Episode Summary
“That is my latest obsession. That’s my latest drive is to help companies to avoid missteps, to take the right steps that accelerate their success. There are so many things that you need not learn the hard way. And that’s what, to me, what mentorship is about. It’s about uplifting and educating and empathizing and growing people. And I do mean people, not companies, right. You know, a company is just a collection of really, really talented people.”
-Greg White, Host, TECHquila Sunrise
You know him as the host of TECHquila Sunrise and co-host of Supply Chain Now. But who was Greg White before he was a Supply Chain celebrity? Listen to part 2 of this interview with Mr. White as he discussed his business successes, building a team for success, who he is helping today, and what the future of supply chain management holds.
Episode Transcript
Chris Barnes (00:06):
Hey, it’s Chris, the supply chain doctor and host of supply chain is boring. Bringing insight into the history of supply chain management and exposing you to some of the industry’s thought leaders and driving forces. This is part two of the interview with supply chain now, host and industry agitator, Greg white, enjoy.
Greg White (00:25):
Cause we’re also managing to things like shelf life because we manage produce and other perishable goods. So there, there is a lot of not just optimization, but also managing to constraints and optimizing and balancing that constraint mechanism is very, very difficult. It’s something we mastered Lordy 15, 15 or so years ago and have just continued to refine over the years. So what was your role in that? Or were you the, the thought leader?
Chris Barnes (00:57):
The master replenisher
Greg White (00:59):
The motivator? So I actually read a book and learned how to write a very basic code language called VB a, which makes stuff calculate like computer code in Excel and produce models. So I built these models using what I knew and what I could find in books and at the library and that sort of thing. And then, then I hired a really talented developer and Bob, his name’s Bobby Cochran, and he knew supply chain from working at us steel in Birmingham. And before I met him in person, you want to talk about virtual, a virtual company and, and remote management before I met him in person, he and I figured out how to wire all of these Excel models together create real code code, build it on a database and create a user interface. And he built the very first beta version of it in 30 days at a condo at the beach that I rented for him.
Greg White (02:08):
He said, I can do this in 30 days, but I have to be able to get away from the house. So I rented him a condo at and Gulf shores, Gulf shores, or Destin or orange beach or something like that. And he went down there and sure enough, he built an enterprise class technology solution in 30 days. Now it wasn’t, it was first cut. It was definitely not MVP. It had all of the advancements that previous technologies had and some adaptations that we put into the technology to solve the ills of some of those older technologies, like the [inaudible] product. And we just started shopping it around because what I realized was I was trying to sell people my concept of these spreadsheets and say, if you’ll just pay me, I’ll make it into, and nobody was signing up for that. Of course. So we, we built it into a technology and we took it to a few companies and they signed up and then we were often running in this smaller industry that, that JDA and other companies had really walked away from, even if had walked away from even before they got acquired by JDA.
Greg White (03:20):
And, but shortly, what we realized was much, much bigger companies had the need as well and had the frustration with the products that existed on the marketplace. And they saw something in us. And I would say probably our biggest, I don’t want to say benefactor. We definitely earned it, but the person who person and company who really recognized that we were different was Burris logistics. It’s a three PL for produce and cold chain and their customers are BJ’s and giant Eagle and, you know, big, big chains, grocery store chains. And, and they recognize that this could change the game for them. And they had the [inaudible] product at the time and we replaced the [inaudible] product at the time. And that was the awakening moment where I realized we can really compete with the big, big guys. And so we started going after them and, and took down a few of them and spread it around the country.
Greg White (04:23):
And then around Europe and into South America as well. And a little bit into the far East, the company is still based in Atlanta. Yeah. Yeah. Darn Skippy, right. Where we are fully committed to that. Absolutely. Yeah. We, in fact, when I was still running the company, we were right across highway 75 from where the new battery is the ballpark truest park. And I watched that thing go up from a big giant hole in the ground to where it stands today from, from the corner window of my office. It’s fascinating. Is Bobby still with the organization, Bobby Cochran? He well, so we have built a few products since then. We haven’t brought them to market. We have, we have a product that we’re contemplating to white label to other companies as their underlying technology, because the need still exists. And what we see is that in the indirect materials and the direct materials and the finished goods aspect of manufacturing, supply chain, some of those principles are, they’re still a few years away for the technologies that exist in that marketplace.
Greg White (05:40):
So he has a job with a good friend of mine, Paul Noble at Verisign, and Paul and I have this agreement that Bobby can Moonlight a little bit on, on what we’re calling fulfilled, uh, which is a product that will attack that problem for manufacturers and brands and that sort of thing. So, yes, basically everywhere I’ve gone, even, even the company that I ran that was arguably supply chain, but not the same exact market as blue Ridge. I brought Bobby and immediately he’s just so gifted. It’s, it’s impossible for me to operate without him. We started out building a technology on a napkin and spreadsheets, and now we communicate so well, we don’t even need napkins. You just got food on your channel, right. We go around with food all over our chin. Right. Cause we never use napkins anymore. We use napkins for their intended purposes.
Greg White (06:36):
Now, Chris, was there another, another company in there that you, you said you, I don’t know. Is there another reference you needed to make or, yeah, so, um, so when the, the investors brought in new management at blue Ridge, I had the arguably I think a lot of people would think the best job in the world. I was a show pony. I went around and made big relationships and did speaking gigs. And they brought me in, you know, they set them up and I knocked them back. They would bring me in to talk about the vision and, and the results and the execution that the company could do. And it was fun, but I had kind of a leadership Jones, right. Cause I really didn’t have many people reporting to me and had kind of a leadership Jones. And honestly, I wasn’t looking for a job, but a good friend of mine, Steve Keaveny said, these folks are looking for a CEO for this company.
Greg White (07:31):
That’s kind of foundering that needs, needs some direction. And when I read the description that they have created for this role, it is you. So, you know, I, they sent it to me and I looked at it and I thought, okay, maybe there’s something here. I let my wife look at it. And she said, Oh my gosh, this is you. So, and you know, it was, it wasn’t that they needed me. It’s just that it was a written expression of what I think people believe my superpowers or gifts or abilities are. And it was just so spot on that it was irrefutable. So I talked to the founders and owners and investors of the company. And after a few months of talking about it, we decided it was, it was the right thing to do. So there were a lot of complications. Amazon was the biggest customer of the company.
Greg White (08:26):
There were a lot of complications. We solved a lot of those complications. We tried to take the product into the broader market and the market we were in, which is service, um, service management, making sure that your repair people or site workers or whatever one, know what their jobs are for the day or the coming week or whatever. And of course the company can monitor that and, and how to do those jobs. So step by step, how do you build a receiving station in an Amazon robotics warehouse, things like that. How do you, one of our customers was a, um, erosion control company. So how do you put down silt fence on a 20% grade, et cetera, et cetera. Right. And, you know, we started making some hay in the marketplace, but there were some huge players. And we just decided that the headwinds were too substantial and Amazon was too, too obvious, a big customer. And so we kind of pulled back and focused really on Amazon extracted some IP and the company still operates, but I believe largely owned by Amazon these days.
Chris Barnes (09:34):
What was that company or is it,
Greg White (09:36):
It was called KIRO CU or, Oh yeah. Okay. It means to care for, in Spanish.
Chris Barnes (09:42):
Well, that’s good to know to care for that’s what you want to do about your customers. Right? So this is actually part of a, a trifecta of Greg’s that I’ve interviewed in supply chain management. So started with Greg Cronin, the one that’s soon to be released with Greg Owens and now Greg white. So it’s interesting because I was speaking with Greg Owens and he was a CEO of Manugistics. Oh yeah. You know, Manugistics and I asked him wives and family after five years, why did they, why did they leave? Why did he leave? And he said, he, he realized somewhat similar to your Amazon or their CURO thing is he realized while he was winning, he was winning the battles, losing the war. Yeah. He was, he told me, cause he CEO of one of the companies that they had recently won, you know, said SAP is going to invest in, you know, a billion dollars in this product over the next five years. How much are you guys going to do? And he, he, they weren’t even a billion in revenues. So similar to what you were talking about, that takes a lot of vision.
Greg White (10:44):
Well, I guess in retrospect it seems, it, it is that at the S at the time, I think some people, I hope other people, not just me, because that would not necessarily be a good thing, but, uh, I think some people just feel it, they know when the time is right. I can tell you that. I couldn’t tell you why the time was right. Other than some macro things, right. It’s too. It was too hard to get out from under the umbrella and the burden joyful burden, but the burden of having Amazon as your largest and first customer, because who has more sway than that to say, this is how you need to develop your product. Um, and Greg likewise, uh, you know, they had, uh, there’s was a fairly crowded market, depending on where you, you know, where you looked, they had a menu, there was [inaudible], there were a number of other products, of course, SAP.
Greg White (11:40):
And of course, SAP took much, much longer than that company predicted. Sure. But, and, and the founders at that time, the founders had pulled up, right. Bill Gibson, who was one of the early founders that at Manugistics was, I don’t think, I think he was on the board. I’m not even sure he was chair of the board when Greg was there, but it’s funny how, how water sort of seeks its own level. And that is bill Gibson jr. Now has a really strong tech company called the Pasco, which you might know from your space, Chris, it’s a, it’s a WMS now fulfillment company and they are expanding their reach and doing some really great things around fulfillment. Uh, I’ve talked to bill a couple of times and, and that company is another one who they had invested in. It kind of found it a bit. They needed to find their way bill jumped in there and has really redirected that company. And I feel like they’re on a, on a good path these days. It’s been a long time coming. I can tell you because I hired one of their previous sales reps or VPs or whatever way back when, probably before 2010. So that company has been around for awhile, but they are coming on now.
Chris Barnes (13:07):
So back to your, back to your gut, feel about timing was right. Maybe that’s just a characteristic of a CEO. I dunno. Maybe that’s, you know, I enjoy studying how people get to be CEOs. I think they’re either sociopaths or they’ve just got another level of, I don’t know if it’s intelligence or feel or something, but
Greg White (13:26):
Yeah, I would, I would, I would argue that it is, there is a certain, you know, and this is, this is my personal philosophy. There is a certain amount of dysfunction that you can turn to your advantage and it, and it truly takes a certain level, hopefully a healthy level of narcissism to believe that you are the one person who can lead or solve this problem. If you look at history through time, which is the only way to look at history, isn’t it. But if you look at history, unless you’re back to the future, right? If you look at past history, um, if you look at history, you see that there was someone who either felt they could attack this moment or needed to attack this moment in order to make this change. And whether you believe you can actually do it or not, maybe isn’t even as important as the fact that you accept the challenge of being the person to do it because of your fear that if you don’t, it won’t get done.
Greg White (14:41):
And I talk about that a lot in, you know, in talking about what it takes to be a founder. I hope it’s not sociopath. I’m willing to accept narcissist because I think there is a certain healthy level of either confidence or obligation or a compulsion that forces you to obsess about certain things and to, and to attempt to solve that problem. The wisest don’t try to solve the problem themselves. And I have fallen into that trap. The wisest find teams of people who are much, much smarter than they are much, much better than they are like I have with Bobby and other talented folks that I’ve worked with. And they guide those people towards that steep and treacherous Hill and, and try to take it right. So I don’t think you’re far, I don’t think you’re far off. If you’re off at all, they’re there.
Greg White (15:39):
I don’t think anyone is smarter than anyone else. I really don’t. I think there are people that are more educated or they have a more refined knowledge of a certain topic or even of themselves or even of the world. But at Cura, one of the greatest lessons I learned was it is every bit, it is every bit as challenging to satisfy a ditch Digger. And remember we had, we had, uh, an erosion control company. So we literally had ditch diggers using the solution as it is a CEO. And it’s not because anyone is smarter than anyone else. It’s largely because when you’re talking about technology, people just want to get their job done. A ditch Digger doesn’t want to waste their time. I mean, I’ve talked to them, a ditch Digger doesn’t want to waste their time with technology to know that they need to stick a shovel in the dirt and throw the dirt out of the hole to dig a ditch, right? Just like a CEO, doesn’t want to waste their time with a bunch of analytics and metrics to know that this is the next thing I need to do. They want the technology to do that analysis for them and, and give them the answer. And that’s no small task, but it, it is universal.
Chris Barnes (16:57):
So a few minutes ago it sounded like we were diving into your tequila sunrise episode on, I don’t know, I forgot the title. I should know the title, but so, so you want to be a tech startup entrepreneur, I think, or something like that.
Greg White (17:09):
Yes. Yeah, you’re right. I don’t even remember the title, but it is basically it’s a, yeah.
Chris Barnes (17:14):
Yeah. Those are great lessons. So that’s another thing I would encourage anybody listening. If you want to know more about that, Greg fuse on that check, check out that session and I’ll, I’ll make sure I referenced that.
Greg White (17:24):
Yeah. Thank you. That, uh, you know, there are some harsh realities and I think it’s better for people to confront those upfront.
Chris Barnes (17:31):
Can you talk about in that session, you talk about having a, a leader. I’m not a leader, but a, a, a guide, a mentor, a Sensi, whatever it is. Sure. If I keep talking, I’ll make up the words, but all those are good and that’s, that’s, that’s pretty much what you are now to several, I
Greg White (17:50):
Mean, supply chain now ship Z, as you mentioned. So w what are you doing these days? Yeah, that, I mean, that is that, that is my latest compulsion. That is my latest obsession. That’s my latest drive is to help companies to avoid missteps, to take the right steps that accelerate their success. There are so many things that you need not learn the hard way. And that’s what, to me, what mentorship is about. It’s about uplifting and educating and empathizing and growing people. And I do mean people, not companies, right. You know, a company is just a collection of really, really talented people. And, um, that’s what I try to do is to help Scott and Paul and Sarah and, and others to recognize in themselves and recognize in the opportunities in the moment what the right path is. And that’s, if there’s anything that I would call a super power it’s that I can identify people’s superpowers pretty well.
Greg White (18:59):
And I can break down, I can break down situations into what needs to be done relatively well. It’s truly the blessing of being the smart ass kid in the back of the room, going that’s stupid teacher. We ought to do it this way. It’s really a manifestation of being that person of looking at things of observing things. My name actually, Greg gree, the name actually means watchful one. And I have always been a really great observer of things. And I think I’m not sure that’s a special gift that I have. I’ve just recognized it and leveraged it. But when you have the blessing of objectivity and some level of naivete or curiosity around things, you can sit back and look at situations and break them down in a way that those who are in, in it, can’t, it’s getting above the forest, right? Getting above the trees to see the forest for people.
Greg White (20:04):
And that’s why a mentor is so valuable and mentors need mentors too. By the way, I have a number of them. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing, frankly, if it weren’t for a mentor, Ken Walters, he saw my ability to do this, where I thought it would be really cool to do it, but I don’t have the juice to do it. So, and of course I’ve mentioned Steve Keaveny, I don’t do anything in regard to finance that I don’t consult Steve on. Um, he is just the master of extracting and creating value in companies. And he’s a finance genius. In fact, he and I worked together at flourish, which is another one of the companies that I advise. And he’s the fractional CFO there. And I’m thankful for it. We’re all better. All of us on the flourish team are better for it. So we just had a board meeting and I asked some questions of him and, you know, again, expressed his expertise.
Greg White (21:04):
So it, maybe isn’t even one mentor it’s find where your weak spots are and, and shore those up with people that can help you. It’s, it’s a lonely journey to try and take on founding and running a company it’s frankly, a lonely journey to do anything. I’m glad that you and I get to do this whole supply chain now thing together. Right? You and I, and Scott, and the entire team, but especially those of us who are hosting shows, we get to share ideas with one another and that’s uplifting and helpful. So yeah, that mentorship thing is, uh, it’s really important.
Chris Barnes (21:46):
You know, Fred Tolbert, you know, Fred, he’s been on a show a couple of times. Yeah. I have him in high regard. And he had mentioned just in passing conversation once, how highly you thought of you. And now, as he said, you know, I just keep thinking back about to that. The more you talk and the more you explain your view of the world. So
Greg White (22:05):
That’s a high honor. I have a lot of esteem for Fred. So Fred and I, and another person we work with often Karin bursa week, we competed against one another because they were at Logility and demand solutions. Right. And I always had a little bit of fear in my heart when I knew I was going up against. Right. So he is truly an expert and his episode with Anthony’s and pillow Z, a guy who just calls him Z self Z. Now that is cool. That episode is fascinating. Right. I mean, to think about SNOP as fascinating. It really is. It is a microcosm of the knowledge that exists in two people who have been doing it for a long, long time.
Chris Barnes (22:48):
Yeah. That’s an, uh, a scoop you guys got on me because I think that would have been a very boring topic to cover. So,
Greg White (22:55):
Well, we maybe should retitle that one. Right.
Chris Barnes (22:58):
Maybe they can put it back in the Canon, shake it up a little bit. That’s right. Or stay or phase two, perhaps. You never know. So what about Kibera? Are you still with clarity, capital and or Kubota or,
Greg White (23:09):
Yeah, so clarity, capital, uh, is, is not, it’s not a venture capital firm, so that’s Steve Keven he’s company and what they do, this is brilliant. And I never would have thought, Oh, I’m sure it’s, there are lots of companies that do it, but I never would have thought of it. But there are lots of midsize companies out there that need to prepare themselves for investment or acquisition. As you know, we’re going through one of the greatest generational transformations in the history of the planet. And, you know, companies need to position themselves, get acquired, or to get funding. And Steve being the genius that he is put together, this group of talented people, all of whom think of it like a group of superpowers, right? Who get their, get their superpowers together and help these companies get prepared. So we have CTO types, Steve, of course, is a CFO type.
Greg White (24:09):
We’re attached to an accounting firm if they need, if they need to fix the books. Because when you go through an investment or an acquisition, you better have your books in order, right? Um, we’ve got people who have law and licensing gifts and people who have been there and done that who’ve run companies who know how to create a vision or how to, for a company or a product, how to market it, or refine a messaging to, to change the game, how to insert or extract products into a company that increased the value. So that’s what clarity does. And, and the name, clarity capital partners. It sounds a little VCE, but when you listen, when you go to the URL URL, you know exactly what the purpose is, clarity, exit.com. It is all about your exit or liquidity event. That is something that I can do where I can help more companies and do that on an advisory role.
Greg White (25:11):
So I think that’s an important distinct, it’s an important distinction for me. Anyway, Chris is I work hard to advise, not consult. So if you look at my LinkedIn, or if I had a resume, if you looked at my resume, it would look a lot like my LinkedIn, if you look at my LinkedIn, I’m doing, I’m working with a number of companies, but a lot of those companies, I spend maybe five hours a month with a that’s. The other thing is it’s really, really valuable to have someone with that objective point of view, who can in moments, give you guidance that can be transformational for your company. And fortunately, I’m able to do that and work with these companies to be able to, to make that happen. And because I am very conscious of managing that time commitment and managing that advisory versus consulting role, I’m able to work with more companies.
Greg White (26:05):
I have to confess I’m reaching maximum density at this point, especially now with Kibera, because that is a venture capital firm. So I have, as many of my friends have told me, I’ve gone to the dark side. Now I am working. I think of it in as, as a service, but I am working to help seed an early stage supply chain techs, get the funding that they need to, to launch or to do early expansion and market fit analysis, and, you know, getting over the MVP and our first customer stage to next level product and finding market fit to create scalability. So that’s what we’re doing at Kibera. And we’re doing some other things I can’t announce just yet, but, you know, we want to have a much, much bigger impact than even out just our firm can have with money. We want to enable technology companies along with some key partners to be able to really launch an and grow and execute at at pace.
Greg White (27:17):
And it’s going to take a lot of partners. And so far, so far, we’ve had a good response in creating an ecosystem that helps to uplift those companies and, and surface their gifts and help them accelerate. We are passion never stops. I think the topic changes, but the passion stays there. And it’s an interesting, I, you know, it was hard for me to focus at an early stage in my career. And finally, I did focus on supply chain. I decided if I was going to be useful at something, hopefully great at something that I was going to have to focus. And when I did things changed and that’s another thing I would encourage is know your niche, find your super power and leverage that. But yeah, as I, as I have explored that more, I have discovered that my gift is making things happen, connecting people and helping them, helping them find that leverage point and, and grow from it.
Greg White (28:11):
And, uh, it’s a satisfying journey for me, frankly, and satisfying only in that, as I said before, I don’t celebrate much, but I get to sit back and see, you know, Paul Noble take tidbits of what I and other advisors have given him and turn it into something great, which is also a gift to take a sentence or a cryptic sometimes, sometimes almost cryptic discussion and turn it into something great. That is also an exceptional gift. Um, and, and great leaders like Paul and Colton and Sarah, they all have that ability to take subtleties and turn them into big change. I’ve I’ve mentioned the name a couple of times. Tequila, sunrise. Yeah. What is tequila? Sunrise? It is a celebration of supply chain tech look, as, as people have said that you said it earlier in the show, people don’t know what supply chain is. Although that group is decreasing in size every single day.
Greg White (29:13):
Right? So what tequila sunrise is meant to do is to surface and elevate supply chain technology. Because if you look at supply chain technology in the greater scheme of things, if you look at it in the public markets, they are typically kind of laggard second tier trading stocks that don’t really launch and, and don’t impact or shape the market in a way that I think supply chain could, and now is supply chains time. And now people realize the value. And let me assure you as an investor, there are a lot of people who really realize the value because evaluations are getting significant. And I feel like tequila, sunrise is a vehicle that allows us to inform and educate founders and to work at the confluence of founders and investors, and even just casual observers to make sure that they understand what tech can do in supply chain and the esteem that techs should have in the broader marketplace and how to, and there’s a little bit of how to, how to understand technology and how to understand investment and valuation, because I want, again, I want to impart that knowledge to some of these founders so that they, uh, they, they have either the confidence or the knowledge, or maybe both to really make a change, really make a difference with their company.
Chris Barnes (30:47):
Great compliment and tie into, as you said, Kibera clarity and the other things that you’re doing on an advisory level. So I encourage anybody just to check it out, even if you’re not, they don’t have a company that you want to develop or sell or grow. It’s just learning something new. That’s a fact.
Greg White (31:04):
Thank you. First of all, thank you, Chris, because, uh, I really appreciate that. It means a lot that you, you recognize and shared that with your audience and it is, it’s a service in a way. And, and the goal is to get more understanding broadly of supply chain tech, just like, you know, this, this seismic societal disruption COVID-19 has, has brought to the understanding of supply chain. And it just felt like the right time to do that. So we’re 12 episodes. We’re about to publish 13 this week. And yeah, so there’s plenty to listen to there if you want. I got to say, I’ll just confess. Sometimes it’s just the whim that hits me. We talk a lot about deals. We’re still evolving the format. Now we’re interviewing guests and I think that will make it a lot better, but we’re also tracking supply chain, tech stocks, public, and private, and the deals that are getting done.
Greg White (32:05):
And I think we’ll probably move that out of the show into the page and focus on the founders and investors, the people in it, uh, you know, in the industry. But, uh, but that’s an important aspect of it too. And I’ve gotten some great help from a fellow named Daniel, Karen at port logistics group, who reached out to me on LinkedIn, Chris, and volunteered to create a mechanism to analyze the supply chain tech stock index as an index. So weighting the stocks based on assessing how much, for instance, Amazon is one of the stocks in there. And so is Oracle and SAP, but not all of their sales come from, not all of their sales come from supply chain. So we have to weigh that based on how much of their sales come from supply chain, things like that. You know, other, other firms like Manhattan are, or Aspen tech. They are 100% supply chain. So it’s a lot easier to, to analyze their impact.
Chris Barnes (33:05):
How did you select the stocks to use?
Greg White (33:08):
Well, I went through and it was a pain staking analysis. I went through and assessed, which stocks hit the supply chain key word. And then I extracted stocks that were mostly services. These are tech oriented companies. Now Manhattan has a huge services component, but the services are rendered in order to implement the technology. So I, I felt like that was a good enough fit, but if somebody was supply chain consulting park city group is a great example. Then, then they were not included. Also if their market cap was below, I think we decided on a hundred million, then they weren’t included because the impact to the market is not significant enough. And it’s a relatively short list. I think it’s 14 or 19 stocks right now, but it stocks like Shopify and big commerce who just went public. I want to make sure that we analyze end to end supply chain. So it is those people enabling e-commerce those people enabling forecasting, planning, warehouse management, TMS, all of those things. And I have to confess, I was a little bit surprised at how few stocks we’re looking at, how few supply chain companies are public and, and of significant size can access is a great example of one really interesting company. And then, you know, just a ton more. So we’re going to start listing that and tracking the index on the, on the show site shortly.
Chris Barnes (34:43):
So maybe we will have CNBC or other investors watching us soon.
Greg White (34:47):
Maybe you never know, or, or maybe we’ll talk to some of those, wouldn’t it be cool, right. To have, have some of those folks on here. I think, I think tracking supply chain is going to be meaningful. Supply chain tech is going to be meaningful over time.
Chris Barnes (35:03):
I know tracking inventory is pretty meaningful, so yeah, it’s all related.
Greg White (35:08):
It’s hard too. Isn’t it?
Chris Barnes (35:10):
So Greg, something I always like to conclude with is getting guests perspective on the future of careers in supply chain management. Do you have any suggestions or guidance you might have for a student considering a degree in supply chain management or an experienced professional considering a career change into supply chain management? I know we talk about a lot of these things on supply chain now, but just wanted to get your, your short perspective on this.
Greg White (35:34):
Yeah, we do talk about it a lot. And we hear from a lot, um, who are trying to get into supply chain. I, you know, I think the, the best guidance I can give is understand what your, your personal gift is and find where that fits in supply chain. It makes me think Chris of Stephan Mau, who is on almost all of our live streams, he’s in the finance industry today has an exceptional guest gift for understanding finance, also understanding the dynamics of supply chain, just because of his experience and data analysis and data analytics. And he is applying that trade into, into trying to get into the industry. I’d encourage folks to figure out who they admire in the industry and attempt to get jobs or knowledge, or even just contacts there and hone your skills. I mean, Chris, you teach apex classes, right?
Greg White (36:34):
That’s a great opportunity to learn from experts and to learn the structure and foundation of supply chain through apex or even, uh, ed ex MIT X has a great supply chain set set of courses. It’s not an official certification, but it’s a great supplement to some of the things that you can get certified on and get to know people in the industry. Look, I’m the first person to tell you, you don’t earn your first job in a new industry and the old adage. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know is only about 180 degrees wrong. It’s not, it’s not who, you know, it’s who knows you. For instance, Stephan mountain knows me, but if I don’t know him, I don’t know what his gifts are, but I do know him now, and I know what his gifts are. And if somebody asks me about Stephen Mauer, they say, I need this particular gift. I can go. That guy is your guy. Or, you know, other people like Sophia Reyes Herrera, we just interviewed her. And we’re going to be releasing an episode about her, exceptionally gifted, also trying to break in to supply chain, get known, right? That that’s the thing is you’ve got to share your gifts with people and you’ve got to share your knowledge with people and it’s gotta be genuine of course, but you have to share your gifts with people to be known. So sure it is who knows you.
Chris Barnes (38:02):
And a great way to get to be known is I encourage people to attend any of the supply chain or live streams. Those are great venues that you get to see Greg and Scott collaborating, discussing bantering ideas with other experts. And then what I enjoy is the, the audience interaction people could. Yeah.
Greg White (38:20):
They’ve created their own community. I mean, we’ve got supply chain insiders and they are really interacting to get to know and uplift and share ideas and mentor one another. Yeah. It’s a great community. Yeah. Sometimes those conversations
Chris Barnes (38:36):
Take off their own own spin. I forget what you and Scott are talking about. It’s almost, I noticed that on a show, it’s almost like we’re the noise in the background while they’re having a conversation. And I’m okay with that. I really am because ultimately our goal is to provide a service to uplift and elevate this profession and to create a community that is supportive and uplifting and elevating of the people in the industry. Look, Greg, I appreciate what you’re doing for the supply chain community overall, and then specifically for supply chain now. So thanks again for investing time with me today. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. I am so honored to be on supply chain is boring. Really? I I’ve been looking forward to this. Thanks for the invite. You’re a pretty boring guy, Greg. So thank you. I was afraid I would not fit the bill.
Chris Barnes (39:28):
This concludes part two of the interview with Greg white supply chain is boring as part of the supply chain. Now network, we highlight historical events, companies and people in supply chain management and create a picture of where the industry is headed. Interested in learning more about supply chain, technology, startups, mergers, acquisitions, and how companies evolve. Take a listen to tequila, sunrise crafted by Greg white for check out this week in business history with supply chain. Now his own Scott Luton to learn more about everyday things you may take for granted and pick up short stories you can use as general conversation starters, the logistics with a purpose series puts a spotlight on neat and interesting organizations who are working toward a greater cause. If you’re interested in logistics, freight and transportation, take a listen to the logistics and beyond series with the adapt and thrive mindset, Sherpa, Jameson Alvidrez and check out the newest program tech talk hosted by industry veteran and Atlanta’s own Karin bursa bursa. We’ll discuss all things. Digital supply chain. If interested in sponsoring this show or others on supply chain. Now send a note to chris@supplychainnow.com and remember supply chain is boring.
Featured Guests
Chris Barnes is a supply chain guru, the APICS Coach, and the host of Supply Chain is Boring on Supply Chain Now. He holds a B.S., Industrial Engineering and Economics Minor, from Bradley University, an MBA in Industrial Psychology with Honors from the University of West Florida. He holds CPIM-F, CLTD-F and CSCP-F designations from ASCM/APICS, one of the few in the world. Barnes is a professional education instructor for the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistics Institute’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) and University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Center for Professional Education certificate courses. Barnes is a supply chain advocate, visionary, and frequent podcaster and blogger at www.APICS.Coach.com. Barnes has over 27 years of experience developing and managing multiple client, engineering consulting, strategic planning and operational improvement projects in supply chain management. Connect with Chris on LinkedIn and reach out to him via email at: chris@apicscoach.com.
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