a school of women, of women who were very empowered, very, very convinced of our ability to generate things and somehow do everything in life. And I think we always meet up with my friends and talk about it. And I think, and I think in the case of all of us, it has marked us a lot. But going back to my mother’s story, my mother was a chemical engineer, one of the first ones, let’s say, in her, in her, in her class, in her time, at the end of the sixties, let’s say in Cali, with a master’s degree in Italy, so I don’t know, that engineering was Sofi, as if it had gotten into me. My dad was a lawyer, but I went less for the social issues and went for the engineering side. I am an Industrial Engineer from the Universidad Javeriana de Cali.
[00:04:16] The best engineering.
[00:04:18] The best engineering, the most complete, the most comprehensive. And since I chose a career, I would tell you I was one of those college students. Let’s just say he had a taste for mathematics. Let’s say it was a theme that I liked. For me they are like the universal language, they are like the gift that somehow we all understand those figures, we understand them. So let’s say that industrial engineering, I’m talking about the year 1990, was what was in fashion, it was not the innovative career, the top then, and I was not so clear about exactly what area I wanted to work in. Industrial engineering gave me the breadth to be able to and my life. You will hear Sofi, it has been like a theme where I like to learn, I like to experience new things and I usually throw myself into living them and working on them. And the subject of industrial engineering gave me that breadth. So let’s say that with respect to other more in-depth engineering programs, I opted for industrial engineering and that was it. Like the road. During those five years, Sofi, let’s say that I was always oriented towards subjects that I called, like rolling up my sleeves and being in production, being in wineries. Let’s say it was like a thing that I found attractive, to be kind of where things were being done.
[00:05:49] More from the operation.
[00:05:51] I loved that, I loved it more than being in finance or human resources, in marketing, I loved where, where things were manufactured and all those subjects I loved it and I was a monitor of everything you can imagine. That has been like another one of those, one of those constants in my life, like teaching and accompanying that. And along the way Sofi, you can’t imagine how much we were able to help with other friends of mine. Me. Women have the gift of being judicious and disciplined, not that there are men who are not. But today we picked up several of them along the way, Sofia, and we helped them, let’s say as far as we could, to go through that academic journey until I graduated in 1995 with a degree in Industrial Engineering. That was the year I graduated.
[00:06:39] Well, you have a pact with the devil, we already saw a.
[00:06:43] It is not noticeable, it is not noticeable at all.
[00:06:46] No, but it’s not that good. I also studied industrial engineering and I think it is a career that allows you that flexibility that you mention, not that it gives you the flexibility you need. I feel that any engineering company will crack your head open. So you can think about how to solve problems. That’s basically the way engineering brings you into your life. Then whatever you decide to do with those tools, etcetera is fine. But the way you already think and solve situations, that always stays with you forever. So I agree with many things you comment.
[00:07:31] All right, all right Sofi. And no, and you asked me about me, about me. Let’s say that it was clear to me that I wanted to follow a very production line, very logistical. That was clear to me, as in the middle of the possibilities. I start working. It’s so funny. My life takes me to education issues and I start working in a paper production company in Cali. But so do I. I loved it too, like going out to see different things and I wanted to leave Cali for Bogota, the capital of Colombia, and nothing. I got a job in Bogota, but it was after that business internship that was in education, my first job, and from then on all the jobs in my life have been in logistics, infrastructure and transportation. In other words, this has been a series of 25 years of work in the field and my first job was head of logistics for an organization that imported fertilizer for the coffee industry. Very interesting. Those first five years of my life, but I would say that destiny and.
[00:08:39] Then wrapping to carry you and keep you.
[00:08:43] And I was kept by my mom because I loved it. Sofi You know, talking a little bit about how this charm of careers in logistics, my personality is one of those that you kind of have to entertain it, right? In other words, you send him one thing and then another and then another. And I believe that logistics, infrastructure and transportation issues give you a breadth in terms of geography and power issues. Each geography is a different world. Yes, if you are oriented by products or services or the processes that are within the supply chain issues. And if you want to go out as I did, in addition to transportation or infrastructure issues, it is a world, so for those of us who are restless and curious, it fits very well.
[00:09:31] Well, you will never, ever get bored, every day will be different and as you mentioned, everything will depend on the geography, the type of product, and even the business culture you have. And in the end, as some people say, it depends on your luck at the fair, no, in the end it is very different, each, each person experiences it very differently and I think that is part of the diversity of, I repeat, the tribe of logisticians that Isa has been generating, she collects people and adds them to her tribe, so that is also very nice of this career, not only in logistics and supply chain, but also in logistics and supply chain.
[00:10:23] Sofi yes, yes, if you travel with me, imagine that in the mid nineties. I would say that the logistics and supply profession has evolved over time, hasn’t it? Y. And of course, when I started working in it, I was importing fertilizers for the coffee industry. At that time it was logistics. I would tell you Sofi, first where they were almost unseen, technology was just kind of entering, which today is part of our reality. This was it, this was it. I mean, I was able to carry inventory cards by hand, so imagine controlling. I had inventory in 30 warehouses in Colombia and it was a task with my, with my at that time general warehouse, this was another, it was another, it was another, another concept, a number of things that today are almost inconceivable, to think, how logistics was done without barcodes, how logistics was done without a level of technology like the one we live in and with challenges. That is, there are more sophisticated ones, but you also have always had the challenge of being able to meet a demand at the right time at the right cost. That has always been there. So, the fact that I had fallen in love with these issues and just like you are, or I was an ambassador of the Supply Chain issues, as you say, I kind of became an ambassador of promoting that this was a place where we could work as men and women and that there were wonderful challenges to be solved. Well, with the passage of time, I find that they continue to grow, continue to grow and continue to become more sophisticated and more and more interesting. But, as you rightly say, this has been a task of adding more people to what? To understand these supply-side issues and close those gaps with other areas. Correct.
[00:12:24] And well, since I know you a little bit, I would like you to tell us about it too. Well, you talked about the role of going to El Café and now this side of education, which I know you were very involved in that, because even if you don’t believe it, but if you are going to believe it and you have done everything and that’s apart from everything else. This is what higher education is all about, the connection between. Research and practice and he is going to tell us more about that now.
[00:13:02] Yes. Imagine, I finish working in the coffee industry, with all its relevance in Colombia and I start as one.
[00:13:11] Size is coffee, practically.
[00:13:13] Coffee, but by god hahaha and then after that I start like because this has been a topic of where my own training has been part of like me, of me, of my, of my commitment to myself. So, again, I need to be in a continuous learning process. So let’s say that after my degree I did an envoy and, well, later I did a master’s degree in logistics in Haiti. So I would tell you Sofi, that one of the first topics is how and I do not rule out another master’s degree in my life, no, because it’s like the desire to always learn and then let’s say after doing the Envy I start working on it in the logic group that I was there for 15 years where? For my role and for the role, let’s say logical group that basically promotes everything that is e-commerce bar code standards in, let’s say, in Colombia. And I would say it’s almost. And so and so. And undoubtedly the whole issue of good practices linked to logistics, this natural role of being able to tell stories about the impact of all these practices and tell them to the private sector, to the public sector, tell them to the academia, promote the importance of these issues, it was part of me, of my day to day life. So it was a gift, let’s say, from my work there. It was always this, this topic, like where you and I met, to be able to stand in these spaces, to give these conferences that I have always loved and where I believe that part of this exercise of being an ambassador and seeking to swell this tribe of logistical warriors, I do it through these processes, let’s say, like giving conferences.
[00:15:00] And within this role that I had in Logic for the last 15 years, the last ten, I was the director of the Latin American Center for Innovation in Logistics, which was a very interesting project where Logic and Haiti met to create a research center that basically had three focuses: education, applied research and extension. And there Sofi basically identified that there was a gap to be closed in the region in terms of training, logistics, supply. So we brought all that knowledge from MIT to Latin America, recognizing our specific challenges, the logistical challenges of doing logistics in Latin America, as you mentioned just now, with our idiosyncrasies, our challenges in terms of infrastructure, our own reality, our products, and from there the research center was created and a series of training programs were created, and I know that you are a graduate of one of them, I love the fact that Sofi was looking for a network that is not so common in our region, as many logisticians do logistics within their country, but they do not understand the challenges of logistics in the region unless you have an Andean or Latin American position or with Latam coverage.
[00:16:25] So we put together the Graduate Certificate in Logistics and there we brought together students, let’s say master’s degree students from the region or with work experience in the region, and we made a mix of professors from a network of allied universities that we put together along with the MIT professors. This was generated, light was generated and what will be for undergraduate students, because I do believe, Sofi, that there is a, yes, a commitment of, of each one with this, with this process of always learning and as we were saying, now we are reinventing ourselves every day. The environment we are in changes every day, so it’s a matter of creating these programs. Besides, many of the members of that tribe I was able to capture through the blog, through the blog itself, so I love it because I meet them in the most incredible places, in the most spectacular spaces, working in the public, in the private and and and and nothing. I think that little seed of love for what we do remained in each one of them, in all those programs. And well, you can’t imagine the wonderful people who have accompanied me in my life and accompanied me in the creation of all those projects that I was very happy.
[00:17:42] That’s right, isn’t it? Well, in a nutshell, she’s the blog mom in case any of our listeners. Ah! And he says Ah, I studied there. She, she, for her exists. Then one first thank you. But secondly, what you said you identified. There are a lot of people who have done logistics and supply chain in Latin America and are still doing it. Or people who work in the industry but don’t know, it’s not that that’s just transportation and you’re not part of this movement, you’re part of a piece. That triggers many other actions that trigger many other effects. And we need you, don’t we? And at the end, this part of sharing your experience of sowing seeds that then grow and enter this industry of. It is the same thing to say. Well, these are best practices. That is what I have experienced. You who have lived this sharing. There is still a long way to go in Latin America. I think it is strange because our culture is very social, very friendly, so we just need to be that way on the professional side as well. I don’t think that everything is excellent in the personal sphere, but in the professional sphere there is this gap that I think is part of the design, part of this approach with logic and of bringing industries closer to research. That is what he is trying to close. No?
[00:19:35] All right, all right. Sophie. No! And I always have. Because, of course, I had the chance to travel to Boston and Cambridge to be with this whole MIT ecosystem. And it is also worth mentioning the Transportation and Logistics Center, which was the allied center, let’s say, of logic, because within MIT, in turn, it had other allied centers scattered all over the world. Yes, and it was one thing is, I think it’s also a challenge. Sofi as of how to understand that the person who works in logistics has to be open-minded, as if the world fits in his head. That is, whether your operation today involves getting product from other parts of the world or from Spain to other parts of the world, which I believe will be part and parcel of the reality of what those of us who work in today’s supply chain are dealing with. But as you say, there is that network of human beings that I could have contact with from the master students because there was the possibility, even in the blog, to meet with the rest of the master students, all the centers that you give away like that, that, that possibility to talk about what you learned in one side. And you see how similar we are in certain subjects, in some others different, but always with things to learn. It is a global world where today’s relevant issues, such as sustainability issues, such as technology issues, permeate all these supply houses around the world. So yes, I think it’s like the gift of open-mindedness, that the world fits in your head, that English is your language. I would say yes.
[00:21:19] Me too.
[00:21:20] Also.
[00:21:21] Shame, that Spanish can also be very good today promoting the podcast, but just that. No, no.
[00:21:30] Not all.
[00:21:32] In supply chain is in English, but also in Spain, and we play a very important role. In the supply chain in many parts of the world.
[00:21:45] So it did that, if I may add only Latin America. I mean, is that, well, Brazil I don’t consider it the size, obviously. Yes, yes, yes, yes, part of this, of this group, but I think I don’t know. And I don’t know if it happened to you, Sofi, when one peeks or at least at logistical problems, before the challenges of e-commerce and last mile issues, but. But the logistics in Latin America? I would say that if we could qualify how much of a warrior these tribe members are as logistical warriors. Man, Latin Americans are amazing. In other words, this was a logistical task to be carried out in Latin America. It is a. It is an immense effort to be able to transport in the midst of the challenges in which we live, in the midst of the infrastructure we have.
[00:22:37] Physical, social, economic, political, cos.
[00:22:42] Fanatics. And you travel Sofi in the region and you find a beer in the most inhospitable places, you find a, a, a soft drink in the most inhospitable places or a I don’t know, a product. It is unbelievable. So this is also the space to recognize all the people who, well, in general in Latin America do this task because I believe it is absolutely a labor, a titanic labor, and I admire them all.
[00:23:10] Totally agree. Well Isa, moving on to another topic, which is also a lot of my interest and I feel that there are also going to be a lot of women listening to this episode who are also going to have this interest. Well, practically during your professional life you have been a woman and have represented women in a certain way. So we want to know a little bit about your experience being a woman in the industry, right? I think there have always been challenges and the challenges have been different because they have changed from year to year, some for the better, some for the worse. But I think sharing that side of your experience is also very important, isn’t it?
[00:24:00] Then. Of course, that. Let’s talk about. From. From. From that story. Ehm. Let’s say. That. That. As I told you, when I was a little girl, I always liked to be in the place where they were made. Things were done. No? And let’s just say I enjoyed it deeply, then. And my personality is also kind of flexible. Me. I am me. I measure him relatively easily, let’s say. Like everything else. Well, like all kinds of things. So I don’t know, I don’t know. My personality had like a natural vocation to measure things, even if you didn’t know how to do them, I didn’t know how to do them, and I was willing to learn fast and be well and be always, always willing. And I believe, Sofi, that there, there, there, in these roles of women, in terms of supply, logistics, I would say that there is a first component of believing in ourselves and being and believing that we are capable of doing, of doing whatever we are asked to do, right? So I say the first step is I believe in myself and then I have the capacity to transmit, let’s say, that, that, that, that, that capacity and belief in myself so that others believe in me, right? So I feel like it’s like a thing that I start.
[00:25:22] A zero step, not as an interest and curiosity as to what this world is all about? I am also not saying that we are not going to force anyone to enter who does not want to and who does not like it, who is not passionate about it. But this, this part of wanting to know, of wanting to get involved, of saying yes, yes, I’m in. And then this follow-up of “I’ve already taken the plunge and we were going to continue with everything, with all the effort, all the desire for that, to have that disposition that you mention.
[00:25:58] Because it is that zero step Sofi that you mention, you are absolutely right. I believe that in the case of what we do on a day-to-day basis and especially to the people and women who are in day-to-day operations, well no, no, no, no, we are not going to deny that they are demanding operations, they are demanding, many of them are demanding in terms of decision making and they are tasks. Sofi Eh? I have always described them as almost ungrateful, haven’t I? Because somehow like when you do the task right it’s like what’s expected of you, but when you do it wrong, the world is over. So it really needs to be like, as you were saying, that you like this topic, that you want to get up every day to face these challenges, without a doubt. Well, no, no, no, not all, and as I mentioned before, there are many, but. But in general, let’s say it is a task that implies a, a task, a challenging task, normally in terms of time, of decision making, because it implies that you have a passion for it, undoubtedly the more members of the tribe we have. Wonderful, but, but this is part of the reality to keep in mind, that the job comes with that, with that definition itself.
[00:27:14] So, after being able to connect with that passion and that purpose, well, what I was telling you I think is the desire and the deep openness and believing in yourself, that you can achieve it and being willing to do it or that many, many of them. Also, I think there is a rupture and it was part, as you were saying, of what we wanted to close with these education issues, that the gap between academia and the private and public sector would not be so significant and that you could very quickly assume a role in any of these sectors and be very, very effective, very productive within them, right? Who is also like. As part of. As part of these challenges. But in the end they are fine. You are always going to be measured against things you don’t know how to do. Yes, and I believe it is not in Supply Chain. And again there is the amplitude of having the ability to learn, to reinvent yourself, to have mentors within your ecosystem, which implies creating this network that you mentioned and being able to turn to them who have already experienced things, have faced these types of challenges, have had results or not. It is to learn that even from failure there are lessons to be learned. So let’s say that this, this, this phase of being willing is very important and let’s say, as a professional in all my roles, I say that my attitude has always been willing and above all that I have enjoyed it.
[00:28:44] Sophie Doing things without a very established manual of functions, pretend like my bosses would give me the frame and let me in to draw with that, with that pencil and and and and I will cherish it and always and always liked it. Em But in general I. I would tell you that my life has been like a sea of possibilities, because there is this passion of stage zero, this one, this one. This disposition of what we can call stage one was always accompanied Sofi, by leaders who worked with me throughout my life, who gave me the vote of confidence to be able to face these, these different challenges that arose, they always saw in me a person who could execute them, right? So I don’t know what came first, if I believed in me and then they believed in me as a result, or at the same time we were creating this, this, this, this concatenation that was wonderful and that even the space, if anyone is listening to this podcast to thank them from the coffee guild. Rafael praised the Minister of Transportation.
[00:29:53] Well, all those who have accompanied me, Diego in Annie, who have, who have walked with me and again almost with eyes closed, have this vote in me and and and and and and I believe that there is a very very powerful positive synergy generated. And I believe that when one has the capacity to play these leadership roles, which I have also had in my life, and you are already the head, it is also an immense commitment in terms of facilitating the process. And speaking of women Sofi, I mean, I think that hopefully and I know that sometimes it’s not, it’s not, it’s not, it’s not like that, but I think that women should help women, especially in the supply chain to grow in that way. No Sofi, sometimes it doesn’t happen, but I would like to invite the women leaders who listen to me to take on the challenge of training the collaborators of their teams, their peers, and that after they have passed through you, they become better people, which has always been my goal. Sofi, the people who worked with me can vouch for you if you were to say that it has always been and continues to be an obsession, right? Who I touched in my professional life came out a better professional, a better person?
[00:31:16] Well, you mention several things to see. I’m going back a little bit. The first of mentors. I think it is very important to surround yourself with people who can teach you things that you are not necessarily going to learn in your day-to-day work. Now, part of having this passion and this belief in yourself, you also have to have this drive to find your mentors. We can’t wait for someone to come along and assign you to it. He’s going to be your mentor and he’s going to teach you from what I’ve experienced, which some might say isn’t much, but I’ve found that the best way to find mentors is to go out and find them yourself. Or sometimes you realize that someone is your mentor, when you least expect it, you call them a friend, you call them a colleague. But after a while of maybe parting ways, you left. On the other hand, you say. Today he was my mentor. That person really was my mentor. So that’s one piece of advice I give, which is look for mentors, don’t wait for them to come to you. And well, the other part of what you were saying about having leaders and surrounding yourself with at the end, well, yes, with a leadership that believes in you and that gives you those kinds of opportunities, right? And I believe that. Obviously not, not all stories are like that, and maybe people who are listening to us today don’t feel that way, that they don’t feel that they are surrounded by those leaders that they deserve, not that they would like. But then there are two things there too, aren’t there? One can also be that source of leadership. If you are, whether or not you are in charge of people or of a group, of an organization. You too can be that leader you wish you could see, can’t you?
[00:33:30] Is that okay? Y. Y. And allow me too. Let’s say. And I know that if the bosses I had listen to me. I was a collaborator when. When I was a collaborator. I would tell you that in many cases I was almost a thorn in her side on many issues, but it was because I cared about Sofi very much. Yes, me. I believe that. I believe that we women have to find a voice and the good thing and the men who also listen to us, that if they have not found it, they have to find it and create some spaces where one within the framework of respect and of all the obvious conditions of recognition of the other and the value of the other. To be able to express Sofi differences. Power from one, from sustained arguments. Power, power when you participate in a table. To be able to express your opinion and to be able to differ from your boss, to differ from your leader and in spaces where you can agree on feedback. Good to have the opening and because I believe. I consider, for example, that I am a deep believer in the interdependence between the human beings that inhabit this planet. Yes, and I think everyone has something to contribute. I believe that one is sometimes a very bad judge of oneself and I believe that whoever walks beside you, especially in as many hours as the hours we work. Many times I see in you opportunities for improvement, that if you say them with love, with affection or within professional topics, where the enjoyment sustains a discussion comes well done with true people, with depth and arguments.
[00:35:15] It is a gift of life, isn’t it? So I think that there, there, there, there, there. And I believe that as women we can find that voice in ourselves. I always invite Sofia that I say it’s like a style, it’s not the way you express yourself, eh? I don’t know, the modulation, the timing, the idea. If it is a thing that. Well, sometimes in these management groups you have to be assertive, let’s say as in the message, but I think that by dint of living it and doing it, one learns to master it and obviously combine those issues of form with a well developed background. I think it is a wonderful subject and I believe that it should be something that I wish that personally and professionally we could demonstrate the capacity to demand from our bosses, right, all, all, all, all their quality and to be collaborators with all the quality. And then when in life, to reverse those roles or to be very inspiring leaders in those, in those issues. And adding Sofia what you were saying about mentors, I think that probably in life one is going to have many in different subjects. To pretend that one person has it all is almost dreamy, not everyone is to find that.
[00:36:35] Not even God has that.
[00:36:38] But it is very interesting that this initiative comes from you. And I finally say is that your personal and professional life, you are the magician and the maker of all those decisions as well. Sofi look, my life experience says so myself. There were places where even though I tried I couldn’t and I left. Yes, I believe that prolong.
[00:36:59] It is moments like these when one must realize that the battle here is over.
[00:37:06] It is not my place.
[00:37:08] Maybe the next one is going to make it, but I tried, didn’t I? And there will also be times when even trying will not be enough. Don’t you have to know at the exact moment when one should stay in the situation to achieve a change with which you have to withdraw as well, right?
[00:37:30] Yes Sofi, total, and look at me as a professional also what you just said. I understand that there are places where my skills soar and I there are others, other places where, where I don’t, where, where I don’t work. Yes, and sometimes that I think you have to live it, it doesn’t happen as well. This is also an invitation to our listeners, to what? Isn’t it true that life sometimes you have to be there for a while, right? Living work environments, living company environments where there are. I have made my way through the public sector, which is an area that sometimes we don’t look at, right? O Sofi but it is true that the government is a mega sector of the chain. Rather than pretending to work behind the government’s back, it is a dream. And I believe that there is also a task to be done. And again, I would like to salute all the public servants in the world who work to create a logistics, transportation and infrastructure system where we can operate it, when now that I am in the private sector again, but, but Sofí is super powerful. These well, these issues that we are talking about and so relevant in everyone’s life.
[00:38:47] That’s right, that’s right. And the part is that last thing you were saying about trying it out. I mean, the industry is very large, the positions you can be in, the companies you can work for are many. So not because one of your experiences was not the best, the one that your dream, I don’t know. The ideal does not mean that it does not exist, so that is also giving you another chance to well, give another chance to the logistics supply chain. It’s also super cool and I think that in the end what you don’t try you won’t know. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes it was going to work or it was not going to work.
[00:39:35] No? Yes, yes, yes. Total are. So today I would like to link Sofi to something that I think is worth reflecting on. And let’s say that if I were to summarize these 25 years of life where I have been able to go through the pure private sector, through a more consultative theme of research, with education issues and in recent years in the public sector and in the last year doing independent consulting. Let’s say I believe. That talking about those issues that make it, that what I say, that there is a guarantee of being successful, but somehow it increases the probability of being successful in areas such as, such as chain, supply, such as logistics issues. I would think about these and I would say. It is, a lot is demanded, let’s say, from a woman or a man working on these issues today. First, because I think it is a requirement of technical skills, but at the same time you have to have all these misnamed, misnamed soft skills, such as leadership, communication, because finally, and maybe this is a commonplace, but I think it is very powerful to insist on it again. These supply areas are like I always say they are like the cheese in the middle of the sandwich. If la la es, es es es una son. These are areas that connect Sofi. These are areas that cannot work in isolation, since none of them can work within an organization, but in a particular way, as in the supply chain, you need this internal and external collaborative exercise. So of course, the technical stuff is always there and the technical stuff can be learned.
[00:41:16] And cut the leather, as we say in Colombia, relaxing with the day to day. But also to be able to incorporate these misnamed activities, soft skills of being able to generate relationship issues with people from other areas, with your suppliers. Yes, power how? How to generate elements that lead you to go a little deeper into these types of relationships. To me, it has always seemed powerful, so of course, today we put these competencies. Sofi you mentioned just now that you have to be resilient in an environment that every day is more uncertain, that you also have to add multiple languages and you want to do something like a more, more global role, that you have to understand sustainability issues, understand technology issues, understand risk issues. So I, I, I, I would say not for not, for scaring those who listen to us in terms of what it is, what awaits them or what they experience on a day-to-day basis. Yes, yes, they work on these issues, but it is exciting, exciting as technical, hard and soft. Mobilizing teams, mobilizing companies, mobilizing chains. Yes, yes. If someone does not know what to study and listens to us it is truly an exciting topic. And as Sofi said, there are so many places to work. But it is required, it is one. I say it is one, one, supremely demanding area of work. So, yes, those who come here do not expect it to be an easy reality that we are living, but of great interest and relevance to the world, no doubt.
[00:42:55] Yes, and the part about it being demanded more and more, but that has been intensified by everything that has happened in the world and by the spotlight and the focus that supply chain has had already in people’s newspaper headline. This is how you eat where you are. And they already have us in their eye, in the magnifying glass. They already know who we are, who they are. So that part is also like they demand you, they ask you to come, everything ready, that is impossible. But yes, with practice.
[00:43:36] And with we are getting better and better.
[00:43:38] Learning.
[00:43:40] They did not exist. Or can you imagine my explanation in the 1990s of what logistics was? This was like trying to de de de de. It was very difficult. Oh yes, and as you say, I think it is a valued profession, it is a profession in many places, let’s say well paid, especially in companies that recognize the value of supply chain management, sometimes there are some more, sometimes less, and I think that there is there that one has to, as you were saying, try to find the place where, where one can generate greater impact. And the thing is that, by golly, supply chains are all made and there if they want to be, I don’t know if those who listen to us there are looking for jobs with a purpose. Logistics behind NGOs, eh? All the work on sustainability in these issues, environmental, social, economic, in other words, it’s serious, this is a menu of options to choose from.
[00:44:36] Lots of cheese on lots of sandwiches, lots of quesadillas? Well, a little recap of what we have talked about in the podcast has been to get to know Isa as a person, what is behind her, how has her professional career been, this part of how she started with her studies, in what company she has developed, the things she has managed? Yes, from papers, coffee, education, private sector, public sector, government. Very complete, very complete part of being a woman in the industry.
[00:45:21] From.
[00:45:22] How it’s important one Being in an environment where you thrive, making sure that your environment is going to be one where you thrive, surrounding yourself with people who teach you or in the end, who are smarter than you or who are better than you.
[00:45:39] This is very important. Yes, and another thing that has marked my life is being able to be part of teams made up of people, many smarter than me, no doubt, but above all, good people. Look, the gift of my life has been, has been my teams, either because I became part of them or because I put them together, but also I loved, I loved working with each one of them, I loved each one even though we had difficult moments, hard moments, when you are next to a team and everyone is kind of connected with that purpose and we want to reach the goal. I would tell you that it is one of the most special sensations and and. And I would love again, I don’t know, that the women who listen to us could be part of those teams or create them, or facilitate the entry of other women to them. Why? Because it is a privilege of life. It is a privilege to be part of high-performance teams. And if any of my former team members listen to me again, a thousand and thousand thanks for having walked with me in that task, because it was a privilege and living it is a spectacular thing.
[00:46:53] If they are in a role where their job is described by these two words love and purpose. There it is, there it is. So that’s what I take away from what you just said. Isa. And also, well, we also discussed the importance of, obviously looking for your mentors, having people, being aware of the people that are around you. This part of not because you have gone through many obstacles, the one who follows also has to go through those obstacles. I believe that this leadership that Isa comments on. Reaching out for the next one to move up, for the next one to move forward that is better. That is very important, that reciprocity with what you have experienced and what someone else will experience. That’s the beauty of humanity and what we must continue to permeate, right?
[00:47:54] Yes, and just and only leave them the message. Sofi that if not, why don’t we do it for the men around us who are wonderful, but not by crying.
[00:48:02] For both.
[00:48:03] For both of them, no doubt, no doubt. But, but, but, but, but let’s give him that little hand. I mean, no, let’s not be the woman who doesn’t help another woman, that is, let’s stay in someone’s life like this. As the one who shook our hand. Yes, and I say that’s where we are. I don’t know if the yes, the yes is from a leadership position, you can dedicate a little more time to it and in the end look, I, sometimes I, I sometimes said, sometimes it’s coffees. If they are conversations from the heart, it’s not that complicated. Sometimes I think the hyper sophisticated, but sometimes it’s heartfelt conversations over coffee, after lunch or lunch. No, you don’t need more than that and. And in that dialogue, two human beings can grow incredibly. Have more coffee.
[00:48:57] Yes, more coffee. Well, and in closing, he has already given a lot of advice. Very, very good practices. He has shared very good experiences. But perhaps what was the advice you received? What else have you. Resonated. What else has worked for you? That sometimes day by day you remember it?
[00:49:26] Well, Sofi, I would tell you about the ones we have talked about today, maybe. At one time in my life I tried as de. Unlike what. What we talked about a while ago, how to get it right you always know yes and no, and I didn’t allow myself any mistakes. And I was like the most unforgiving to myself. You know? Sofi was like a thing, it was a terrible thing and not even at some point in my life of someone told me But why don’t you enjoy the road? Right, this kind of trial-and-error process? So what does life finally give us, you know? Y. And I stayed with that and it has not been easy, I mean sometimes it comes out like the little devil on my shoulder to not help me, but. But increasingly and perhaps as a gift of age. Don’t I, to me, to me it seems to me that age has beautiful themes too, because many times Sofi, this theme of self-punishment that I used to inflict on myself was more like a thing, like referring to others, right? What are they going to think of me if I quit this job after three months and I didn’t like it, right or wrong, or I don’t know what.
[00:50:47] I mean, how am I going to handle this on my resume? What are they going to say about me? But, but look at the gift of this person who gave me that advice at the end, well, it is you with you, right, it is you finding, as you were saying just now, Sofi, your place, your purpose. And that is a search that only you can, you can define whether or not you got it right when it ends. So I’ve decided to enjoy the journey, no, that, that would be like the great the great message and see in those mistakes that we make every day more as learning lessons than as spaces to punish ourselves, right? I think that’s like the, like the, like the, like the most powerful of that process, because I could be horrible to myself, not in it at some point in my life, but I’ve gotten better and better. I say I am a I am a I am a. A process under construction.
[00:51:48] Sure, sure, continuous improvement.
[00:51:51] All in all, continuous improvement.
[00:51:53] Well, thank you very much for sharing all this with us today. To all those who listen to us, I believe that there will be several very valuable points applicable. There are some who may say no, I already did that, I already did it, let them share their comments with us, etc. There it is. She can be found on LinkedIn. Yes Isabel Agudelo and from there she will answer you. I believe that.
[00:52:22] Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, of course.
[00:52:24] That’s your social network, as well as mine. Then we also leave her contact information for anyone who wants to approach her. And well, again, thank you very much. We look forward to staying connected with you. And well, nothing, that’s the end of this episode.
[00:52:44] Thank you Sofi, thank you and best regards and greetings to all. I hope this conversation with Sofi will lead to more members of the tribe of warrior logisticians and best regards. A big hello to you Sofi, to all of him and to the whole team.
[00:53:00] Thank you very much.
