When covering and commenting on the dynamics at play in global supply chains, it is always valuable to understand a person’s background and personal point of view. Both play a role in how they view and discuss complex issues like modern slavery, education, and even communications.

Constantine Limberakis has an MBA and a master’s degree in international relations. He has always been captivated by the innovative dynamics at work in our constantly changing world. What better way to apply his educational background and core interests than to build a career in procurement and supply chain?

In this interview, host Scott Luton gives the Supply Chain Now audience an opportunity to get to know regular guest host Constantine Limberakis a bit better through the top trends he is following:

• The current state of relations between China and the United States, and how geopolitical stability and operational costs are both at stake

• Why continued investment in ESG (environmental, social, and governance) related initiatives is critical to a company’s ability to innovate and succeed long term

• The impact that AI is having on today’s workforce in supply chain and beyond

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 (00:32):

Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are. Scott Luton here with you on Supply Chain. Now welcome to today’s show, Hannah, you are in for a treat today. I’m really looking forward to today’s show. We’re talking with one of the smartest folks I know, and I mean that a dear friend, industry veteran, great leader. So stay tuned as we get more into his story, as well as offer up three key trends that you gotta be tracking and understand in global supply chain. So stay tuned for a fund and insightful, actionable, uh, discussion here today. So with all of that said, I wanna introduce my friend and our featured guest here today. We’ve got Constantine Limbs, a guest host here at Supply Chain, now, also c e o and owner at Lius Consulting. He’s a well-respected board member, analyst practitioner, and been there and done that leader.

Scott Luton (01:23):

Constantine, good morning. How are you doing?

Constantine Limberakis (01:26):

Good morning. Or as we’d say in the Greek Ka. Okay.

Scott Luton (01:30):

Cali Mata. Ali. Say that right? <laugh>. I’ve been working on my Greek. Uh,

Constantine Limberakis (01:35):

there you go.

Scott Luton (01:36):

But great to have you here. We’ve really enjoyed some of our recent shows together. A lot of your insights. I know you love global supply chain as much as we do, and it is a fascinating time to be in industry. But Constantine and, and a k a Dino. So listeners want and viewers out there, y’all might hear me refer to Constantine via one of his many nicknames, which is Dino. So one the same Constantine, right? That’s that’s not a split personality or <laugh>.

Constantine Limberakis (02:04):

No. Many derivatives of an name Constantine. So you gravitated to that one, Scott. So, all right.

Scott Luton (02:11):

Derivatives, but you promise no math questions, right?

Constantine Limberakis (02:13):

No math questions.

Scott Luton (02:14):

Math. Okay. <laugh>. Alright. So if y’all can’t tell, Constantine has got a great sense of humor and that’s just tip of iceberg. So I wanna start, before we get into some of your expertise here, let’s go way back. So where did you grow up, Dino?

Constantine Limberakis (02:27):

Well, it’s an interesting story. Well, that started in actually in Australia. So my parents both left Greece as immigrants and decided to go there as opposed to the United States because they both had relatives there. Mm. And so they were part of the Greek community in Sydney, in New South Wales. And, and Parramatta, as I say like that in Australia. I got, I, I never picked up the X accent because I left when I was two. Okay. But, and if my Australian cousins would hear me, they’d probably be like scratching <laugh>. So I try, I try with it. But yeah, so they met in Australia.

Constantine Limberakis (03:01):

My brother and I were both born there and after a few years living there, my father decided to, to come stateside to, ’cause he saw just the potential of the US and uh, he had relatives here too. And we came stateside. So that’s where I grew up. I came here, I, we grew up in Chicago, Midwest. Born in, or not born, but raised. So I was raised with the Bears, the Cubs, the Bulls, and later on the Blackhawks when we got better. So, okay, that’s, I’ve been raised. Yeah. That’s alright.

Scott Luton (03:35):

So that’s a truckload information outta the gate. Yes. Two couple follow up questions. So Greece to Sydney, to Chicago.

Constantine Limberakis (03:42):

Yes.

Scott Luton (03:42):

So you’ve really got global roots and probably a very big global family. That’s wonderful. Let me ask you, so two follow-up questions based on that. Give me one food dish that was such a critical part of your upbringing that if you could have it for lunch today, you’d immediately do it.

Constantine Limberakis (03:58):

Well, you know, I think the movie Big Fat Greek wedding has done much justice to this upbringing that I just described. So a lot of people who are listeners, whether they’re Greek or just have the same experience, you got these ethnic foods. I think to me, you gotta always have your spina Cota on the side. So, and spina Cota, for those of you guys who dunno, it’s that philo based, uh, spinach pie. Yeah. And to be technical, spina cota is just the spinach pie. Okay. And I learned this the other day, well last year when I went to Greece, it’s called Spina Cota, which includes the cheese, which is the feta cheese. But regardless, that’s always a dish you gotta have on the side. Yeah. So for those of you guys that love fuel dough and spinach and it’s just, it’s a delight. So that’s always a good thing to have.

Scott Luton (04:44):

Sign me up. And it’s so interesting. It’s so interesting. We’ve all gravitated around the spana capita. Yes. But we’ve all been referring probably inaccurately to the dish we actually eat is what I’m hearing. Constantine?

Constantine Limberakis (04:57):

Yeah. The cheese. And then there’s other variants of it. I think depending upon where you are in Greece, there’s like, there’s food like Reto Pita, which means it’s got meat in it and there’s like all, any kind of combinations in different regions have their own nuances. But I think the spinach one is the most well-known. Yeah.

Scott Luton (05:13):

Okay. Love it. Now that we are starving and I’m salivating all over my equipment. <laugh>,

Constantine Limberakis (05:18):

you can eat it for breakfast by the way, <laugh>. You go to the bakeries, you go to the places in the morning and you pick up your cookies and your whatever. And you can eat that for breakfast if you want.

Scott Luton (05:27):

Let’s do it there. <laugh> that and some fruity pebbles in your set. There you go. Um, okay. So the second follow up before we get into, uh, a little bit more about you, you mentioned of course those iconic Chicago sports teams, the Bears, the Cubs, the Bulls, the Black Hawks. What were you the biggest, most passionate of those four? What are you the biggest fan of?

Constantine Limberakis (05:47):

Well, I’m gonna throw you, uh, a curve ball here. Okay. The one that I didn’t mention, I mean, all those are well known, right? You got N B A N F L N H L and so, so we always kind of grew up with those around, but because of having that background and from the Greek background, my dad was always a big proponent of the soccer. So N A S L was this emerging national North American soccer league.

Scott Luton (06:13):

Yeah.

Constantine Limberakis (06:14):

It was this thing in the seventies that popped up. And so we would always go to sting games.

Scott Luton (06:18):

Okay.

Constantine Limberakis (06:18):

Chicago Sting was like a lot of what we grew up with. And that was like the New York Cosmos. And there’s Seattle Sounders, there’s all these, uh, I don’t think it was Seattle, I forgot the Seattle name, but there was a, a bunch of different teams that that evolved. And then I think that league collapsed, but then now we have the M L Ss. But, so with that being said, we’d go to Sting games, but I would probably say outta all those, it was the Cubs.

Scott Luton (06:40):

Okay.

Constantine Limberakis (06:41):

It was the lovable loser, the loyalty. My brother, I have to say, he’s like a really devout, his blood is blue and red. <laugh>, devout, devout Cub fan. I’d kind of go along with the ride and say, Hey, we’re going to the game. Alright, get me the hot dog and get me settled. <laugh>, he’d be.

Scott Luton (06:55):

Love it.

Constantine Limberakis (06:56):

kick documenting and detailing every pitch and all that. But it was, so, yeah. So that, I would say the Cubs was probably the most influential.

Scott Luton (07:03):

Okay.

Constantine Limberakis (07:03):

But then of course we had the 85 Bears and then we had the dynasty of the Bulls. So it, it depended on the years in Chicago at what, which sport you gravitated towards.

Scott Luton (07:15):

<laugh>. And, and it’s a lot of great years in the eighties and nineties. Right.

Constantine Limberakis (07:18):

For sure.

Scott Luton (07:19):

So the sting, I’m gonna have to look up the N A S L and dive into its history. It sounds like it was a four bearer, two major league soccer.

Constantine Limberakis (07:26):

Oh yeah.

Scott Luton (07:26):

And I thought when you were saying those, na those team names, since I wasn’t familiar with the N A S L, I didn’t know if you were going down like the roller derby No league. But this is, this was soccer in the seventies, so N A S L we’ll look that up.

Constantine Limberakis (07:38):

Well, seventies and then in the eighties. And it started with outdoor and then it moved into the indoor. And the part of the reason why I bring this up is it is just really reminiscent of what’s going on with the m l s today. And they adopted the FIFA rules with m l s. Right. And that’s the big deal. And now you’re starting to see some of the same kind of nuances that happened back then. So back in the day, it was, Pele went to New York and to play for the cosmos. Right. That was the biggest deal. And put soccer on North on the US map to say, oh my gosh,

Scott Luton (08:05):

right.

Constantine Limberakis (08:06):

now you have players like Messi doing the same thing generations later. And so it’s just kind of a, to me it repeats itself and I think we’ll use this theme later on when we talk.

Scott Luton (08:17):

Yes, we will. And of course, not even to mention the deep pockets that Saudi Arabia and then how they’re bringing athletes with these massive contracts.

Constantine Limberakis (08:26):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (08:26):

Through their teams. But we’ll save that for another time. I wanna talk about your love of history.

Constantine Limberakis (08:32):

Yes.

Scott Luton (08:32):

So, you know, one thing to any of our regular listeners and and viewers out there, if you’ve seen any of Constantine shows with this, I always reference it because I’ve really, I’m also a big, and I’m, I’m, this is a term of endearment, Dino. I’m a big history nerd. I think you’re a big history nerd. I’m a big, I, I find it fascinating, especially the under the lesser known figures in history that really were incredible leaders and did incredible things in the face of so many odds and obstacles and naysayers. Those are some of my favorite stories. Rose Knox comes to my mind.

Scott Luton (09:08):

One of my favorites we published over on this week in business history. But tell us about your love of history and why that is.

Constantine Limberakis (09:15):

I think it really started at a young age, and probably part and parcel due to my Greek heritage going to places that were just always talked about and going to places like Athens or Olympia or Delphi, you always heard about in stories. And some people think it’s like an untouchable place if you’ve never been there. But, you know, that had kind of instilled in me a certain sense of pride of my heritage. But at the same time, when you really peel it back and you look at the stories and what you’re saying is, is you really realize the success, but you also realize the fallibility of these important figures. And I think, I always tell people when you look back at history, the things that are so different that we have today with technology and innovation at the pace of that, that’s one thing.

Constantine Limberakis (09:59):

But they were dealing with the same challenges and problems that we have today. They were still worrying about how they were gonna figure out the next day. They were still worrying about their health. They were still worrying about their families. They’re still worrying about how they were gonna, you know, make their day and do business and very different nuances and not as mature. But I think those are the things we can learn and we can still learn by what people have done and what they’ve said. And the other thing I’ll say is a lot of times when we study history, we study these big figures, the these kings and realms and stuff. But if you go deeper into that and you look at the societal, and I think there’s a big movement in historians themselves looking more at the societal aspects of history when we were talking about big topics.

Constantine Limberakis (10:41):

I’ll give you a perfect example. Hmm. This idea of slavery that we’ve talked about, what’s been top of conscious in the United States, especially because of some of the events that have happened recently. If you take a look back and go deeper and understand that this institution has been around since the beginning of time, and understanding what impacts those things have had and, and, and the negative things that it in know the things that it did to society and how it shaped society. Those are things that we’re talking about today. When you’re, when these politicians are being asked, was slavery bad or good? It’s, that was a part of the society.

Scott Luton (11:16):

Oh goodness.

Constantine Limberakis (11:16):

Of course it was negative, of course it did bad things. But that was so ingrained in the society, like how did you couldn’t move away from that. And, and it was how did that impact people’s thinking? Uh, and that’s what I think we need to learn from that. I think it’s important that we understand those things so that we can better be a better society as we move forward and know what was, you know, how to go forward and progress.

Scott Luton (11:38):

So on that last note, I think what I heard there and what I believe is understanding history in, in all of its various forms, including that fallibility that you mentioned.

Constantine Limberakis (11:49):

Yes. sure.

Scott Luton (11:50):

Leaders that long gone past. So we can have that, those learnings and apply it to eradicating the issues of our time, which is, and, and, and meaning. And if you think of a short list, certainly modern slavery.

Constantine Limberakis (12:06):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (12:06):

Is an issue of our time that global supply chain leaders are in position to do something about. And that awareness followed by that action is so critical right now. So folks, if you wanna learn more, we’re gonna drop a link in the show note about our friends that are some of our nonprofit friends that are doing big things about modern slavery and human trafficking. One other thing, constant on a much lighter note, I’ve gotta give a shout out to my beloved third grade teacher, the late great Ms. Gloria Marks. And now Ms. Marks was a wonderful storyteller. One of my earliest storytellers that really I was like, just fascinated with how she told a story really impacted my journey. But Dino, one of her favorite things that every class, especially our class would learn from her is Greek mythology. She had a masterful knowledge and grasp on all the various stories, the big ones everyone knows, and some of the smaller ones that of course would have life lessons. And it was just, just a very special, special person to be around. Did you, have you wanna give a shout out? Do you have a similar teacher maybe?

Constantine Limberakis (13:10):

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I mean there were so many, I obviously went to Greek school, <laugh>, so I had a little Greek growing up and he had different teachers there. But I had a teacher, it was in sixth grade, his name was Mr. Peterson and he was a great history teacher. And I think he really helped me explore the fact that this is something that I was gonna be very passionate about. And he taught world history at sixth grade. And so it was, he was just such an interesting guy and, and he was very influential in, in helping me kind of express why I think it’s important and coloring the different maps and understanding the regions. Right. And we’re doing stuff with Athens and Sparta and I was like, yeah, I know these places.

Constantine Limberakis (13:49):

This is where my parents are from. So it’s, it’s kind of cool. So yeah, it starts at an early age.

Scott Luton (13:53):

Very cool.

Constantine Limberakis (13:53):

Gotta get kids excited about it too in their own way. And considering the technologies that we have now that they can just click on something and video and see something on YouTube. YouTube, it’s amazing how much access they have to this that you and I were probably just looking at it in some textbook that was from the Encyclopedia Britannica, right?

Scott Luton (14:10):

Yes. Or funk. Wagners pick on a lot. Constantine, one last thing and folks, we wanna give you a chance, especially since we, as we work and host shows more and more rodino, I’ve always felt it’s really important for our global supply chain now fam all of our listeners and audience out there to really understand the prism with how our hosts view the world and life and society. And of course the craft of global supply chain management. So thanks for indulging us on this front end. One last thing and we’re gonna get into, wanna make sure folks understand some of your background.

Constantine Limberakis (14:41):

Sure.

Scott Luton (14:42):

The word amazing is thrown around all the time these days. But what you said there truly is amazing to think through how we learned history, maps, math, you name it, through those static textbooks that if you think back, I grew up in grade school in the eighties. Some of those textbooks were 10 years old. ’cause you had previous students would sign in on the inside front cover and think about, we talk a lot about now how some of the certifications and trainings out there lean on bodies of knowledge. The best ones are dynamic that update as industry evolves. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, however, some of them out there are like those 1980s textbooks where they’re published and they stay as is for years on end. And so Constantine, it truly is amazing the dynamic learning environment at our kids’ fingertips that they all live in and enjoy right now, isn’t it?

Constantine Limberakis (15:40):

Absolutely. Yeah. And they should take advantage of every bit of it.

Scott Luton (15:43):

every, every minute. Okay. So let’s talk about some of your, let’s kind of keep, keep moving here. We’re gonna talk about, of course, supply chain, global supply chain. And I wanna really understand and share with our audience some of the roles that you’ve held in global industry that really shaped your worldview, Constantine. Yeah,

Constantine Limberakis (16:03):

absolutely. So upon leaving graduate school, so I went to University of Illinois in Champaign, and then I went to grad school at Pitt, actually studied history in economics at U of I and you know, kind of gravitating towards graduate school. I got my M B A and, and a master’s in international relations. And what I thought what I saw was, is I was always very in captivated by the innovation that’s changed the world and things as, as things progress, whether they’re geopolitical or they’re regional or whether it’s economically based. And I, I couldn’t find a better way of, of trying to encompass all those things and getting into the world of consulting. And that’s where I got my start. I started at Anderson, was there for a few years, and then got into technology into the evolution of E R P. So worked with platforms like s a P and PeopleSoft and saw the evolution of things. And then something came around called e-commerce or in ePRO procurement and people like procurement. How is that exciting? And this whole evolution came about, especially with the world, with Ariba. I think they’re the probably the ones that really revolutionized the notion of digitizing how people are buying and thinking about it beyond just a purchase order.

Constantine Limberakis (17:14):

And using e d i, it became this kind of transaction where you’re empowering people to buy in an e-commerce setting and saying, okay, how do we improve how we buy indirect goods and do maverick spend and this, these topics? And there’s so much evolution that’s happened there since in the past 20 years. So I really got my foot started there, I got my foothold there, started in consulting and then transitioned at some point after I worked for a couple companies. One that I helped fund called the Shelby Group, which is still around, great guys over there, another one called C C P Global. And then I worked at companies like Aberdeen and Hackett, which many people know as a researcher. I wanted to get deeper into that. And then I’ve also worked in the world of product marketing and product strategy. So working with a lot of smaller technology firms that are trying to get their name on the map and understand how they’re leveraging their technology and how they’re trying to improve what they’re trying to do to implement with their clients and be a part of this bigger procurement supply chain ecosystem that I’ve been a part of.

Scott Luton (18:14):

Constantine, what a great reader’s digest or TikTok TikTok version of your journey, really, because I know that knowing you and knowing all of our conversations, you’ve got the stories and the experiences you, I I’m looking forward to the Constantine Limb limb book coming out soon, maybe. But if I, so if I capture this right before we move on, we’re gonna be talking about three trends in global supply chain that we all gotta be tracking in just a second. But if I had to build a series of pillars that really reflect your background, big four procurement startups and research.

Constantine Limberakis (18:50):

Yes.

Scott Luton (18:50):

You think those four are the pillars that define who you are?

Constantine Limberakis (18:53):

Yeah. I I think those are really good ones for sure. With that base and that’s helped shape what I wanna do and what I’m passionate about. Right. And how I can help companies and how I’ve worked in different places.

Scott Luton (19:04):

Love it. Okay. So now we’re gonna move into what, what really is gonna be the center plate part of our discussion here today. And we love our numbered lists. I I really do. And I’ll tell you Amanda May be listening. I better half and she is, I’ve never seen anyone as serious about her lists than Amanda. Is con constant. Are you wired like that?

Constantine Limberakis (19:25):

Yeah, I like li I mean, it makes it convenient, right? It makes it easy. It’s, there’s something in the mind, right? Obviously that it, it helps us put things together and I, it’s obviously probably the reason why we’ve designed technology to do things like that too, for us right. To make it in the shorthand. But there’s something there, right? The bible and the electrical and the neurological, there’s a reflection of reality, right?

Scott Luton (19:46):

There is, and there’s proven professional research that shows when you build a list, and I’m not lying, I’m, I’m halfway kidding, but I’m really serious. When you build a list and you get something done and you mark it off, there are chemicals that are released in your brain that give you pleasure and relief from that. So y’all check it out.

Constantine Limberakis (20:06):

Yes.

Scott Luton (20:07):

Amanda’s like, where y’all been. I’ve been doing this my whole life. <laugh>. Alright, so Constantine, we’re gonna get into our own small list here today. Three trends and global supply chain that we all gotta be tracking. And I’ve asked a lot of folks the same, this similar, same or similar question going back to hundreds of episodes. So if you think about here, where we are at this point in 2023 in global supply chain, what’s the first trend that gotta be squarely on our radar?

Constantine Limberakis (20:33):

Alright. It’ll start big and we’ll kind of go in. Right? Okay. I I I think one of the biggest ones is just the ongoing and nature of the change in the relationship. And I’ll use a big word here from international relations, Sino, American relations. Chinese American relations. Right. I, it’s an interesting dynamic because I think we’ve seen over the past 50 or 60 years, once we got into the Cold War and we saw this increase in manufacturing and the boom of the United States moving from a manufacturing, we became the global hegemon, if you will, or with the rival with the Soviet Union. And we needed to find ways of lowering our cost in manufacturing. What happened is, is this rise of China, this sleeping giant, if you will. That became what it is today. And I think because of these shifts, and you see this, and this goes back to the history, right? You see this constantly throughout history where there’s these changes and shifts in global power and global influence. And I think because of their rise in their society after the Chinese revolution and who took hold and the communist party and then how they wanted to develop their society and economy, they’re now seeing a shift in change in how they wanna be envisioned in the world.

Constantine Limberakis (21:53):

They don’t wanna be seen as the cheapest manufacturer. They don’t wanna be seen as the world’s manufacturer. They wanna see their own influence in their own region. And I think because of those changes, whether it’s geopolitical or economic, I mean, you can’t escape the news. I mean, front page of the Wall Street Journal today talked about the decrease in exports, historical decrease in exports from China to the United States and globally. And this is this part of this transition that we’re seeing where Europe and the US are trying to reconfigure for security purposes, I think for sustainability purposes, their supply chains to figure out, well how are we gonna buy and manufacture goods and services the way we want to without being as reliant on a place like China that is also going through its own transition, right? Yes. So how do we manage that? You can’t avoid that. It’s inescapable.

Scott Luton (22:46):

Yes.

Constantine Limberakis (22:47):

And, and you know, how do you manage that in your business? That’s the question.

Scott Luton (22:50):

Billion dollar, billion dollar question and trillion, trillion, trillion dollar questions. Right? Seriously. I’m not, we’re not going big enough. A couple thoughts there. First off, you mentioned the word reconfiguration and goodness gracious. If there’s anything taking place right now across global business, not even just supply chain, there’s a ton of reconfiguration based on where we have come just in the last couple years, maybe even the last few months. And what lies ahead? And then to that point, I’d share one more thing When we think about the Sino American relationship between China and the us and really it’s greater than that, right? It’s, it’s really China and the rest of the world is you, you are speaking to, one thing I’m really keeping my eye on is the relationship that is developing and continues to evolve between China and Russia.

Constantine Limberakis (23:39):

Yes.

Scott Luton (23:40):

I think that relationship poses a is gonna have a big bearing on the immediate short term path ahead. So, you know, not to dive into some of those topics, but certainly we are hoping and praying that cooler heads will prevail.

Constantine Limberakis (23:54):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (23:55):

When it comes to Ukraine and the suffering and the aggression and just killing.

Constantine Limberakis (24:00):

Yeah. And come to an end. I say one thing about that, again, one of the things that’s interesting about, you know, again, the shift in global influence is when we’re thinking about that regionalization we need to keep in mind too, is again, I think we all need to do a better job in the schools of learning not only about western history. Hmm. Which is the predominant, oh we start in the middle in Mesopotamia and Egypt and Greece and Rome and all this. And it’s like, well you guys didn’t realize there was this global powers of urging in, in places like China for hundreds and hundreds and years.

Constantine Limberakis (24:32):

And that’s their world perspective, right?

Scott Luton (24:34):

Yes.

Constantine Limberakis (24:34):

They see themselves as the center of civilization back in the day, for god’s sakes, they invented paper. They were, they had the silk trade, I mean gunpowder, all these things that we think, oh yeah, well where did that come from?

Scott Luton (24:46):

Well, right.

Constantine Limberakis (24:47):

Came from China.

Scott Luton (24:48):

Sure.

Constantine Limberakis (24:48):

So that perspective for them is how they look at themselves. So from the Chinese world. And then the other side of it too, with Russia, we always throw out this term, Soviet Union is like, oh. And in the Soviet union’s trying to rebuild, it goes beyond that. It goes for them, their ethnic identity is the Russian people. The Russian idea whether what’s going on over there is a terrible injustice. But understanding what is motivating.

Scott Luton (25:14):

Right.

Constantine Limberakis (25:14):

That action is gonna help us understand how we’re gonna get out of it.

Scott Luton (25:18):

Right. Agreed.

Constantine Limberakis (25:19):

Because it’s not gonna go away. And unfortunately and too often US foreign policy has become focused on the short term. And as we know what happened with Hitler and the so and Russia and with Napoleon, which by the way, a movie’s gonna be coming out with.

Scott Luton (25:33):

Yes, I saw that.

Constantine Limberakis (25:35):

Those guys weren’t in it for the short term. They did the long haul. And I think we always need to keep that in perspective of what’s gonna happen, how this is gonna evolve. We’re every four years we might shift.

Scott Luton (25:46):

Right.

Constantine Limberakis (25:46):

Those guys, they’re just gonna see it out.

Scott Luton (25:50):

Excellent. Constant. Constant. That’s an excellent perspective because in particular Chinese leadership mm-hmm. <affirmative> all about the big picture, all about the big pictures. That’s an excellent call out. Okay. It’s tough to tackle what we just tackled that first trend in span of 10 minutes, but for the sake of time Right. We will protect everyone’s time, especially our listeners’ time. So the first one of course was that, uh, relationship between China and the US in particular. Yeah. What’s the second trend folks have to be tracking and know more about?

Constantine Limberakis (26:20):

I think it’s very much connected to that in terms of the logistics and emissions with scope three that people are all very aware of. They’re trying to do a better job. They’re making, corporations are making promises out there about how they’re gonna do that and become more sustainable. We’ve heard this in the scope of corporate social responsibility. We’ve heard it in the scope of uh, E S G. Okay. That’s out there. Right. We all, we’re all aware of this. I think America’s kind of caught up to that. It’s no longer just the Europeans trying to be good. It’s the US companies are also on board with this.

Constantine Limberakis (26:55):

I think the thing that I’m seeing though, and I’m reading a lot about from a lot of practitioners in procurement and supply chain, I don’t know if this is new or not, but there’s a certain level of sustainability fatigue that is out there. And I’m not saying that it’s going away and I’m not saying that it’s not still critical and strategic because to me the way this is gonna all unfold is it’s, you’re either gonna get slapped on the hand, and I think we talked about this on podcasts before, you either gonna get slapped on the hand because some compliance or regulations telling you you did it wrong and you have to be made an example of. Or it’s a part of your corporate culture that you’re gonna continue to innovate. And whether it’s in the environmental side from a sustainability or whether it’s from a diversity side or whether it’s from the different angles you could take with E S G, I think what’s happening is that if you’re overpromising, it’s, again, it’s typical with trends, right?

Constantine Limberakis (27:49):

It gets so far to the right and everybody is hiring all these E S g, chief E s G officers. Mm-hmm. And the business is then trying to align with that. And in the end they still have to be profitable. And the question is, how are you trying to be profitable and innovate along those lines. And I think that’s gonna take some time and every company is gonna have to figure that out on their own. And in 10 years people are gonna say, yeah, that’s just a part of our business.

Scott Luton (28:14):

Right.

Constantine Limberakis (28:15):

That isn’t anything special that everybody does that. Right. So, you know, it’s like terms like that. So, but I think there’s a sense of certain little bit of fatigue and I think a lot of that is the pressure that we’re seeing with inflation. We’re seeing the pressure with the economic state of things. And so that’s putting extra pressure on, on businesses to figure out how they’re gonna continue meeting those goals because they wanna see it be favorable in the eyes of the public. And how do you balance that? So that’s another trend That I’m seeing that’s just emerging.

Scott Luton (28:45):

Yes. And you, you mentioned inflation. Hey, how about shrink inflation folks? Y’all gotta stop messing with my ice cream. Stop giving me less ice cream in the same similar containers. Speaking of food though, Constantine, you and I had a great chat as we were talking about getting together for this episode here today. Yeah. And I’ll sharing with you my travels to South Africa, Cape Town in particular. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and big shout out to my friends, my, my dear friend Jenny Froome by the way. And I, I was telling you, speaking of sustainability and speaking of consumers and speaking of really how responsible and forward-looking supply chain management can really impact the enterprise.

Scott Luton (29:25):

Don’t laugh, but I was telling you about my Kit Kat experience. Yes. Kate Town, right?

Constantine Limberakis (29:29):

Yes.

Scott Luton (29:29):

Uh, long story short, me and Amanda were in the Woolworth’s retail store in Cape Town and I was buying a bunch of candy for my kids who wanted to sample, you know, candy and snacks from a different part of the world. So we’re grabbing this instead to take back on the plane. And I saw this Kit Kat, but on this Kit Katt, it had a message about the most or highly, let’s see here, it says something basically a hundred percent sustainably farmed cocoa beans, right? the stuff that makes chocolate. And so they got me right there. So I grabbed, ’cause you know, I hadn’t seen that, uh, on the Kit Katts here in the us So I grabbed it and me and Amanda, to be fair, we might’ve grabbed two.

Scott Luton (30:08):

So <laugh>, I wasn’t really thinking. I was like, you know, this probably is just like marketing speak and the products the same. Constantine, when we tried this Kit Katt there in Cape Town, it was so different and so much better than the American chocolate we get here. And to know, and this is where the real power comes in, to know that the cocoa beans that were used were procured in a very sustainable fashion. So much they can make that promise on the packaging and it hits that demand that’s growing with consumers that want to spend money on more sustainably produced products. It was a delicious thing beyond the Kit Kat itself. So your quick response and then we’re gonna move to your third trend.

Constantine Limberakis (30:55):

Well, I mean, it’s interesting, right? It’s like going back to the simplicity of local is better with all these farmers’ markets and the thing and say, oh my gosh, it tastes so much better. Is why is the food so much better? It when you go to, in some of these markets, even I know when you go to places in Europe and you’re like, oh my gosh, the food is just amazing. Why is that? It’s because of the local source stuff. So it, it has two functions. It’s healthier for you and it’s better for the environment and it helps local business. So it’s three. I mean, so sometimes in solving these challenges, we realize that something we thought was gonna be the most expensive in the long term is gonna be the best approach.

Scott Luton (31:33):

Yes. Yes. And throwing this out there, we’re gonna have some really big conversations coming up in future episodes related to the ev battery industry. Mm-hmm. Because talk about the challenges to try to keep up with demand and some of the, some of the ways that production is taking place and creating really big challenges and injustices that global business leaders are gonna have to tackle and eradicate.

Scott Luton (31:59):

But we’ll save that for another shift. Alright? So if you’re keeping score at home, like I am number one, your first trend was the relationship between China and the us. Secondly was sustainability, fatigue. And the third trend our listeners just have to keep on their radar.

Constantine Limberakis (32:18):

All right, well, I mean this is something everybody’s been talking about, but maybe I’ll create a new phrase. And this is the beauty of the English language for all its faults, it’s flexible and agile and it works. I dunno if you could do this with other languages as easily, but the AI ation of the job force <laugh>, I don’t know. And I just created something, shall I do a threepeat on that? Yeah. And just put a copyright.

Scott Luton (32:43):

de definitely, I was about, you beat me to it. AI fication ai ation. Right.

Constantine Limberakis (32:47):

But it, you know what it is. We’ve been experiencing this for the past 10, 15 years. Right? I mean, it’s become second nature to ask Siri or Alexa. And if I say it too large, it’s gonna respond to to things. Right? And I think part of this is becoming the B two C always seems to have an interesting influence on B two B.

Scott Luton (33:07):

Yeah.

Constantine Limberakis (33:07):

Always. Is it easier to use? Is it better to do? Is it making ga the gamification, all these nuances of how consumers are forcing businesses to think differently and how they’re doing their process. And I think the AI ation that I’m getting at is this job force of finding the day-to-day routines and using the generative AI and all the different functions and that I’m gonna do a call out to a former colleague of mine, gentleman by the name of Christopher Dwyer. I used to work with him at Aberdeen.

Constantine Limberakis (33:41):

He’s talking about the future of the workforce with his, in terms of some of the stuff that he’s talking about on his podcast. One of the things that you’re seeing is like, how are you gonna incorporate that into your day-to-day? So companies are using that now to decide how they should manage their functions. Not only on the enterprise level where it’s like machine learning and understanding patterns from for corporate buying or for understanding risk, but it’s also on the personal level where they’re gonna be using these technologies to make their job easier in terms of the, the day-to-day function. And, you know, go into a chat G P T and say you’re writing a CV or you’re writing a letter and it’s saying, help me make this better. That kind of function. And even anything from marketing to operations to supply chain, right? How is that gonna be incorporated into the day-to-day function?

Constantine Limberakis (34:31):

What’s that gonna have on an impact on the job force? And what I always tell people is I think that it’s not gonna necessarily be that you’re gonna get replaced. It’s gonna be that you have to shift. You’re gonna have to pivot. It’s that change is constant idea always. And how do you incorporate the new into what you do on a daily function. And that to me is gonna be just, it’s not gonna go away. And I think it put AI on the map for everybody because people thought of AI as this robot, like we talked about. It’s always this robot running around and there are robots that do ai. But on your day-to-day function, you’re not gonna call your phyto dog. It’s gonna go get your paper yet. But it’s the, how I use this, the knowledge and the power of these technologies that have been developed daily to improve my job and improve how we’re improving supply chains and procurement and other operational functions.

Constantine Limberakis (35:27):

That’s, I’ll leave you with this. I just saw, uh, an advertisement in my inbox. I think Northwestern is doing a whole class for executives about generative ai. And they’re like, how are you gonna use this in your day-to-day function? So when it’s at that level exec that it’s at, the executives forefront it, it’s not just an IT question anymore. Uh, it’s everybody’s question.

Scott Luton (35:51):

Excellent. That is an excellent, I’m gonna quote you on that and I might steal that ’cause it’s not an IT discussion anymore. It really isn’t. No. So I’m gonna do a little, little, little, I’m gonna add a little sweetener here, Constantine. A little, little curve ball. So last night I stumbled across this, this lecture series and Sam Altman, who is the c e O of open ai was part of this lecture series. And he had, there was a bunch of great quotes, especially as the two of us are entrepreneurs, right?

Scott Luton (36:22):

And we’re familiar with startups, a lot of the, the main thrust was on startups. So what I did, uh, last night is I, I took some of my favorites that Sam Altman dropped. Stuff like this. You certain quote, this is Sam Altman quote, you certainly don’t need to have everything figured out in the path from here to world domination End quote. I love that quote. ’cause a lot of folks look for those perfect plans. And there are no such thing, I’m gonna say it. There’s value, there’s immense value. And this is other, one of those other quotes in the planning process. But plans are broken repeatedly because conditions change, curve balls change. But here one, uh, I don’t want, I don’t wanna get too far off what my point I was making, but what I did de you know, is I took his quotes, I took one of them and I plugged it into chat G p t to see what <laugh>, to see what it’d say.

Scott Luton (37:16):

And it really, it was, it was just a, it was a neat exercise. So folks, if you’re not out there messing around tinkering with chat G p T, you’re really missing out. There’s a free version. There’s a $20 a month version. Really do it. But one last thing, Dino, ’cause I love this quote here. This is really important. I’ll get your take on it and then we’ll talk about change. But Sam said quote, if you don’t love and believe in what you’re building, you’re likely to give up at some point along the way in quote. And that hit me right in my bones, right? Mm-hmm. So folks take that to heart for whatever it means to you and your journey. I’m gonna get your response to that Constantine.

Constantine Limberakis (37:55):

Yeah. Well that’s one thing that AI will never replace. It’s the human passion for innovation, right? That spirit of innovation, of the spirit of excellence. There’s a spirit of doing the best you can. Andre constantly creating. And that and that, I go back to my history, that there’s the idea in ancient, the ancient Greek <inaudible>, which means like this perfection, right? There was a reason that they came up with this, trying to make everything the best that they could. And that idea and that philosophy is something that I think you should always carry with you because then you, even when you fail, you’re gonna learn. And even when you succeed, then you see the quality of your work. And then what do you wanna leave behind for future generations?

Scott Luton (38:45):

Yes.

Constantine Limberakis (38:45):

There’s a reason why we still admire all these amazing buildings and all these amazing things. It isn’t because they were perfect and they didn’t give up because they came up with a better way to figure something out. So when they couldn’t get the angle right, they kept shifting and kept pivoting. That’s what I was trying to get at earlier, is that there’s nothing new there.

Scott Luton (39:05):

Right.

Constantine Limberakis (39:06):

That and that’s what he’s getting at too.

Scott Luton (39:08):

Constantine, that is a beautiful sentiment. And what’s that Greek phrase you shared abouts?

Constantine Limberakis (39:13):

Atos. It’s like a perfection. Okay. Perfection of the work. And it even goes into the word technology. I’ll give you the, we do the big factory, weddington, <laugh>, techn, like technical, some tech technical, yeah. Is the love of techos, which is like art. It’s the art, it’s creation of things. And so again, it goes back to doing the best you can creating those things, not taking shortcuts. And that’s at the root of the word technology. And that’s what we always try to do is we try to innovate and try to improve. And I think that’s where this is gonna help us improve quicker.

Scott Luton (39:50):

Yes.

Constantine Limberakis (39:50):

We can’t forget the foundations and, and the fun, the fundamentals.

Scott Luton (39:53):

Yes. And going back to what the first part of your response there, that human passion and that human zest for constant continuous improvement. And not to be too dramatic, but really the dream factor, right? the bold vision of what humans bring to the table that’s next irreplaceable, I would argue.

Constantine Limberakis (40:14):

moon landing, right?

Scott Luton (40:15):

Yes. Alright. What a great conversation. I’m gonna, before we wrap and make sure folks know what you do and how to get in touch on that stuff, I wanna talk about I managing change. If there’s one thing, if you think of a short list of things that impacts everybody from the boardroom to the frontline, to families, you name it, it’s universal. And that’s managing change at the rate of change that where we are today. So major theme out there, certainly in global supply chain. I wanna get one piece of advice. Constantine, I’m sure you could write a book on it given your background. But what’s one piece of advice you would offer our listeners who are digesting change left and right out there?

Constantine Limberakis (40:55):

I would say that change is around you and there’s only, there’s certain things you can do to influence that change, but you can’t get consumed by it. And I think that’s an important, whether you’re trying to influence people and you’re trying to say, Hey, I think this is the way we should do things. We have to often move with a certain flow, but at the same time, we can’t assume that we’re always gonna be in control of everything that’s around us. And so this goes back to this persistence in patience that we often have lost, I think in modern society where we want quicker, better, easier, instant oatmeal, whatever, <laugh>, not so much oatmeal but <laugh>.

Constantine Limberakis (41:40):

Well, so the change, so managing change goes with it is going is also being consistent and also trying to see when you see opportunity, that’s when you do it. But you’re also trying to always hold true to something that you believe in and how you wanna do things. And whether that is at your personal life or your professional life, corporate, you have to understand that to say, well then maybe this is an opportunity that’s presenting itself. So that’s how I look at, that’s how I look at managing change. ’cause change is constant.

Scott Luton (42:10):

Yes. And.

Constantine Limberakis (42:11):

that we move away from that. Yes.

Scott Luton (42:13):

And as you point out, it can oftentimes be opportunity. That’s a wonderful, uh, point of view. Sure. Alright. When you mention the oatmeal thing, Constantine, if there is such a market of high demand, instant oatmeal, I guess there is. ’cause it’s out there in shelves since the beginning of time.

Scott Luton (42:30):

So I guess you’re right. But what it reminded me of was the scene, really the whole movie of my cousin Vinny, especially where you’ve seen this movie, right? All four. It’s one of my favorites. Oh, it’s one of the classics where he, where they’re talking about instant grits and no self-respecting southerner and <laugh> and you know, and, and then I can’t remember exactly, but we’re talking about cook time for grits and, and then one part of the universe, grits must cook quicker than the rest of the, than It’s just a great, great movie. Folks, if y’all have not checked out my cousin Vinny,

Constantine Limberakis (43:03):

oh, actually, he’s, he’s classic in that movie.

Scott Luton (43:06):

So true. All right. So really the whole cast. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, what a wonderful cast of big time stars, character actors, you name it. My cousin Vinny. And, and parts of it was filmed in my neck of the woods.

Constantine Limberakis (43:18):

Yeah, I would imagine. And outside of Atlanta, right?

Scott Luton (43:20):

That’s right, that’s right. Okay, so let’s do this. I’ve got a couple of notes I wanna make sure our, our audience is aware of a couple things i, I for forgot to mention as we’re working through our conversation. But before we touch on that, I wanna make sure folks know Constantine in a nutshell, what you’re up to. Yeah. Especially with Lius Consulting and how can folk connect with you.

Constantine Limberakis (43:40):

Yeah. I’ve been, uh, in this venture on and off for several years, and, uh, recently launched, uh, a site that I have on what I’m doing and essentially the way I’m connecting with companies and different technology organizations and helping them understand product strategy, product marketing, messaging. And I’ve always in interacting with how we try to embed some of the trends with what they’re doing. And the way I, you can, you could connect with me is definitely on LinkedIn and learn more about what I’m trying to do and impact the industry and yeah. And check us out. Just take a look at our site we just launched.

Scott Luton (44:15):

We sure will. And the u r l is l.

Constantine Limberakis (44:18):

ius consulting.net.

Scott Luton (44:19):

Wonderful. We’ll add that to the show notes as well. And, and that really takes us, so folks you can connect with Constantine. I, I would encourage on LinkedIn, check out the site, any Constantine, anything else for ways to, to reach out to you.

Constantine Limberakis (44:33):

Uh, you know, um, smoke signals, birds, pigeons, so we come up with a better way to do it. <laugh>, we think we’ve got every form of communication that we mentioned. Should we do,

Scott Luton (44:44):

if you’re ever in Chicago, grab a cup of coffee or an adult beverage with Constantine. Hey, speaking of show notes in addition to Liberalist Consulting and the, you are all there that will want you to go check out, Hey, we’re talking about modern day slavery earlier, hope for Justice. Our friends at Hope for Justice, Tim Nelson, they’re one of the world leaders in true action that’s geared and focused on, they’re on a mission to eradicate modern slavery and human trafficking. So check them out. We’ll include a note there. And I mentioned the LinkedIn post about some of the quotes from Sam Altman on startups. We had a lot of fun with that. I’m gonna include that. And of course I’d welcome y’all’s take in the comments there about those quotes about Startup Life, hashtag startup life in general. Had to throw that in there for Greg White Constantine. That is synonymous, I think, with Greg’s journey and, and it’s become certainly a big part of ours here.

Scott Luton (45:36):

Constantine, man, really enjoyed today’s conversation. I really, uh, I enjoy your, how you view global supply chain management. We all look at it differently. We all have a different, there’s some similarities in how we view some challenges and issues and exciting developments, but like how you bake in the global and the historical context into how you view it, it’s, I think it’s really fascinating. So thanks so much for joining us here today. Joining today, and for being a part of our supply chain now team because we’ve got some really good conversations coming up, don’t we?

Constantine Limberakis (46:10):

Yes, we do, for sure.

Scott Luton (46:12):

Outstanding. So we’ve been chatting with Constantine Limb, again, guest host here at Supply Chain now, and c e o and owner at Lius Consulting. Y’all check that out, Constantine. Thanks so much.

Constantine Limberakis (46:23):

Thank you. I appreciate it, Scott.

Scott Luton (46:26):

You bet. Okay, folks, listeners, if you’ve been tuned in watching, listening, you name it, hopefully you enjoyed this conversation, which is chock-full, I believe, of some real actionable insights. I lo always love posing that three trends to track across industry to different people because kinda what we’re talking about a second ago, because we look at the world so much differently, the trends that Constantine’s tracking is gonna be a lot different than what I’m tracking and Greg, and you name it Amanda. And it’s so important to uncover that because that’s where you can really uncover what’s in your blind spot. So hopefully listeners, y’all can take something that Constantine said here today, put it in the headlock, go out and take action. Do something with it, right? Deeds not words. And I bet there’s a Greek phrase, Constantine, what would be, I’m gonna put you on the spot. Test your masterful understanding of the Greek language deeds, not words. What would that phrase sound like in Greek?

Constantine Limberakis (47:21):

It depends. In modern Greek or age ancient, you have to gimme second.

Scott Luton (47:24):

Your pick <laugh>.

Constantine Limberakis (47:26):

I’ll have to think about that one. Okay, I’m sure there’s one that someone came up up with, I just can’t think of. Right?

Scott Luton (47:30):

We’ll, we’re, we’re gonna throw that in in the show notes too. But regardless, folks, hopefully enjoyed it. Take action. Deeds, not words. Find a way to put this wonderful perspective, expertise into your day-to-day. But most importantly, folks, on behalf, our entire team here at Supply Chain now, Scott Luton, challenge you to do good, to give forward and to be the change. And with that said, we’ll see you next time, right back here at Supply Chain now. Thanks everybody. Thanks

Intro/Outro (47:56):

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.