Scott Temple, president & CEO of FedEx Supply Chain, never planned on getting into supply chain — a testament to the flexibility of both the liberal arts degree and the modern career path. In this episode, join Scott L. and Greg W. as they talk with Scott about the journey to leadership, the importance of people to any resilient supply chain, the future of automation, how the pandemic has impacted FedEx Supply Chain and more.

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 opportunities. Stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on Supply Chain Now.

Scott Luton (00:33):

Hey, Hey, good morning, everybody. Scott Luton and Greg White here with you on Supply Chain Now. Welcome to today’s big show. Greg, how you doing all?

Greg White (00:41):

I’m doing great. I’m looking forward to this. So, let’s dive in.

Scott Luton (00:45):

Let’s do it. We’re getting – we don’t wasting time around here.

Greg White (00:48):

No.

Scott Luton (00:48):

On today’s episode, folks –

Greg White (00:49):

Especially not with this fella.

Scott Luton (00:52):

We’ve got a big guest as Greg is alluding to with us here today, doing big things for global business from supply chain solutions to reverse logistics, even to commerce enablement and all points in between. So, on that note, let’s welcome in Scott Temple, president, CEO, FedEx Supply Chain. Scott, how you doing?

Scott Temple (01:10):

Good. Thanks. Thanks for having me. I look forward to today’s conversation.

Scott Luton (01:13):

You bet. I tell ya, we are too. We had to go through your agent and your agent’s agent to get you booked, but, we know y’all have had your hands full at FedEx Supply Chain making things happen. So, appreciate your time here this morning. So, Greg, where we’re going to start with Scott Temple? Before we get into some of his professional journey and some of the things, cool things are doing at FedEx Supply Chain, let’s get know Scott Temple a little bit better. So, Scott, give us the goods, where’d you grow up and what were some of your hobbies as a kid?

Scott Temple (01:42):

Yeah. So, I grew in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, which is just Southeast of Pittsburgh. And as you know, Pittsburgh had a great weekend on the football field.

Scott Luton (01:49):

That’s right.

Scott Temple (01:50):

Overall, they, snuck in there. But, you know, I lived all over the United States, you know, throughout my career. My wife and I at one stretch lived in seven different places in nine years, toting around four boys as we go.

Scott Luton (02:05):

Wow.

Scott Temple (02:06):

Today we live in Des Moines, Iowa. My last engagement brought me here and I haven’t moved yet. You know, the pandemic kind of slowed down any kind of relocations or whatnot. So, I’m in the upper Midwest and it’s cold. It’s very cold.

Scott Luton (02:21):

All right. So, Greg, we got to go back to football for a second. We love football around here. Greg’s a big KC, Kansas City Chief’s fan. And, of course, Scott, it sounds like you’re a big Steelers fan. Is that right?

Scott Temple (02:32):

Hey, you can’t grow up in Pittsburgh without being the Steelers fan. They won’t let you back in.

Greg White (02:37):

That’s right. That’s so true.

Scott Luton (02:39):

The other thing I heard, gosh, four boys. What age ranges is your family?

Scott Temple (02:45):

You know, so I’ve got four sons, three of ’em were born in different states, so they range from nine to18, going to be 19 next month. He’s a freshman down at Ole Miss.

Scott Luton (02:56):

Oh, fantastic.

Greg White (02:57):

Hotty Toddy.

Scott Temple (02:59):

Yeah. He’s a smart one. He got out of the upper midway.

Greg White (03:04):

Going south. Yeah.

Scott Luton (03:05):

One more question then we’re going to shift gears and take a glimpse at your professional journey. Any of your sons, any of your kids want to dive into the world of global supply chain as a profession?

Scott Temple (03:17):

You know, we don’t talk about much, you know. As I think about my career, you know, I have a political science degree with a smattering of religion classes in there from a small liberal arts school, which pretty much prepared me to do nothing. And when I figured out I couldn’t go to law school or shouldn’t go to law school, I kind of fell into this career. My first job was at RPS. And if you’re aware, RPS is FedEx ground [inaudible] so technically I’m a rehire and 27 years later, when I joined RPS three years ago, or when I joined FedEx three years ago this week. So, no, you know, we kind of push in whatever direction they want. I’ve got the whole gamut of personality for children moving around as much. And, I’m just thankful my wife’s a widely intelligent person who keeps all of ’em online ’cause I’m the fifth kid. I sat out [inaudible] for a few years, guys, and she just said, look, I love you, but you can’t be here anymore. It was just horrible, right? Between the Nerf battles and the Wiffle ball games and everything else. She needed me to go out and get real work again.

Scott Luton (04:18):

Okay. I love that, Scott. We have to interview your wife. I’ll tell you, it sounds like, she’s had our hands full as well. So, Greg, where are we going here with Scott Temple next?

Greg White (04:27):

Well, I can tell you, I feel a significant sense of alignment here, political science degree from an engineering school, which makes it even less useful by the way, Scott, and, kind of fell backwards like many people do into supply chain. And that’s something we’ve talked about over the last couple years is, you know, this wasn’t the first career choice. And, for a lot of us, it was – we weren’t schooled in supply chain. We kind of came up through the school of hard knocks. So, I’m curious about kind of how you got into supply chain, what kind of drew you to it, and then what are a couple of things that you’ve done or seen as gotten into the practice, the craft as we call it, that have really shaped your view of how supply chain ought to work?

Scott Temple (05:15):

You know, I mean, today there’s curriculum for supply chain. I mean, kids are educated. They’re schooled in this overall. For many of us, at least of my age, and I’m knocking on 50 this week, you know, you kind of had to learn it as you go. So, as I think about my career, I mean, I kind of fell into the job at RPS. I needed to get a job. My parents said, look, we love you, but you can’t come home, figure something out. And, you know, I got that job and it was a great job. You know, I played four years of college football and I was in better shape after the first year working at RPS, working that dock than I ever was all four years of playing ball, man. So, it’s, you know, I found something that leadership skills, hard work, you know, there’s the old saying, you know, show up on time and you work hard, that gets you 90% there.

Scott Temple (06:01):

And I kind of felt like that’s where it originally started for me, but over the years, I learned, again, great mentors over the years, do the hard stuff. Don’t get comfortable in your job. So, if I was comfortable with my job, I’d still be walking the doctor to Harrisburg hub. Cause I love that job. But over overall, you know, I’d still be walking the dog [inaudible], so I love that job. But overall, you know, I’ve worked in demand management. I’ve done a lot of M and A work sales, purchasing. You know, I’ve kind of done everything you could possibly do. And because of that lack of formal education, those layers of experience, those rich layers of experience, it really set me up to do the job I have today. I mean, guys, I’m completely self-taught. But the only thing I won’t get involved in is finance. I’ll read the spreadsheets, but don’t let me [inaudible] in your calculator. I’ll leave that the guy’s formal degree overall as well as my attorney. So, you know, I think it’s important for people to understand that the supply chain is about layers, and without those layers, you can’t relate to your customers. If you can’t relate to the customers, how are you going to add value to them every day? You know, they don’t want one discipline. They want a lot of disciplines looking at their business.

Greg White (07:09):

I deference to liberal arts degrees. I think a lot of what you’ve described there is because of kind of probably how you are generally, but also what you’ve studied. A liberal arts degree kind of prepares you for everything, but not something specific. Right? And, I think that we found a lot of people in the craft that have come through a liberal arts type of role. There also seems to be sort of a theme, Scott, that people don’t want you at home, your parents, your wife. You must damage a lot of furniture.

Scott Temple (07:48):

I’ll tell you what, I’m not helpful. Just put it that one. Never have been, never will. My wife and I survived over 20 years by me spending 125 nights in hotels.

Greg White (07:57):

But that way the Nerf footballs aren’t hitting her lamps, they’re hitting the hotels lamps, right?

Scott Luton (08:03):

Yes. That’s what I heard.

Scott Temple (08:04):

That’s right.

Scott Luton (08:05):

Those Nerf wars. Those can be really damaging to homes, Scott and Greg.

Greg White (08:10):

Yeah. No doubt. No doubt. So, you know, obviously your role, president and CEO at FedEx Supply Chain, a lot of people have a vision of what that role is. As you said, just a minute earlier, it’s a lot of things, right? It’s everything but finance and, man, can I relate to that. I’m thankful for people who have finance skills. So, tell us a little bit about what your day-to-day is, kind of how you manage, you know that sort of thing. What is the role in your world?

Scott Temple (08:43):

So, you know, we focus on very specific markets, computing, mobility, equipment, consumer grids, retail, e-com fulfillment of course. We have a growing industrial business and the largest part of the business is in North America. However, we are growing rapidly outside of the US as well as a supply chain organization. As you think about my role, especially in a place as large and dynamic as FedEx, I mean, it’s amazing what you can get into in any given day overall. So, my time is really spent on the tactical side with the greater enterprise. How do I support the overall strategy? What we’re looking to do or when a customer has an immediate need. My phone could literally ring and it could be, “Hey, we’ve got test hits. We don’t know what to do with, and they’re coming into the port, pick one, and how do we distribute it?” And, off I go, right, which is a tactical part of it. But you need that experience overall and to understand that, and of course I just delegate the smart people, right? I’m smart enough to know what everyone’s telling me, but then I get the right people involved.

Scott Temple (09:44):

And there’s a strategic side of it, which any good (9:47) is going to spend their time on, what the customers want and what do the products that I need to have in order to meet their needs in those specific markets. You know, we of course do general warehouse and we do fulfillment. We do pick, pack and ship, contract packaging, private freight management business, which is a great business to go along with multi-tenant warehouses for smaller companies, really to give them an overall package. You mentioned reverse early on. We’ve got one of the best reverse technologies in the industry I feel. And, it’s a large size business force.

Scott Temple (10:20):

But how do I expand? How do I take what we have, take those relationships and what’s the customer need next? What’s the next thing? You know, my partner in FTN, who runs the ocean and air business, nine months ago won’t even dream of this. We had our first sailing of our own ocean vessel with FedEx logistics containers on it. ‘Cause the market’s changing and we need to keep up with the market and we need the capabilities to do so. So, you know, my time gets spent a lot on this product expansion, but, you missed, if I didn’t talk about people, I’m in the services and I’m sure you’re going to ask me about robotics for automation at some point, right? Because it’s a hot topic now. But at the end of the day, it’s about people. I can’t automate enough to eliminate enough people. So, we spend a lot of time with our leaders. Very proud of our diversity equity and inclusion programs, our leading leaders, our emerging leaders, our GM train programs. And while our HR team does a job of running those programs, I [inaudible] into those as much as possible. You know, I tell the vice presidents and directors, “Hey, I love y’all.” But if I got a good GM in the field and they’re doing a good job, our lights are easy. So, I actually interview every new GM coming into the business for that very reason. [Inaudible] strong, the whole business works well.

Scott Luton (11:40):

Quick follow up question on that note, Scott, with all those interviews. You know, some folks love interviews, some folks hate interviews. There’s not much in between. What’s one of your favorite interview questions to pose whether these gym candidates or anyone else that you’ve come across.

Scott Temple (11:57):

Well, you know, first I get ’em off [inaudible] a little bit about talking about my bag of money at the end of the month ’cause we’re a profit business. We’re just not there to save the customer money. Now, once we get through that, really it’s, where do you want go with your career? What do you want to get out? Because you work in a place like FedEx, the greater, not only supply chain, but the greater FedEx. There are so many opportunities to take advantage of every single day. Even as a president, CEO, I see job postings sometimes and I’m like, I might want to do that. That’s a great job overall. So, if it’s wanting to know where people, where they want to go with their career and making sure that vision is a fit, if I have somebody wants to be a career GM, probably not the best stick because I need to manage growth. And if I don’t have the next level of leaders coming in and coming in, we’ll never be successful. The worst thing a customer wants to hear when you pitch a deal is, oh, you just sold this to me, but you just hired the management team from outside of the company. I bought FedEx. I didn’t buy, you know, your solution pitch. Any engineer could put that together. I’m buying that culture for the organization.

Scott Luton (12:57):

Outstanding. And, Greg, I think we’re going to be talking about customers next, right?

Greg White (13:00):

Yeah. I’m curious. I mean, over the last, pretty much, except for maybe a honeymoon year, Scott, you’ve hit probably the hardest, most unique times in supply chain at a brand new place. And, I’m curious, what are some of the things you’re seeing that you all are doing that you feel like are or maybe were at one time above and beyond for people in the industry, for your customers, for their customers, since you do deal with retail? So, I’d love to hear kind of what you’ve seen change and how you’ve seen FedEx step up to that.

Scott Temple (13:40):

So, I never thought I’d be managing through a global pandemic or being on calls with neurologists who are explaining, you know, the Excel. So, yeah, it’s been something. As I think about what we do, we optimize suboptimal supply chains. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t – the supply chain does not become suboptimal in a, you know, a flick of the switch ’cause it does. The pandemic showed us that overall. So, you know, it’s about continuing to manage through the data and analytics. Our chairman in the late ’70s said, you know, it’s the data around the package. It’s not necessarily how we’re shipping the package and that holds true today, is really digging into the data and analytics and what’s required next. What does that customer need in order to keep their supply chain going? ‘Cause the problems we faced, you know, in the great recession or in any other period leading up to this, required those same types of analytics before a different reason, you know, and in that period was about inventory. And, you know, how do we lessen inventory? We got too much, it’s not moving.

Scott Temple (14:41):

I was – in the middle of the pandemic, I was at a large, one of our large customers’ million 2 square foot building and there was only 300,000 square foot product in it. Right. So, they couldn’t make it fast enough to get through. So, you know, it’s really digging into that and understanding what those key levers are and being ahead of the game form, knowing they’re going to need it, but also keeping the warehouses up and running. That became quite a chore. When you talk about, “Hey, we have a COVID case, that’s in this particular part of the warehouse.” “Okay. How, what do we do? How do we quarantine that? How do we get to keep the DC running?” I mean, I was very proud. We never shut down the DC during the entire pandemic. No, we shut down parts of it. And we cleaned and we scrubbed and we cleaned and we cleaned some more, but you know, we never actually had a shut one down. And, I mentioned before about training of people. And, I really think the pandemic was a great indicator of where the training and the theory hits the road in the practical application. Right? All the things we talk about and we do, we train a ton and to watch those things come out, I couldn’t be prouder of the team, you know, and all face team, not just the frontline operations, the support we got from our business partners and HR and safety. Everybody stepping up in order to make sure that the customers had their product. Look, remember, so many is counting on us. Shareholders counting on [inaudible] that product. Somebody’s job in a manufacturing plan is counting us, need the product, help our jobs count on us move that product. And, again, I couldn’t be prouder of the team.

Greg White (16:10):

Is there a parti –

Scott Luton (16:11):

Go ahead, Greg.

Greg White (16:12):

Is there a particular story? I’m curious. I know you must have had dozens, maybe hundreds or thousands of these opportunities, but is there a particular story where you guys hauled somebody out of the ditch that just really leaps out at you during the last couple years?

Scott Temple (16:27):

You know, there were so many and I can’t get into customer specifics obviously. But there were so many of ’em with their backs against the wall where they had literally 10%, 15% of their plan in the quarter, and then some of the restrictions lifted and next thing you know, they’re 300%. And, if you got [inaudible] and while we [inaudible] a little bit, [inaudible] 300%, so you can imagine being 10, 15% [inaudible] for an entire quarter for a Fortune 500 company.

Greg White (16:56):

Yeah.

Scott Temple (16:57):

And we came through. Now, it wasn’t pretty at times, and we had a lot of labor suffering, but there are many, many stories like that where we really just rolled up the sleeves and it was little blow in the guts, right. I remember plenty of situations where our VPs, where my COO was standing on the dock directing traffic ’cause he was the last person in and that’s what he had to do.

Greg White (17:17):

Yeah.

Scott Temple (17:18):

Whatever it takes, whatever it takes. You know, Greg, and I’m going to talk more about this changing environment and pose a question to you just a second, Scott, but you know, we hear this term, have heard it for going on two years now, Greg, resilience, right? It’s getting baked into products and brands and marketing all this stuff. But I would argue that what we heard the last four or five minutes from Scott is almost a textbook definition of what resilience really is, whatever’s taking place, moving forward. You know, the frontline management support, you name it, whatever it takes to keep customers moving, customers, the economy, the industry moving forward. I mean, that’s what has to happen. And, you know, sometimes there’s not a whole bunch of definition or intent beyond, behind when folks use that word, resilient. But, man, Scott and FedEx Supply Chain have brought it by the truckload, haven’t they?

Greg White (18:17):

Yeah, no doubt. I mean, it’s funny. We keep referring to everything with resilience. I don’t know if everybody, anybody watched the national championship last night, but that was the keyword used for the Georgia quarterback, right, was resilience and not a direct path to success and not maybe the most popular path to success and kind of, Scott, like you kind of fell backwards into his craft. Right? And yet, you know, just like you’ve described there, developed and gained the trust and utilized the talents of the people around him just like you have to deliver for the clientele in a, you know, in a difficult time. So, yeah, it is fascinating, this word. It’s also fascinating how applicable it is. Honestly, I think we maybe should have been using it a lot more. If we had been using it a lot more to, Scott, your point earlier, you know, maybe some of these surprises, they still would’ve been huge shifts like you described 15 to 300%, but if we had not disregarded the possibility of that happening so often, not always, but so often, maybe we wouldn’t have had such disruption, and also lesson learned I hope by a lot of your clients that, hey, when something changes dramatically, we probably ought to tell our supply chain partner.

Scott Temple (19:45):

Right.

Scott Luton (19:45):

Right. Keep those lines of communication open, keep that bat phone, that red phone off the hook. Right. Okay. speaking of disruption, speaking of the change and the evolution, whether it’s the challenging last, you know, couple years and how the whole world has shifted, of course, or if you want to dial in a little bit deeper, Scott, to, or focus more on just global supply chain, but regardless in this air era of transformation, what’s a couple things that really stick out front and center to you.

Scott Temple (20:17):

So, you know, when I first started this business as the warehouse supervisor, the inventory manager didn’t trust that new WMS system, and he still used a Rolodex to track inventory. So, he had a dual inventory system. And for those of you on the call, I mean, I know you two know, but for those listening, a Rolodex has little cards in it that’s been around and that’s how he track his inventory. Hey, I have to have real-time access, real-time visibility. A customer needs to know that inventory is available. They need to know that it was just brought into the building. They need to know that it just shipped as they’re trying to manage their overall businesses, they all run tighter inventories. And, I don’t think that’s going to change. I think that’s a constant evolution in this business. You’re always going to have people. You’re going to have [inaudible]. You’re going to have warehouses. But how we manage that information and the speed in which we manage, it just becomes – continue and becomes the most critical aspect of the business.

Scott Temple (21:09):

But there’s the other side. You know, I mentioned earlier, we talked about automation, robotics. You know, I’ve got some of the best engineers in the business. I’ve got solutions. When I first started here, I walked into some of these for [inaudible]. Like, wow, a customer actually lets us do this? Because I’ve never like it. I’ve been in [inaudible] market a long time, but they’re absolutely fantastic. But where it’s evolving to with automation and robotics is, as you know, the contract logistics industry is a three to five-year contract. Well, you can’t spend 15 million bucks to eliminate 200 heads or gain that productivity on a three-year payback. It just doesn’t work. The math will never work.

Scott Temple (21:46):

So we spend a lot of time working with our customers to find win-win in this area because you desperately needed to minimize the reliance on labor and improve quality. I mean, we work with a couple integrators out there that are perfected to the point. They can deliver a perfect order 100% of the time with many of their applications. But can the customer pay for it? Can we make it work in a three to five-year period? Or are we to the point where our relationships with customers have to evolve way beyond the contract? The contract keeps us both honest, but the long term goals have to be centered around with what’s best for the overall supply chain in their business, relying on our expertise and capability and shared learnings with the needs of their business and their products.

Scott Luton (22:32):

So, Greg, as you, as you heard Scott’s response to what they’re tracking in this ever-changing world, what sticks out to you?

Greg White (22:40):

I think it’s the focus on people even in the face of incredible automation, right? You know, we talk about this a lot, both of you Scotts. We talk about this a lot. And, that is we want people to do human things and we want technology to do technology things. And, there are some of those things that, at least in today’s and probably for the foreseeable future, they’re distinctly different, right? People can make decisions with inadequate or inaccurate information on a moment’s notice that are high stakes. A computer, or, you know, analytics or AI even requires a ton of data to be able to do those things. So, creating that blend between the human and technology connection is really, really critical and understanding that balance for not just yourself at FedEx, but for dozens, hundreds, thousands of customers who have different dynamics and different desires in their business. Some probably want to reduce heads, some just want to be the most effective, and to be able to balance that in dozens or thousands of different cases is it’s pretty impressive to be able to do that.

Scott Luton (23:54):

Agreed. And, to steal a phrase that I think I heard you say the other day, Greg, we got to make sure the AI is AI. We got to make sure artificial intelligence is actual intelligence, right, and spitting out what we need. Scott, before we shift over to culture and leadership, any final thoughts around this incredible time, really incredible time that we all have to be in global supply chain right now.

Scott Temple (24:20):

Having the right people has never been more true as I think about the pandemic and how we’ve had to react to it. And, you know, I think about the culture at FedEx, the customer-centric culture, our people service profit culture and watching that in application. I remember when the pandemic first started and I sat down with Andy Smith, my COO, [inaudible], how are we going to handle this? What are we going to do? He took me through it and said, it’s going to be evolving. It’s going to be fluid. And then he got on the call with all the GMs and Beth Casteel who runs the HR side of the business and just watching them work. It reminded me one of the most valuable lessons I got when I first got my big stripes, and that, if you got the right people, [inaudible]? I mean, it was just wonderful watching them go. And a lot of times people in my position sometimes might step in and put your stamp on this and that shouldn’t do that. You should allow the talent to do what they do best. And it just reinforced that one more time throughout my career, at least these last 10 years when I’ve had more senior roles.

Scott Luton (25:21):

I love that. That’s such a critical lesson learned, and I love how you put it there. So, let’s talk more about culture and leadership from – as we do, we have done our homework on you through [inaudible] and others. We’ve kind of done our Google searches, kind of building Scott Temple portfolio. You know, I understand that you’re an ongoing, endless student of leadership, big believer in culture. Of course, you got the purple what purple promise there at FedEx Supply Chain. So, talk to us a little bit about how – you just mentioned a key lesson that the pandemic era leadership taught you with having the right people and kind of getting out of the way, letting ’em go to work. What else? How else rather has the pandemic shaped your views on both culture and leadership?

Scott Temple (26:09):

It continues to reinforce. You know, if you think about how 3PL started, they started out as small regional providers where a customer could pick up the phone and talk to the owner, right, and just get things done. The pandemic has further reinforced the requirement that we got to run our business this way and we’re not a small regional provide. You know, we love bodies in North America and, as I said, growing in the world. So it’s continuing to properly train and empower, get people the confidence to do the work and give them those layers of experience that I mentioned, you know. Absolutely critical that they understand that part of it because, you know, again, as a student, I like to think that I’ve learned a lot of good things, but I’ve actually learned more from watching the failures of others that [inaudible] and passing along that knowledge and saying, “Hey, have you thought of this?” “And, you know, I had a boss. I first became a CEO of a company and I made a mistake and it cost $150,000.” And I thought he was going to fire. Honestly, I couldn’t believe I made this mistake. It was a bone head move. I didn’t do my due diligence. And he came to me and said, “You know what, Scott, that was is dumb. Why’d you do it?” And I explained and “Well, don’t do that again. What’s next?” And that taught – but it taught me, he saw talent in me. I made a mistake. And at the time that was a fortune, but long term, you know, after leading that company and doing what I need to do for them, it was just a learning curve. And, I think people need to understand that you’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to learn from them and you’re going to move forward with the business. Just don’t make the same one play.

Scott Luton (27:46):

You know, along those lines, Scott and Greg, I’m not sure if I’ve shared this with you. I had a chance to hear the legendary GE-CEO, Jack – Greg, help me out last name. Jack –

Greg White (27:59):

Oh, my God. Now, I’m [inaudible]. Welch.

Scott Luton (28:03):

Yes, yes. Jack Welch. Heard him speak out in Vegas at an event one time. And, Scott, talking about big mistakes, he even made a bigger one. As he told it, he basically blew up a factory based on some technology that he was a trail blazer on and big loss. But to your point, the leadership at the time better understood what he was after what he was doing, why he was doing it, and they asked that simple question that it sounds like your manager at the time asked you, “Hey, what’s next?” And, that really, you mentioned empowering earlier, that style working for folks like that that allow mistakes be made. I mean, that’s how change and innovation and resilience is really manufactured and baked into cultures and organizations. Okay. So, Greg, respond to that, if you would, and, Greg, I think you’re going to take the next question as we’re going to take a little visit to the Waldorf Astoria up in New York City.

Greg White (29:01):

Yeah, that’s right. Well, not on Scott’s budget because he’s already told us he’s not going to spend that kind of money, but to give you a counterpoint, to give the listeners a counterpoint to the description, both of you just had, I actually worked for a CEO and a company once who actually said, as we were trying to innovate a technology company, actually said to me, one of the other GMs of one of the other divisions and his son who is, you know, basically COO, why is it every time you guys say learning experience, it costs me money. So, that’s the alternate take the stories you both described there, right? It does take a certain amount of mature empathic leadership to do that because it is a big hurt. Like you said, Scott, 150 grand was a lot of money then.

Greg White (29:53):

So, the alternative to having that kind of vision, that kind of leadership principle is what I experienced, which was not fun, being who I am, of course, I kind of laughed it off, but now this really puts it in perspective to hear you guys talk about what could have happened there. So, that being said and talking about people who are or have been in the industry, there are of people, Scott, like you, and like me and Scott who were not educated in supply chain or are educated in supply chain or becoming educated in supply chain, students, crossover professionals, people coming from physics and politics, and God help us if that’s the case, and other industries that are getting into supply chain. So, if you’re talking to this room in a reasonably priced hotel, Scott, and they, they want to know what are the keys to getting involved in this industry, to being effective, to understanding it, to moving up the ladder, to being successful in this industry, maybe even ascending to a role like yours, what is the guidance that you would give those folks?

Scott Temple (31:08):

I think first and foremost, and I don’t think it even, it can apply to anything, have a plan, know what you want to do, right? And, you may want do it ’cause you want to make money or you want to have people working for you, you want fill a sense of teamwork and being a team and understand what that is and working now. Man plans, God laughs, right. We all know that. And, we got that formal change in your 30’s and your 40’s and your 50’s. So, you have to work that plan. I think that’s critically important to know what you want to do. I think it’s important to put yourself into where you’re not comfortable in your job. ‘Cause when you’re comfortable in your job, you stop learning, you stop progressing, you stop moving forward. And if you want to have get to my position or you want to keep moving onward, you can’t be comfortable. You got to have different layers and do different things.

Scott Temple (32:02):

Find a mentor. And, I’m not saying you sit down and you talk to somebody for an hour. I’m saying you observe, you watch, you see people that are getting a result, not the one that has lot of megaphone or writes a book. You see people that are getting results and you follow their actions. You see how they do it. Then, you pick their brain for five minutes. Hey, why’d you handle the group like this? Or why aren’t you thinking about this? And hear what they say, and let that help you form your, you know, your overall opinions.

Scott Temple (32:33):

I think the last part is you need to be honest with yourself about how well you do. I don’t know how many times I fall over my career. They didn’t give me a good grade, or I didn’t do this, or I didn’t do that. Well, if you didn’t or you did, you got to make your own luck. Right. And if you put your hands in somebody else’s, you know, you attach yourself to somebody else and they’re the only reason that’s what you’re not going to make it, you know, I think overall. I’d rather be safe by criticism than killed by praise. Right. I don’t need to be told I’m doing well. I need to be told how to think about doing it better. And maybe I don’t follow the advice, but at least having [inaudible] perspective.

Scott Temple (33:14):

So, you know, those are the things. I mean, if I had to say all of them, having the right mentors, I mean, I still have some very dear friends that were my bosses, you know, going back 10, 15 years and I still talk to them today and get their insight, get their input and get their perspective because it’s been so valuable over the years just to be able to pick up the phone, call somebody, not at FedEx. They gave five minutes at a time and it’s worth, you know, a million bucks.

Greg White (33:41):

Literally.

Scott Luton (33:43):

Right. So much goodness there. And, a lot of it’s transferable as Scott mentioned whether you want to, you know, break into global supply chain and move up through the ranks or whatever else you’re pursuing in your career. So, I really appreciate you sharing, Scott. And, you know, one of the things you shared there, Greg, we’ve talked about it quite a bit is, you know, that power, not only the power of feedback, but the power of being willing to lean in to feedback and get that tough criticism. I mean, that’s how, you know, that’s how you do big things in your career, right, Greg?

Greg White (34:17):

Unquestionably. I mean, you never learn and from success. I don’t know who said that, but it’s so very true. You have to, as Scott talked about, you have to reach beyond a little bit beyond your capabilities, periodically prudently, and occasionally you’re going to fail and you’re going to learn something like don’t hit that switch, that’s the lose $150,000 or switch. Right? Noted. But, yeah, that’s true. I mean, you have to take some risks.

Scott Luton (34:46):

That’s right.

Greg White (34:46):

Right. And, I got to tell you, the find yourself a mentor or mentors absolutely critical. You can’t know what you don’t know unless you know someone who knows what you don’t know. So, that’s the key, is to find someone you admire who’s success in whatever it is, even if it is running the forklift or the dock, by the way I learned a lot about supply chain from somebody who drove a forklift.

Scott Luton (35:15):

That’s right. So, the got to go to the genba.

Greg White (35:18):

Yeah. And, I think that’s the, you know, that’s probably one of the most human bits of advice that you can take is you don’t have to trust yourself. You don’t have to climb the ladder alone.

Scott Luton (35:33):

Right. You got to get you a Greg White that’ll really tell you like it is and I got fortunate of hearing that all the time. So, but kidding aside, we love old Greg, Scott Temple, really appreciate your time here today and just how authentic and genuine your answers, thoughtful answers to our questions have been. I know you’re busy and your team’s busy, and it’s a really busy time. I tell you, the tidal wave of tasks keep coming, wave after wave. But how can folks, you know, based on what they’ve heard here today, how can folks learn more about you and FedEx Supply Chain?

Scott Temple (36:10):

Go to supplychain.fedex.com, and you can learn more about what we do at FedEx Supply Chain. My LinkedIn account is kept up-to-date as well, so you can check us out there. And we’re constantly in the news, for FedEx logistics, which is the vision I work within. If you follow FedEx logistics, you’ll see any number of really inspiring and great things we’re doing within FedEx and for our customers and our people.

Scott Luton (36:32):

Wonderful. We really appreciate that. We’ve been chatting with Scott Temple, president, CEO of FedEx Supply Chain. Scott, really appreciate your time here today. We look forward reconnecting later in the year.

Scott Temple (36:43):

Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me.

Scott Luton (36:44):

All right.

Greg White (36:44):

Thanks, Scott.

Scott Luton (36:44):

Big thanks. Greg, heck of an interview here with Scott Temple. Quickly, your favorite thing perhaps he shared, and then we’re going to sign off.

Greg White (36:54):

Well, this is going to sound crazy when we’ve been talking to a CEO, but tactical. His ability to get tactical, to be tactical, to understand the tactical and to appreciate that and how that underpins the strategic of the company. And I think that’s what’s, particularly in supply chain, that ability to understand that and to know how to make that effective and how that becomes a creative to the strategy of the company. That’s hugely important. And, that’s really, really rare to someone who has ascended to the level that Scott’s at now.

Scott Luton (37:28):

Agreed. Not only that ability, but the willingness to do so, all those things you mentioned. You know, that is very powerful. So, folks, hopefully you’ve enjoyed this conversation as much as Greg and I have had here with Scott Temple with FedEx Supply Chain. If you like conversations like this, check us out, supplychainnow.com, or wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe so you’ll not miss conversations just like this one with Scott. But most importantly folks, hey, take lessons from what Scott Temple has shared from his journey, whether it’s, you know, that big 150,000 mistake, which kept him moving on, right? It primed him to be where he is now, or his advice, his observations on industry, you name it. But most importantly, if you hear anything, hey, do good, give forward, be the change that’s needed. And on that note, we’ll see you next time right back here at Supply Chain Now. Thanks, everybody.

Intro/Outro (38:22):

Thanks for being a part of our Supply Chain Now community. Check out all of our programming at 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.