Did the military invent logistics? For Lt. Gen Leslie C. Smith, who now serves as the W.E. Carter Jr. Leadership Chair for the Parker College of Business at Georgia Southern University, there’s no question of the impact his military experience made in terms of the depth of knowledge and practical experience he brings to educating the next generation of supply chain leaders. On this episode, Lt. Gen Smith joins Jerry Burke, Professor of Logistics and Supply Chain Management at Georgia Southern, to chat with Scott about supply chain challenges past, present and future. Whether you’re choosing an educational path or looking to make a career change, get practical insight and advice from two seasoned supply chain leaders growing a premier undergraduate supply chain program.

Intro/Outro (00:03):

Welcome to supply chain. Now the voice of global supply chain supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues. The challenges and entities stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on supply chain now.

Scott Luton (00:33):

Hey, good morning, everybody. Scott Luton here with you on supply chain. Now, welcome to today’s show. Hey today, we’ve got a great show lined up where we’re gonna be talking leadership education, the extraordinary power of the new talent coming in the industry these days. And of course, you know, supply chain. So with that said, I wanna welcome in our esteemed guest here today. We have Leslie Smith, Lieutenant general, us army retired. I think I got that right. General Smith. That’s right. Who now serves as CEO of the LVC Smith corporate group. Uh, Les, how you doing, sir?

General Leslie Smith (01:05):

I’m good. Good to see you again, Scott,

Scott Luton (01:06):

You as well. I enjoyed our, our warmup conversation and now the real deal, looking forward to getting your, your POV here today. And you’ve brought with you a colleague of sorts, Jerry Burke, professor of logistics and supply chain management at Georgia Southern university. Jerry, how you doing, sir? Hey, never better. Never better. <laugh> that’s right. It is, you know, on that note, it is a intriguing time to be in supply chain, you know, warts and all as, as someone famous once said, and it presents a ton of opportunity in innovation and gosh, what are doing at Georgia Southern university, engaging these young minds that are gonna bring a lot solutions to what we’re fighting through. I bet. I bet life is never been better, Jerry. Yeah. Doing well here. Thank you. All right. So Les and Jerry, before we get into the heavy lifting, and we’re gonna talk more about the program there, the, the program on the grow, we’re gonna talk about industry and, and some other things, but let’s get to know you both better first and Les. I wanna start with you. Uh, I had a sneak peek into the Les Smith story way back when, when I saw you, when you were still in the army, when you addressed, uh, a vet Atlanta event at ups world headquarters. And I, I was like, man, we gotta get this guy on a podcast. And now you continue to big things. Tell us though, where did you grow up and talk about your upbringing?

General Leslie Smith (02:25):

Yeah, so I’m, I’m originally from Atlanta, Georgia, but I, I would say I’m from Atlanta and Mississippi. So my, my family came here, uh, when I was, uh, you know, before I can remember I was born here, uh, in the city of Atlanta. Okay. Uh, and, uh, but my father died when I was five. Mm. So my mom had the decision to make of what she wanted to do and who she wanted to expose her children to. So instead of going back to Mississippi, great thing to place in, go and visit, she cares to keep me I’m the middle kid, by the way, my brother who’s younger than me and my sister in the city of Atlanta. So we could have access and exposure to positive things and going from there. Uh, are we gonna talk about antidotes coming up later? Or you wanna talk about it now? No,

Scott Luton (03:06):

I, you know, gosh, there’s so much there. I mean, your mom made a big decision and made that sacrifice kept y’all together. So you could, uh, be exposed to, to some of the things, great things that Atlanta had to offer. Tell us more about your upbringing. What, what up sticks out? Yeah.

General Leslie Smith (03:19):

Well, I will tell you that. So while, while my father died, you know, uh, he’s a Korean war vet too. Um, I always knew what was the expectations for me. So there was no. So, you know, you can’t feel sorry for yourself. There, there are things that as a Smith man you’re expected to be and to do so at a young age in Mississippi, I saw business people doing things. I saw logistics, uh, of, you know, my uncles who were, uh, had farms and had businesses and how they got things from place to place. So it was inculcated in me in a, in a young age. So I think your environment has a lot to do with what you go, not necessarily what your circumstances are, but the environment that you’re placed in and, and you get, uh, going from there. And, and we’ll talk about Georgia Southern later, but it played a key key role in, in part of that too.

Scott Luton (04:11):

Wonderful. Looking forward to that. And, you know, we talked, uh, before I shift over to Jerry, we talked, uh, last week on, on the prep conversation, how folks that serve in the military yes. And just keep serving and keep serving. I mean, gosh, your family has a legacy and you continue to fulfill it. So that is incredible. So Jerry, let’s talk about where did you grow up and let’s talk about truck upbringing a little bit.

Jerry Burke (04:34):

Well, I grew up a lot of places. My father was in the Navy listed man, and so we Trae up and down the east coast. Uh, for the most part I was born in Jacksonville beach, Florida. Okay. Uh, Mary Young went to Puerto Rico onto Virginia Beach, Orlando, Charleston,

Scott Luton (04:53):

You weren’t lying <laugh> west.

Jerry Burke (04:55):

And, and then back to Jacksonville for high school. So ended up, uh, he retired in Jacksonville and I finished up high school in Jacksonville. And, um, that’s sort of my background and where I grew up. Um,

Scott Luton (05:08):

So Mo let me ask you a question, Jerry. So moving around through all those formative years, how did I impact, how did you adjust, you know, getting, getting to know and meet new people every couple years? It sounds

Jerry Burke (05:21):

Well, I mean, in a way we had, uh, you know, some stability in the family. I had two sisters and a, a younger brother and mom and dad, obviously. So we were a, a six pack moving around <laugh> and, uh, so we had some, some stability with that, but it was always hard every two or three years, especially at the time, it was viewed as a huge negative leaving friends and familiar environments. But now I look back on those experiences as opportunities, uh, a way for me to develop my adaptability and to cope with uncertainty, which is something that, um, uh, you know, it’s hard for young people to, to think about that, that kind of uncertainty. So I got to experience it early on in my life.

Scott Luton (06:00):

Hmm. All right. So I’m gonna ask you both kind, kind of think of a, a rapid fire response here. So when you think of toys or you think of food in your upbringing, what, what do you look back on now and say, man, if I didn’t have that, it would’ve been a different childhood, less, I gotta start with you fried

General Leslie Smith (06:19):

Chicken. Oh,

Scott Luton (06:20):

I’m with you. I’m with you have a favorite. Have you had, have you Hady bees yet? You know, that they, they moved, they came to Atlanta a couple years ago and I have

General Leslie Smith (06:28):

Not. No, right. No, no, my mom’s fried chicken. Yeah. Okay. That’s, that’s a requirement of my family for that. Every birthday I will have fried.

Scott Luton (06:37):

Well, Hey, let’s, we’ll have to compare recipes. Okay. And I wanna, I wanna I’ll buy Hatty bees on me, uh, in, in the weeks ahead. Okay. Okay. All right. So that’s gonna tough to top Jerry, what about you?

Jerry Burke (06:48):

Well, mine’s more on the, on the sports side again, like, like I said, moving around a lot, the way you could connect with, to actually play sports. And, you know, with these military bases, a lot of the times they have, you know, organized leagues and things like that. So I got to play football and basketball and baseball and get to meet people that way. So without sports, I think it would’ve been much harder.

Scott Luton (07:09):

Mm that’s such a great, you know, that probably goes unsaid so often. And that’s such an important part of our upbringing. Yes. All right.

General Leslie Smith (07:16):

I agree with that. If I could. Yeah, please. As, as a senior commander and I, you know, having my kids grew up in, in the biggest thing that if I could get kids and that my wife Andra always talked about this, how we could get our kids into whatever program we had at base a, to go to base B, because then they’ll have something forward to look to. And they wouldn’t feel like outsiders. I think that’s critical not only in, in the military, but as we know, people will move around. How do we make sure they can, they can have that stability for the family, which in turn helps, helps us workforce

Scott Luton (07:51):

Agreed, agreed. You know, that outsider label can be so tough when you’re in those early years and, and grade school and whatnot. So well said there. So let’s shift gears as much as I would love to explore more stories, uh, from y’all’s upbringing. Cause I I’m convinced we’re not getting some good stuff, but I’ll save that for a later. So let’s talk about leadership, one of our favorite topics around here. So prior to your current roles, when you look back and you think of, you know, one stop of that long successful military journey, let’s Smith, or, you know, part of your, your background, your journey, Jerry, what’s one role that really shaped how you look at the world and let’s go with Jerry first here. Yes.

Jerry Burke (08:28):

Good. Well, I was the first to go to college in my family. So I was pretty naive getting into, uh, the university and was not a very good undergraduate student to be honest, um, and work my way through college. Um, supervising people and food service like on campus and catering. So just got to know people and, and I always gravitated to be in a sort of a leadership position even, even early on, got into graduate studies and did a lot better and a lot of international students there. So, uh, again, we did a lot of teamwork and I would gravitate into the leadership roles and coordinating the groups. And then finally here, uh, in my first faculty job at Georgia Southern, you know, you typically hold off and be like an academic administrator or department chair until you’re been here quite a while, but there was a need after, um, as soon as I was able to, to fill the role. And, uh, the people asked me to do it. So I did that for about 10 years, but all in all in all these different contexts, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the resounding truth to me is that human resources are the most flexible and valuable resources. And that’s especially true in supply chains. We’ve learned that, uh, over the last year or so,

Scott Luton (09:40):

I, I cannot, that is a hall hallelujah moment. We talked about Eureka moment slot, but that’s a hallelujah moment. We interviewed, uh, Monica tri with N four here in recent weeks. And one of the, her great things she shared, and I’m gonna part butcher this, but she said the people of global, uh, the people have been the salvation of global supply chain during the pandemic not technology. And so I completely echo your sentiment there. The human factor is, is, uh, critical. All right. So that’s a good one, Jerry. So Les, that’s gonna be a tough one to add to, but tell us about a key, key leadership role for you.

General Leslie Smith (10:13):

Yeah, I think, uh, serving as an army is six. You six inspector general. When I thought I was gonna retire as a two star was, was seminal. And, and it’s, you, we won’t have time to talk about it in, in this podcast, but everything you do builds upon something else, and you don’t realize what is building toward until you step into the job. And just the difference between the two star to the three star level is like a different planet. Uh, and you understand that, you know, you work for the secretary of the army and the chief of staff of the army, who in turn work for the secretary of defense, who in turn works for the president. So that’s the scope of what level we’re talking about. Wow. And it, it can be intimidating until you realize that your entire life, your entire career, again, coming back to, I learned at Georgia Southern about the Southern pride and, and what it means to be an Eagle played a key role in that development, which ties back all the way to where I’m from and how it’s brought up. And, and those things are tied together. Cause I, I think we are, we have to make sure we take the time to do the things, to help people understand what their potential is and show them the opportunities via who we are and what we’ve been.

Scott Luton (11:23):

Mm man, well said, I gotta ask you. So I was an air force airman, so I know that a Lieutenant journal has three stars. Now, the Marines and the us Navy structure throws before a loop, but three stars. I don’t have the numbers. I should have looked this up, but there can’t be that many. I mean, you’re one of very few, right?

General Leslie Smith (11:40):

Yeah. So I, I, I tell people all the time, 1.3 million soldiers and civilians about 350 active duty, general officers, 45 of those are three star general. Wow. So that, I mean, the numbers are, you know, pretty small. Yeah.

Scott Luton (11:56):

That is a very prestigious group. All right. We’re gonna have to have you on veteran voices and we’ll talk more about that incredible journey. Sure. Thank y’all for sharing that. Let’s, let’s go, you know, I mentioned Eureka moment a moment ago, and thankfully, you know, the silver lining in the last couple, when it comes to supply chain is there’s been lots of those which has driven lots of innovation. It’s really attacked a lot of things in our blind spot, which all that and more is gonna strengthen industry for, you know, the year, the months ahead, the years ahead and better prepare for the next curve ball. Now we all hope it’s not nearly as big of a problem as the, the pandemic, but there’ll be certainly more challenges that test global supply chain. So with all that said, Jerry, I’ll come back to you. When you think of your bigger Eureka moments, uh, in 2021, let’s say what comes to mind? Yeah.

Jerry Burke (12:44):

So, uh, for me, I have an interest in this phenomenon. That’s probably talked about a lot. It’s called the bull whip effect, and that’s where you get variability and demand information at. And it amplifies from the end consumer all the way up to the manufacturer. And in 2021, it clarified for me that transportation is pervasive between each supply chain link, both inbound and outbound. So the flexibility of transport services and systems are key to handling those disruptions when, when it, when they happen to, to crop bump in a system. So supply chains, uh, more resilient, especially through more robust transportation services.

Scott Luton (13:23):

I completely agree. We probably are both. If, if we could talk to ourselves like from 2017 and say, you’re gonna hear the, your words supply chain, someone’s gonna add a hyphen to it. And you’re gonna hear bull whip career other day amongst the general populace. We’d say you’re crazy, but that’s exactly what we’ve seen, uh, general Smith. Let’s talk about your bigger Eureka moment from last year.

General Leslie Smith (13:44):

Yeah, I, I think especially when it comes to supply chain, you know, as the inspector general we’re responsible inspections, assistance and investigations for 1.2 million, there’s 1.3 million soldiers in civilians. But what I I’ve saw amongst my peers and it really takes an entire whole of, uh, us army government is when COVID hit, how, um, disconnect is not the right word, how strain our processes and systems already were. And so, you know, you don’t think about, uh, from a military perspective, what role and part that you, you play, but that really exacerbated or manifest or showed us what the problems were. That’s why we had to mobilize soldiers to go to hospitals. That’s why we had to, to, uh, you know, the defense, uh, acquisition act to, to get things in place. So it showed the strain across the board. So the question that we have to think about is, okay, uh, I think some of the terminology was just in time logistics, right? That was a good buzzword, but the question is where, where should it be in, in the pipeline while it might be cheaper initially the habit overseas, what’s the, what’s the, the risk factor Trump’s benefit factor to, to do that. And so, uh, the higher you go up in the rank, in the military, that’s really what you’re thinking about, logistics, how do you get people equipment and to the decisive point to make the mission? Cause they can’t get there. They can’t do the mission. Right.

Scott Luton (15:10):

And right. Well in, you know, it can be argued that the military invented logistics, right? And, and so I dour <laugh>, so there’s always been a lot of synergy. I would go on to say that beyond the, the history linkages, my time in air force and my time in, in the manufacturing industry are very, you know, that’s that sense of camaraderie. Mm-hmm <affirmative> team mission. I mean, there’s a lot of synergy between the military and global supply chain. Hey, one quick follow up question then I’m gonna, I wanna talk about what you’re doing now and Jerry, I’m gonna come to you and talk about the, the vibrant program there at Georgia Southern you’ve said it inspector general a couple times you were the 66th inspector general in the army, I believe in a nutshell, what, what does that role do?

General Leslie Smith (15:50):

So the inspector general works for the chief of staff of the army and the secretary army responsible for those inspections, assistance and investigation. For that 1.3 million soldiers in civilians, I was, I’m a prevention guy. So there’s a reactionary part. You can be like, something happens in ha I’m gonna jump on it. Right. I’m to the left of it. I’m a prevention strategy guy, similar to let’s see what the links are, where the problems are, so we can help fix those links before they fray and break.

Scott Luton (16:19):

Okay, man, there is so much Jerry. Yes. I know when it comes to supply chain, man, we could, we could have talk for days about that. Yes <laugh>. Okay. All right. So Jerry, let’s, let’s come back to you. Uh, I’d love to talk more about, uh, what you’re doing now and of course, the vibrant supply chain program at Georgia Southern university. So tell us more.

Jerry Burke (16:38):

Yeah, our program’s been around since the, the, the late nineties. It was kind of an early program in logistics and supply chain, uh, with a focus on the transportation management and then, uh, also on the sourcing and supply strategy stuff. So we started out kind of small and built it our over time. Now we have about 400 undergraduates enrolled in the, in the supply chain program. We have two sides of it. One is, uh, logistics and intermodal transportation, which tends to be the bigger portion. And then we have an operations and supply management side, which maybe is 15% of the students, but we’ve grown it, uh, kind of organically just through good job placements and word of mouth advertising from students and their parents. And then we have a good, we have a, a really great faculty here, um, which surprises a lot of people.

Jerry Burke (17:25):

We’re, we’re ranked in the top 25 on certain empirical research ratings around the world. Uh, so we, we do teach well and we, we also research 12 and, uh, we really care about student success here. I think it’s not just lip service. And, uh, we put our money where our mouth is on that one. We have a logistics round table every semester here, we bring, uh, 30, 35 companies to campus and they meet up with about a hundred plus students. And, uh, they do breakout sessions and they do like a career networking event where they pass out resumes and business cards. And then we also have a lot of scholarship opportunities for students here. We’ve developed, uh, several through our university foundation. I’ve sort of gotten one off the ground with the remote association in north America. And it provides about $45,000 worth of support each, each year. A lot of that goes straight to tuition scholarships, but some is for travel too, which is another big draw, right? Uh, we get, we get our students out there and see what’s going on in the field, go to conferences. Um, we go to big, um, big event in long beach every year called the IANA expo and students get to mingle with some of the industry leaders in, in the intermodal freight.

Scott Luton (18:37):

So it sounds like to me, uh, really being, um, laser focused on the student experience or SX and the latest X, maybe providing them opportunities, scholarship it’s exposure to corporate, uh, the folks that are doing the stuff. Um, and then, and then getting the word out of all of that stuff. Sounds like a lot of the secrets to, to all the growth and success, 400 students and the undergraduate. Is that just undergrad? That’s right. Mm-hmm <affirmative> outstanding. Okay. So, uh, general Smith, I bet you got a couple things to talk about the robust joy or just Southern university supply chain program.

General Leslie Smith (19:13):

Yeah. I, I will tell you the part, part of the reason why I asked Jerry to be on the net with you today, cuz it ties in exactly what you’re talking about. So as I was retiring, uh, the Dean and the president came to me and says, Hey, we really want to take the w Carter, uh, junior chair for, of leadership and, and up Gunn it a little bit. Not that I could really do that, but they wanted me to up gun it a little bit and put some, some focus and drive to it. And so this is the first example that we’ve had the ability to do to highlight all the great things that are happening the park college. So that’s the first step. In addition to that, the goal is to get our students, which we know are different than your average bear, because you just heard what Jerry talked about and then get them in front of institutions or organizations in, in Savannah and in other places. So we can highlight the great things that they do, not only the great things that they do, but the problems that they can solve for these organizations, because they’re thinking through all, some of the hard problems. So that’s part of what I wanted to do. Uh, as I retired, I wanted to have a suite of things that, that I had the ability to do. So that’s why I, I stood at that limited liability corporation to do so. So I I’m prepared to talk about those as, as needed. Yeah, I’m,

Scott Luton (20:27):

I’m, I’m gonna CU circle back. I wanna go back to the program just for a quick second cause as we are in the pre show, Jerry was telling me a little bit and if I got this wrong, just correct me, Jerry, it happens all the time, but I believe you led the program for a while. And then here recently you’re getting back into the, the classroom more cause that’s one of your passions. Can you speak to that a little bit?

Jerry Burke (20:45):

Yeah. I mean, we’ve had a long legacy of great people that kind of spearheaded the, the undergraduate program. The department of logistics supply chain management was formed about seven years ago. And I was the inaugural department chair for that group and had done that all the way through, um, summer of 2021. But, uh, we had a, a, a really acute knee need for someone to be in the classroom and our capstone course. And so I stepped outta that administrative role to let someone else handle that for a little while. And, uh, I could be in, in tune with the students and be in the classroom to, to give them a little value, add that that course needed. Mm.

Scott Luton (21:22):

I love that. And, and can

General Leslie Smith (21:24):

I, I gotta interject something here. Yeah. That is one of the things that I did not know before I came to Georgia Southern, but it was, I call it the, the actual, no kidding what’s happening thing. <laugh> I dunno if that, if that’s the right term that you use, but it, it is what we felt. We didn’t know what it was, but it’s, I call it the hands on mm-hmm <affirmative> taking the academic aspect and, and talking about what’s really happening in the world and then bringing that together for the students. So they, they can fill and speak to those terms. So because there, there are people who’ve been out there and they talk to those things and that’s how we bring the real, real realism to the

Scott Luton (22:00):

Student. I love it. I can only imagine the impact that has on the overall learning experience and, and, and how much better prepared they’ll be a when they hit the job market, those members of the now generation. Um, okay. So thank you for sharing Jerry. I wanna circle back one more time, uh, to you Les, about the LV Smith corporate group, uh, pre moment ago, you alluded to that you serve as CEO. Tell us more about what that group’s gonna be doing.

General Leslie Smith (22:26):

Yeah. So is, is, uh, cuz so on leadership and, and other aspects at it’s the same, um, venue that I use to sit on corporate boards. I find that the knowledge and experience that I have when it comes to leadership, strategic planning, management, change management across the board is very, it’s not unique, but it’s still surprising to me that how much in demand it is. So the, the skillset, just a plug for our veterans, they bring a unique capability, Scott, as you know, uh, and we have to highlight that. And part of the reason why I’m here at Georgia Southern is to help highlight that leadership aspect, but also highlight what veterans bring to the table. So I kinda use that to, to do the things that I, I want to do, uh, for myself and for my family.

Scott Luton (23:13):

Okay, man, I bet you’re gonna be you and your firm are gonna be extremely busy. Uh, and, and, and again, going back to that, that prevention mode, that mindset got so much of business that, uh, can benefit from that. All right. So we’ve talked, we’ve talked a lot, uh, at various points here about Y as young people. And then of course the now generation numerous, you know, as it relates to the program, uh, I want to add another layer because general Smith with your, uh, tenured, successful time in the military, I bet you learned a lot from, um, young troops, you know, so Jerry I’ll circle back to you start with what are all those young people coming through the Georgia Southern university, uh, supply chain program. What’s something they’ve taught you.

Jerry Burke (23:54):

Well, I’ve got, I’ve been, I’ve had the great privilege of, of teaching some of our top students in a case study course like Les was talking about getting them in, in, in front of actual industry people and tackling problems that are somewhat real, somewhat simulated. I dunno if you can see over my shoulder here, all that glass hardware background, right, right. That’s the first place awards that these teams have won. They work hard to really represent Georgia Southern and, and, and make us proud. Uh, so I’ve learned, you know, that they, you know, if you, you give them a, a goal they’re gonna work really hard to reach it, which is great because we often hear about, you know, some of the ambivalence you, you see in younger generations. Um, but generally speaking, they, they’re very comfortable with technology. And, and I’ve learned that, you know, there, there is a distinction between problem solving and critical thinking mentality. Sometimes they’ll just jump in and try to, you know, run the numbers and dig into things and really, really get down in the weeds. But they haven’t looked at the big picture yet. And so all of that work sometimes is for not, uh, and you know, so that, that’s something that they’ve taught me is, you know, to, to step back and look at the big picture before you jump in with both feet and, and think you’ve got a problem to solve. There may not be a problem there at all. I love that.

Scott Luton (25:09):

I love that. Uh, before I shift over to Les, how can companies listening to this? How can they, you know, work with those students, maybe give them some problems and some case studies, how does that

Jerry Burke (25:20):

Work? So some of it’s formalized. Um, so the intermodal association of north America is a great, great eight partner. Um, you know, they’re, they’re a consortium of, um, the ocean carriers, the big railroads, the big trucking companies, all of the, uh, equipment providers to those industries, uh, the ports themselves. And, um, they sponsor a, a, a academic, uh, challenge every year. They used to do two a year and they’re done to one. And so we get plugged into that. And, um, they’re really great cases. A consultant named Larry Gross writes a lot of them. And he, he, he is very, very good and educational in the cases. And it’s, it’s hard stuff. I mean, it’s, it’s hard stuff to, to, to solve, and they do a great job with it. And then the different, uh, organiz have ’em around ASCM has one. And, um, the Denver transportation club actually has a great one really in February, every year called operation stimulus. So I’ve just gotten plugged into a few around the country and have developed a, a, a set of principles and guidelines to help them break these things down and, and, and, and out how to solve them in, in good ways. Um, so that’s how we’ve gotten plugged into it is my mainly through Iyana.

Scott Luton (26:34):

Gotcha. All right. So business leaders, uh, if any of that appeals to you, I bet Mr. Jerry Burke would be willing to take your phone call and see how they might, could plug y’all into companies into some of these things they described. All right. Soles, let’s circle back to you. Uh, I bet your experiences there, you know, from your earliest ranks up into putting on that third star, you could write maybe a couple books, but specifically, what are some, what are some things you learned from, from those junior enlisted junior officers, the young coming in?

General Leslie Smith (27:03):

Yeah, I, I would say, uh, be real, uh, be upfront with them, uh, provide them a vision. And I, I, and I, and I I’m telling you that, cause it’s the same thing I see with my two daughters. Uh, but, but be transparent to you. Uh, we know we weren’t perfect coming up. And so the more you, you can tell your story and the mistakes that you made, then that it seems real. Uh, and, and the other part, I think that I’ve learned is that we have to be open to mentorship across familiar lines, across organization lines, because it’s that important. Uh, so if you just see a young, just like today, I saw a couple of recruiters sitting down talking to a young lady. She just so happened to be a biology major. That’s what my youngest major in. And I asked her about going to medical school and she’s like, well, who are you? And why are you asking? I just tell people to, to Google me now, and then they start freaking out. Uh, but, but to that point though, is that requirement requires me to have the ability to stop what I’m doing to have a conversation with somebody, which you don’t know where it’s gonna go, but it’s important because we, we owe it to people that have come behind us to, to give the mistakes that we made and go from there. I know that was a long answer, but no, at

Scott Luton (28:24):

Dead on the money. Uh, but what, what both y’all shared, uh, but on front end of your answer, that authenticity is so important these days. Um, all right. So as much as I hate, it sounds like y’all got more lessons that share there, but we gotta move on for the sake of time supply chain. Now imagine that we’re all that supply chain. We’re, we’re big, I’m a big supply chain nerd. We love talking. It’s fascinating right now, what we, what we’re all, uh, experiencing and learning and growing through and fight through. In some cases, Jerry, back to you, you mentioned the bull effect earlier. And of course that has been on the tips of a lot of folks tongues for the last couple years. But what, what beyond that when you survey global supply chain and, and where we we are and where we’re headed and, and, and that kind of thing, what’s a topic or two that you’re really focused on right now?

Jerry Burke (29:12):

Well, because of the nature of our program, I’m really pretty laser focused on intermodal freight transportation, supply chains, the supply chain system for containerization. So from the concentration of capacity to manufacture overseas around Southeast Asia and China, especially to the big ocean, uh, container vessel, uh, alliances to, um, operations of seaports along the landside distribution networks, um, you know, how we get it from the seaports inland, be a truck and, and rail that’s sort of my main thing. Um, but I’ve always been a big proponent of risk diversification, sourcing, diversification, distribution diversification, and supply chains. So I’m very interested in this five corners logistics strategy where they’re bringing, you know, freight in through the Northwest, the Southwest, the Gulf coast Southeast and the Northeast. So, uh, how tho how that those dynamics are gonna continue and how they got disrupted because of COVID. All of that is very interesting to me right now. And, uh, kind of getting some of that, um, congestion away from Southern California. We can, we can handle it over here on the east coast. <laugh>,

Scott Luton (30:18):

It’s amazing to see the growth, of course, in Savannah, we’re kind of spoiled. We got one of the great ports, at least, at least in north America, not the world, uh, Charleston just uped up these coast has done some big things. I think their, their volume 20, 21 over 2020 was like 25% if I, if I saw that. Right. But we’re all the containers. Uh, you, you know, we’re, we’re, we’re, it’s like where’s Waldo. Uh, so there’s so much that story. Uh, one, one quick follow up question, and I’m gonna come to you, uh, less, but Jerry, I’m assuming with Savannah, just down the road, I think one of y’all mentioned that, uh, I bet y’all have got some pretty strong relationships there where students can, can even take a look maybe firsthand into some of the amazing things that go on at the port there. Huh?

Jerry Burke (30:59):

Yeah. Lot of them, you know, fair share arrogant internships over there. Um, before COVID we would do a bus tour over there every semester, so they could drive around the port itself and see how those container ports, uh, do their magic. And, uh, yeah, we have alums that work there. Uh, we have alums at Jack’s port. We have alums at, uh, port of Charleston. So we’re pretty well connected. And, um, you know, our per program has a great reputation.

Scott Luton (31:25):

Well, you know, relationships certainly, as it was said the other day, uh, a United Kingdom leader. So I think he used Petro relationships for the Petro that fuel global business. And that’s true. I, I wholeheartedly believe that. And, and that’s when you can bring them to bear, to provide those experiences like you’re describing for the student. And it just happens. You know, one of the great ports is just down the road there in the, uh, Georgia ports. Okay. Soles, I wanna come to you, uh, when you’re talking about, uh, when you’re thinking about global supply chain, there’s so much to dive into these days. What, what are you really focused on right now? Yeah,

General Leslie Smith (32:01):

I, I think the biggest thing that I think about, cause one of the boards I’m on, uh, is, is in the oil and gas industry. And so they they’re looking at what does the resiliency look like for their network? You know, if something happens in one location, how can they lift and shift associated with that? I think the other part that I think is gonna be a big deal is sustainability. And, and since I’ve in here, this trip to Georgia Southern it’s about workforce development and, and developing the next generation of, of people who have to work at our ports, our airports, whatever the port is, our networks, because we know us older folks are, are, are retiring. And if we don’t plan now, I was talking to Savannah, Chatham county, superintendent, and others about what’s the next step. Mm. Uh, that’s one of the, the real focuses for the president, uh, the Dean for the college, uh, here and the provost, what’s the next step doing it locally, regionally and nationally. So we understand how do we bring that workforce

Scott Luton (33:01):

Development? Yeah. Excellent point, excellent point. And I’m glad you mentioned airports. You know, some of our listeners maybe would be surprised at how much cargo, how, how hot air cargo is in general right now and how much cargo comes through Hartsville Jackson, um, international airport, uh, big car. And they’ve had some really cool innovations in recent years to make it easier and push more cargo through. All right. So here’s always so much to talk about. So little time, I want to, let me one quick follow up question, going back to you, Jerry you’re, you’re talking about diversification amongst, uh, especially when it comes to procurement sourcing, you know, options are a good thing, right. Options that we learned painfully there. Great thing. Is there any, as you’ve studied that and had your conversation with business leaders, is there a, a best practice or an approach that you’ve seen a company? Do you know? When I was in manufacturing, I was in, uh, in, in metal parts, um, uh, metal stamping was where I spent, uh, a couple years and I learned firsthand. We were trying to, uh, win programs and then produce ’em manufacturing. ’em how difficult it can be to find backup suppliers. Right. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And that was long before the pandemic. Have you seen anything firsthand that, uh, you could share that you’ve seen a company do that really other companies should, should maybe benchmark?

Jerry Burke (34:18):

Well, you know, the one I could that think of, of right away is Boeing. You know, they, they outsourced a lot of their parts, um, sourcing and they realized that, you know, even little rivets and things like that, that don’t seem like such a big deal. If, if they get snarled in the supply chain, then you’re outta luck. And so they’ve sort of brought that back in, you know, the, the big trade off outsourcing as you give up control. And so, um, you know, it, you need to have that control, then you, you ought to have an ownership piece of it. So you may not own all of the capacity you need for all of the parts, but you should have, you know, your, your tow dipped in, uh, to some of the capacity for most of the parts.

Scott Luton (34:54):

Agreed. I love that. Thank you for take, uh, for, for sharing. I would add to that. I think one of the things that was reported reported on earlier in the pandemic, uh, and I think Boeing is one of the companies that wall street journal had pointed out where these companies were paying earlier to their supply chain partners. Mm-hmm <affirmative> than their due dates to, to protect them and protect their supply chains. And that is a wonderful, uh, trend here, uh, in 20 21, 22. Okay. So we’re gonna have to, I want, wanna make sure folks know how to connect with both of y’all here. You I’ve got so much going on. Uh, I’ll tell you Georgia Southern university getting general Smith. It’s like, it’s like the bucks signing, uh, the famous quarterback, the one of em, super bowl down there. Who, who was that? Les

General Leslie Smith (35:36):

At? Georgia Southern Tracy

Scott Luton (35:37):

Ham. No, no, no. So, well you mean Tampa

General Leslie Smith (35:41):

Bay? The guy

Scott Luton (35:42):

We don’t like. Yes, but he was a free agent and it was a good guy.

General Leslie Smith (35:46):

We don’t like that beat the Falcon. We, we don’t mention his name. Tom

Scott Luton (35:49):

Brady. Yeah. Let just Tom Brady, that’s his name? Just for comparison, just for comparisons or, Hey, here’s a better one. It’s like the Braves signing, uh, trading for Fred McGriff and signing Greg Maddox. Right. Which set them up to win that 95 amongst other things at 95 world series. I, I can’t agree with that one. Okay. Fair enough. <laugh> we’ll have to, we’ll have to snip that part about Tom Brady. Yes. Cause we don’t like saying that, uh, his name. Okay. Uh, so much good, tough going on. Uh, at Georgia Southern university, uh, leadership, supply chain, student engagement, you name it, um, connecting this, the now generation with the, the folks doing it. Right. Uh, the practitioners, the companies making it happen, you know, really making for a vibrant learning experience. I bet let’s make sure folks can connect with you both. So let’s start with you, Jerry. How can folks connect with Jerry Burke and learn more about Georgia Southern university? Yeah. Well,

Jerry Burke (36:43):

I’m on LinkedIn. Put my, put my name in with Georgia Southern you’ll find me, uh, or you know, our, our, um, our web address here, the department supply chain management, LSC, M as the last extension there and the Parker college, the directory is there. You can maybe email I’m kind of old school. I’m not a big social media guy yet. <laugh>

General Leslie Smith (37:03):

We gotta work on that. Jerry

Scott Luton (37:05):

<laugh> Hey, you know, it takes all kinds for sure. Right? It does. And we’ll make sure these links are in the show notes folks. So if you wanna reach out, you wanna, uh, uh, compare notes with some of the cool things they’re doing at Georgia Southern university, you can do just that. And, and then, uh, general Smith. Um, how can folks connect with all the cool stuff you’re doing including here in Georgia?

General Leslie Smith (37:25):

Yes. So I’m on LinkedIn, uh, Lieutenant general, Leslie Smith. You’ll see my, my smiley face <laugh> on, uh, on Instagram is LTG Leslie Smith spelled out and on, uh, on Twitter Smith. S M I T H L E S the number two. And yes, I do answer my own tweets and other things from there. We’re gonna tweet about this today. Awesome.

Scott Luton (37:50):

Uh, Hey, we can’t, uh, I’ve been excited about this since we initially got connected and then we made the connection to Jerry and, and all the cool things going on here. Not too far from, from where we’re having this conversation. Yeah. So,

General Leslie Smith (38:02):

Hey, is that one other thing I could talk about real quick? Yeah, so we, we are, you know, we’re doing something in March I think is, is, uh, is gonna be a sea change for Georgia Southern. Uh, we have our first Parker, uh, uh, gala, uh, it’s the business schools gala, and we recognize great things that the, the universe has done and the Parker college has done. And I think it’s gonna be a great stepping stone to that helping build that synergy that we talked about before. So that’s gonna be a big deal. So be on a watch out for those pictures and everything else that comes outta there.

Scott Luton (38:34):

Definitely the Parker gala, uh, how Parker

General Leslie Smith (38:36):

Gala March the fifth, I think we almost sold up, you know, but if Scott, if you, you act nicely, you know, maybe the Dean will help

Scott Luton (38:43):

You out. <laugh> Hey, I I’ve never been popular with Dean, so I don’t know. Maybe we can, we, we, we,

General Leslie Smith (38:48):

Yeah, Jerry probably has the connections there.

Scott Luton (38:50):

Okay. Fair enough. Well, it sounds like it’s some place to be, right, Jerry.

Jerry Burke (38:54):

Yeah. It’s a good place to be a few days before that we’re gonna have our logistics round table here on campus. If you wanna get plugged into that. Yeah. You can connect with our career services. People here, you can, you can hit, uh, you know, connect with me. I’ll, I’ll connect you with them. Uh, we have like about a hundred students gonna be there. Uh, so if you’re looking for new talent and your supply chain who the round table and Statesboro is the place to be

Scott Luton (39:18):

Outstanding.

General Leslie Smith (39:19):

And Scott, if you think about it, that would be a great follow up podcast. If you don’t do it this time, actually talking to the students about what they’re learning, what they’re seeing and, and how can we, we, the enterprise help them achieve their

Scott Luton (39:33):

Goals. Agreed. That’s the name of the game? That’s the name, the game. And some of our best episodes, you know, we’re, we’ll probably be about 840 episodes deep in the main channel. By the time we publish this. And some of my favorite episodes have been interviewing, you know, freshman, you know, college students that are more passionate. They, as y’all both have mentioned, they bring the solutions and the ideas and they wanna break how things have, have always been done because it, it, it, it, it’s not the best way. So, uh, we’ll have to tee that up on a later episode. Big thanks to our guests here today. Up first, we had, uh, Leslie Smith, Lieutenant general, us army retired, who also serves as CEO of the LV Smith corporate group. Thank you so much, uh, Les for your facility here today. You’re welcome and stay tuned. There’s more to come. I believe we’re gonna get some more, uh, experiences and stories out of less here on future episode and his friend, colleague, Jerry Burke, uh, professor of logistics and supply chain management at Georgia Southern university, big things happening in Statesboro. Thank you for your time, Jerry.

Jerry Burke (40:37):

Hey, my are glad to be here.

Scott Luton (40:39):

All right. And we’re gonna have to get some of your students out next time. Folks, hopefully enjoy this episode as much as I have. Uh, we had, we had a lot of fun. We compared a lot of notes. I think we’re all certainly passionate about not just leadership, but also ensuring that the next, uh, the leaders coming up through the ranks are best prepared and experienced to do the big things that they’re it’s in their destiny to do, which is, is, is change the world and, and make, uh, the global supply chain craft even stronger and more capable. So on that note, uh, if you enjoy conversations like this, be sure to find supply chain network, wherever you get your podcast from subscribe. So you don’t miss conversations like this with Jerry and less, but most importantly folks, most importantly, challenging you to do good, give forward, be the changes needed on that note. We see next time, right back here on supply chain now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (41:25):

Thanks for being a part of our supply chain. Now, community check out all of our programming@supplychainnow.com and make sure you subscribe to supply chain. Now anywhere you listen to podcasts and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. See you next time on supply chain. Now.