Does your company have a “Chief Ecosystem Officer”? Targeted ESG goals? An eye for automation? The macro trends for this year’s top supply chains and supply chain universities are in, and Scott and Greg are unpacking them with none other than Gartner VP Mike Griswold himself. Hear key takeaways from The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 and The Gartner Supply Chain University Top 25 for 2022, including the promising future for supply chain program graduates. Hint: job placement rates are up (way up).

Intro/Outro (00:00:03):

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 (00:00:33):

Hey, good morning, Scott Luton and Greg White with you here on supply chain. Now, welcome to today’s live stream, Greg, how we doing?

Greg White (00:00:40):

I’m doing quite well. How are you doing Scott?

Scott Luton (00:00:43):

You know, we had some storms come through, uh, early this morning. The dogs were cowering. Lots of thunder now. Really? It is gorgeous. It is absolutely gorgeous out here. So we’re do, we’re doing well.

Greg White (00:00:54):

That’s good. I’m glad to hear it. It’s let’s see. We had thunder and lightning last night, so I’m in Atlanta. Okay. Um, K town as the kids call it and it’s rained the last two days, which is great because my wife is still down at the beach and I’m supposed to be watering the plants, but since it keeps raining, I don’t have to <laugh>.

Scott Luton (00:01:16):

Well, Hey, Hey, play by those rules, Greg play by those rules,

Greg White (00:01:20):

Pleasures Scott, that’s the secret.

Scott Luton (00:01:22):

That is a secret in life for sure. Uh, we were just talking with the team. Pre-show about some different ways that we all cope with the, you know, the stresses that the world brings us. And they had lots of, of different suggestions. We’re gonna have to try.

Greg White (00:01:34):

One thing is one suggestion. <laugh> I mean, I, I do it, but not because I love it. Yes. Really envy people like Katherine was telling us how much, you know, what positive impact it has. First of all, I applaud her for running right. Two. I applaud her for the introspection that allows her to see that it’s doing good. I just, when I’m done, I’m just like, I hated that.

Scott Luton (00:01:59):

<laugh> I’m with you.

Greg White (00:02:00):

I gotta do it again.

Scott Luton (00:02:02):

I’m with you, but long as lines, big, thanks to of course, Catherine Chantelle and Amanda behind the scenes helping to make production happen today and thanks for all their best practices on, on how to, how to cope, how to get through this life. But part of that to your point is celebrating the little things, but also the big things such as big shows. And today, Greg, see what I did there today.

Greg White (00:02:23):

That was pretty good, Scott. I mean,

Scott Luton (00:02:26):

We’ve got one of our longest running series, one of our most popular series supply chain today and tomorrow with Mike Griswold from Gartner. So today Greg, we’re gonna be gaining Mike’s key takeaways from the 2022 supply chain, top 25, which publishes May 26th, just around the corner. Wow. It’s always full of interesting insights and research from our friends at Gartner. We’re gonna be touching on the upcoming supply chain symposium as well as the academic landscape serving industry, right. Building and maintaining that talent pipeline. So Greg, pretty big show. Huh?

Greg White (00:03:00):

It’s crazy. You know what? It feels like we just talked about that the years aren’t passing they’re evaporating. <laugh>

Scott Luton (00:03:06):

Right.

Greg White (00:03:08):

It feels like we just talked about the top 25. Doesn’t it?

Scott Luton (00:03:11):

Doesn’t it though. Doesn’t it though? Well, uh, the Gartner team don’t stop. So we’re, we’ve got a, a fresh list out just in a couple weeks. And of course, Mike Griswold here with us today, we’re gonna say hello to a few folks. We got a ton of folks that are commenting. Hey, let us know folks where you are, where you are in the world. Uh, we love to connect the dots there. Oh right. Really quick, Greg, before we shout out to a few folks, we got three quick events we wanna share. Hey, join, Greg and I. And over 1300 of your dearest friends across the world for our May 18th supply chain and procurement awards for 2022, it’s easy. All right, we’ve got a link into comments we’re gonna drop. Most of those folks will be dialed in via LinkedIn and come join us to celebrate successes across the globe while powering a very noble mission with our nonprofit friends at hope for justice, by the way, Greg, we’re gonna talk about supply chain symposium today. Tim Nelson with hope for justice is gonna be at Gartner’s event. Oh sure is. So that is really cool. May 10th next week, Greg, we’ve got joined up with our friends at six river systems. How to solve three common peak season challenges. Greg what’s one thing folks should look for here.

Greg White (00:04:23):

Well, you know, you asked me before what I thought the top peak season challenge is. And for the last two years, last two peak seasons anyway, this year and last year’s, I’d have to say lead time and how to cope with that. First of all, order, early order earlier.

Scott Luton (00:04:42):

Yep.

Greg White (00:04:42):

Right. <laugh> but you know, you know, what’s interesting. It’s, I’d love to run the whole peak season, you know, coming peak season issues in front of Mike and see what he thinks because it is gonna be challenging. We know it was challenging last year we got companies who are literally going to sell this year, what they meant to receive for Christmas peak season last year, because it came too late. So it’s gonna be a really weird season. And you know, we of course expect to see some shifts in demand. We’re already starting to see some of that and that’s right. And in the economy. So it’s gonna be fascinating. Keep it weird dynamic, right? Yes.

Scott Luton (00:05:22):

Keep it weird supply chain, just stealing from Austin there. But Hey folks, join us May 10th for what promises to be a great conversation. May 24th, we’re gonna be talking about the best the world class warehouses and what are the 10 competencies that fuel as we talked last, last Monday, Greg, you know, a lot of them, we’re not gonna spend much time on the usual suspects and we’re gonna focus more on key differentiators. So join us May 24th. As we partner with our friends from ship Hawk,

Greg White (00:05:51):

Break out your notebook, your iPad, or your remarkable that’s

Scott Luton (00:05:55):

Right. To make a list. <laugh> and you’re measuring stick too May 24th. Okay. So Greg, you know, we’re gonna say hello to a few folks. And I wanna start with Brenda Allen, his back now we’ve had a lot of we’ve really enjoyed Brenda’s participation on our live streams, but guess what?

Greg White (00:06:12):

No, you did not get a sample.

Scott Luton (00:06:14):

Brenda was kind enough what to send Brenda. And, uh, Ken Allen was kind enough to send us, uh, like a sampler pack. And

Greg White (00:06:24):

So they must have found that big old power machine, what, whatever they were looking for. Right.

Scott Luton (00:06:28):

That yes. That, uh, yeah, whatever, they were looking for some electrical, uh, electrical component, but you know, we’re big condiment folks here in the Luton family and their sauce is delicious. I hadn’t tried the seasoning yet, but the sauce is really, really good. So Brenda, thank you so much. You’re too kind. And uh, we look forward to hearing your take on everything that Mike Griswold with Gartner shares here today, Kenny

Greg White (00:06:52):

Is a new, that’s a new twist on a Southern name. I’ve heard Billy Bob <laugh> right,

Scott Luton (00:06:57):

Right. Jimmy,

Greg White (00:06:58):

Joe, but never Kenny Bob.

Scott Luton (00:07:00):

That’s right. That is right. So welcome today, Brenda. Great to have you. And thanks again. Catherine’s tuned in of course she was sharing her running fresh

Greg White (00:07:08):

Off a run. I’m sure. That’s right.

Scott Luton (00:07:10):

Jean pleasure from Northern Alabama. Good old NA uh, Jean pledger is back with us. Jean hope. This finds you. Well, Juan ESP Espinoza is here today. Juan let’s know where you’re dialed in from via LinkedIn. Great to see ya. Hey, James LaPage is with us. Toronto, Canada via LinkedIn, Greg. Yes. Ever been in Toronto.

Greg White (00:07:28):

I have many times. So I did a lot of work with companies in Canada when I was up there. So let me see. I’m trying to think, oh my gosh. Just completely blanked on it. They used to be called the ACE hardware of Canada until ACE hardware moved. Oh, home hardware, really home hardware in St. John, which is a suburb of, of Toronto. So yes, I have been there many, many times.

Scott Luton (00:07:50):

Welcome in James and James. We can’t talk about what your blue Jays did to my Braves, uh, back in the early nineties. So there were some tough teams there, Michael ARA of course, one of our holding

Greg White (00:08:00):

Onto that. Aren’t you

Scott Luton (00:08:01):

<laugh>, uh, we don’t hold any grudges for too long, you know, 50 years or so. That’s my limit. <laugh> avers back with us, uh, from Sandy spring to one of our FAS around here. And finally, Natalie Christian is back with us. Uh, glad to have you here today. Now I wanna say she’s in the Charlotte area. I believe so, Natalie. Great to see you here today.

Greg White (00:08:20):

It’s a good memory.

Scott Luton (00:08:21):

Yeah, we try, we try, I take my Ginko baloba it helps. All right.

Greg White (00:08:25):

Keep forgetting that <laugh>

Scott Luton (00:08:27):

So, but you know what, Greg, uh, as much fun as I have chatting with you, we have got the one and only Mike Griswold with Gardner for his monthly appearance. And with that said wanna officially welcome him in Mike Griswold, vice president analyst with Gartner, Mike. Good morning. How you doing?

Mike Griswold (00:08:45):

Hey everyone. I’m great. Thanks. The rain has stopped here in Boise. The sun is out the grandkids wanna go swimming today. So, all right. It’s a good day. It’s good

Scott Luton (00:08:55):

Day. Wonderful. It sounds like it. You paint, you paint a, a, a beautiful picture and you know, I don’t know why, but we’re just geared. There’s something about our brains as humans. We’re geared to start every conversation with weather observations. I don’t know what it is, but it’s what we were trained to do. Must have. Yeah. So Mike and Greg, I missed an opportunity with my kids this morning. Today is star wars day, right? May the fourth be with you? Oh

Greg White (00:09:17):

My gosh.

Scott Luton (00:09:18):

And I forgot to use

Greg White (00:09:19):

That. I Ben let you miss that

Scott Luton (00:09:21):

Seriously. So don’t worry. I’m gonna make it up when I pick ’em up from school this afternoon. Oh boy. But Mike, my jokes

Greg White (00:09:27):

And

Scott Luton (00:09:27):

Star wars, you, they go hand in hand like Oreo and milk. Right. But Mike, I’m gonna start with you being star wars day. Are you a big fan? Do you have one of your favorite star wars movies? Tell us a little bit.

Mike Griswold (00:09:39):

So I, I would probably best be described as a casual fan. I date myself because, you know, when I, the, the first ones I saw were actually ended up being the middle three, right. When they first came out in the theaters, my first experience to a, a movie cliffhanger was the end of the empire strip strikes back with this like ha solo was frozen. I gotta wait, how long now to figure out what happens to him. But I, I would, in, in today’s environment, I would probably describe myself. Actually I have actually enjoyed some of the kinda spinoffs. I, I really liked rogue one. I really liked, I really liked the Mandalorian. So yes, the last three star wars were okay for me. But I mean, to me, one of my favorites is actually rogue one,

Scott Luton (00:10:27):

Agreed. You know, as much as we put Greg, the initial trilogy kind of on, you know, enshrine him in a museum and, and really celebrate it. You know, I think somebody spin off like rogue one, like man DeLorean, you know, I think I like them better than return to the Jedi. Right. I remember, I remember seeing return to the Jedi in theaters and I was like, man, E walks and some other things. It was just, it just, you know, didn’t do it for me, but Greg, how about you?

Greg White (00:10:52):

Well, I, I liked the first three and then there was such a big gap till anything else that honestly, I haven’t watched many of the others. And then they kind of went off the rails with the cartoony ones. The one with that odd speaking beast.

Mike Griswold (00:11:08):

Yes.

Greg White (00:11:09):

Right. Is so irritating, foie the bear. Yes. Dodge jar banks, which was the voice of FOI. The bear. I did not realize that was his previous career

Scott Luton (00:11:18):

<laugh>,

Greg White (00:11:18):

But became somewhat knowledgeable for a short time because my, it was just so perfect. The age of my, uh, next older brother. And he was an absolute fanatic. He had all the toys wisely bought several of the action figures, bought two and kept them in their boxes. I mean, let’s think this was the eighties gang people didn’t realize you did that stuff then. And I can’t even imagine. I think his, I think that’s his retirement plan is those things <laugh>.

Greg White (00:11:50):

Um, but I do remember, I gotta tell you, I do remember my mom, you know, there had been other movies, Battlestar Galactica and things like that that had come out and they were awful. You know, <laugh> science fiction movies were usually, they were traditionally pretty awful. Right. And, and I remember my mom asking, do you want to go see this star wars thing? This is literally what I said. I remember exactly what was in front of us in the car. When she asked me that I said, nah, probably just another dumb <laugh>, you know, just, just another dumb science fiction movie. Well, my brother really wanted to see it. So I had to see it. And I’m thankful that I did

Scott Luton (00:12:29):

Who would’ve known though, who would’ve known that Hollywood history was made and it create legions of fans around the world. It really is fascinating to look back. And, and there’s lots of documentaries online now about all the challenges of making, you know, the original three, which is really cool. Let’s see what, uh, some folks out in the sky box are saying, Natalie says, I may be one of the very few that has not seen one star wars movie in its entirety. How about that?

Greg White (00:12:54):

So worth it.

Scott Luton (00:12:56):

<laugh> so worth it.

Greg White (00:12:57):

So worth it. I mean, it really, it is.

Scott Luton (00:12:59):

Yeah. Check it out, Natalie. You gotta check it out. We got a recruiter to the team. Sheldon says, and Sheldon, like your new headshot says revenge of the Sy and Mandalorian for him. Those are a couple of his favorites. Those are great picks there. Good afternoon. Let’s see Lauren lo maybe if I got that wrong, let us know, but welcome. Let us know where you’re dialed in from. Great to have you here. Thank you so much. So James, as I was giving a shout out to his blue Jays earlier says, thank you, but he got us twice and that’s true. 91 and 92. That is very true. Those are some really good teams. You

Greg White (00:13:32):

Can thank my classmate, Joe Carter, for that.

Scott Luton (00:13:34):

<laugh>, he’s your, he’s your classmate really?

Greg White (00:13:36):

Way ahead of my time. Of course. But he went, went to w Paul state. Yeah. He played ball at Wichita state.

Scott Luton (00:13:41):

How about that? And, and right on Q Mike avers says, Joe Carter destroyed us and that’s right. He had a big, big part of the, that, that Toronto offense. Okay. So we may have to circle back to some star war reference star wars references throughout today’s session. Cause it is may to fourth, uh, be with you, but let’s get down to business. And Mike, one of our favorite things, Greg and whole team here, we love, we all love this, but of course the supply chain top 25 is a really cool project, yearly project. It generates a ton of discussion, but before we kind of talk about some key takeaways, talk to us, if you would maybe kind of pull the green curtain back, what’s your favorite part, uh, of the process. And what’s some of the feedback you get from the market.

Mike Griswold (00:14:24):

So before COVID, we had always done the reveal. Greg will know this and at, at a big dinner, uh, at our supply chain event, whether that was in Phoenix at, at different venues and, you know, going through and revealing the list live and having groups of tables kind of be happy when they see their name and hearing, you know, people cheering when they see where they landed, even companies that, you know, got into the list for the very first time and maybe were at 25 or 24, mm. To hear the excitement from, from those folks. And, you know, ultimately when you start getting up into the top five, right. And, and people haven’t seen their name called yet, it it’s, it’s kinda like in some ways it’s a, it’s a different spin on the draft, but that I miss that. Right. I, I miss having kind of that excitement.

Mike Griswold (00:15:19):

I mean, we’ve, we’ve transitioned to a, to a reveal via webinar, you know, from, from an attendance perspective, you know, we reach a lot more people from a, you know, feedback we get on the webinar itself. It, it scores very, very well, so it’s a successful way for us to deliver it, but it, it doesn’t have that personal kind of reaction. And, you know, you obviously can’t see people’s reactions. And sometimes that’s a good thing, right? When people don’t land where they wanted to land <laugh>, but that excitement around, you know, where are we gonna be? And I, I miss that from, from the in person events. Mm. In terms of, in terms of, you know, why do people tell us they care about the top 25, there’s really two reasons. And they haven’t changed. They have, I think, grown and importance though. The, the very first reason we hear and, and in some ways it goes to what I hope we get to near the end of the session around our university, top 25 is it is an incredible weapon for talent being able to say, Hey, we were so and so in Gartner’s global supply chain, top 25, you know, if you include our five masters being able to say, Hey, we’re one of the 30 best supply chains in the world.

Mike Griswold (00:16:34):

According to Gartner, at least come work for us, right. Or stay with us. It’s a great weapon in the, in the, in the challenge that people have in terms of attracting talent, the second way people use it is really an internal, an internal celebration slash how can we continue to fund our supply chain? Now I would argue that’s become a little bit less because of the pandemic. And the supply chain has rocketed to the head of the line when it comes to funding anyway, but people would tell us, Hey, you know, when we’re in the top 25, I can go internally and say, Hey, if we wanna stay here, we need to invest in the supply chain if we wanna catch so and so, right. We need to invest in our supply chain. So those are the two big reasons that, that people, you know, tell us that they care about the top 25.

Scott Luton (00:17:26):

Love that. And Greg, I’m gonna circle you in just a moment. I wanna say hello to nil. Great. To have you here. Nil, let us know where you’re tuned in from. Hi. Hi, dang. I believe, and I forgot that wrong. Just let me know. Uh, but great to have you here. Let USS know where you’re tuned in from as well. And finally, Greg, our team, our production team got a big kick outta your fo bear reference with jar, just so you know, <laugh> Greg, how do you, you know, uh, led and owned a wide variety of companies through your journey as, as Mike kind of alluded to, how did you use the top 25 lists?

Greg White (00:17:57):

It was a great example for companies to strive toward. So very often the top 25 are manufacturers and I work having worked so much with retail and distribution, particularly distribution were not at all forward thinkers in terms of supply chain. <laugh>, Mike’s trying not to make a face <laugh>,

Greg White (00:18:18):

But, but it was a great, Hey, you could be here too and hear some of the foundational things that you can do. I just think they, they are role models of supply chain. If, if you want to call it that these companies that really, really strive to be excellent, that do things that are not only profitable and high performing, but fair and, uh, good for humanity at the same time. And that that’s probably the way that I used it. And then of course, to inspire because we were a technology provider, a solution provider to inspire our product, people to say, Hey, we, we could solve this problem. You know, apple, um, and the usual top five, right? They spend billions sometimes hundreds of billions of dollars on their supply chains. And that’s not an every man kind of expenditure, but technology is the path for every leader, every company, every man, every woman, whatever, to that same kind of performance. And we used it particularly at our company to help us go. Everyone could use that. We need to democratize that and bring that to smaller companies in a way that they can absorb and apply. It.

Scott Luton (00:19:30):

Love that.

Mike Griswold (00:19:31):

I’m sure Greg, you saw before you came to the right side, not the dark side, you came to the right side of the microphone. <laugh> um, I mean, and you’ll, and you’ll know who I’m talking about. We, we, every year we have a number of technology providers who, when the list comes out, right, say, Hey, we’ve got 19 of Gartner’s supply chain, top 25 com uh, companies as clients. Right. Um, I think to your point, it does help reinforce a technology provider’s story because we have so many diverse, uh, companies from an industry perspective make up the top 25. Right. So it is, and I think frankly, there’s probably companies that, that don’t take enough advantage of that, quite frankly, to be able to say, Hey, we, we can solve multiple problems across multiple industries as demonstrated by this list of clients. We have that run really good supply chains.

Scott Luton (00:20:29):

Yep. Yeah. So to everyone in the cheap seats, Hey, we’d love for, to hear, you know, how you’ve used the list or how you, how maybe your team has celebrated, you know, making the list, you name it, let us know your reaction to the Gartner, uh, supply chain top 25 each year. All right. So I wanna, I wanna shift gears a bit. Of course, the 2022 top 25 is still in the wrap. So May 26th is when that will be released. But good thing is, uh, Greg is Mike Griswold has agreed to share some key takeaways from the whole process and all the research and whatnot, so good things coming threes. So what are three good key takeaways that you’ve had from this year’s list, Greg? Um, uh, Mike.

Mike Griswold (00:21:06):

Yeah. So similar to last time, I, I wanted to bring notes so that I, I didn’t mess things up. So I have some notes here. I’m not multitasking cuz people who know me know that I challenge with single tasking, much less multitasking <laugh> but, but let me start with maybe just a couple of factoid, just to kind of, kind of set the stage. So we’ve been doing this, this is gonna be year 19 and I, I don’t wanna have people’s eyes glaze over by going through the methodology, but basically every company we run through the methodology ends up with, with what we call a composite score and that a perfect score is 10. Right? So if you, if you were number one in all the metrics, you would have a composite score of 10. One of the things we talk about in the top 25 is as people is how do we get people to raise the bar for everybody else relative to the supply chain?

Mike Griswold (00:21:58):

So if, if Greg’s supply chain is better than mine, right? How do I make my supply chain as good as Greg’s right. How do I kind of get to the place that, that Greg is? So just a couple things to think about. If I look at our top 25 and our five masters. So our top 30 companies, the average composite score is 4.57, which is out of a, a grand total of 10 to, to put in a perspective, the number one company, their composite score is just a little bit over six. All right. So it’s not like anyone’s sniffing 10, right? The only reason I say that is that 4.57 is up 11% from last year. What that means is if your supply chain stays the same, you will drop in the top 25. Your supply chain has to get better every single year.

Greg White (00:22:50):

Can you say that again for the people in the back who might not have heard you

Mike Griswold (00:22:55):

11% better or higher composite score this year versus last year, our top five companies, their composite score is 9% higher than last year. Wow. And to get at the number 25 spot, right? If you wanna be company 25, you need a composite score of 3.15. That is up 13% from last year.

Greg White (00:23:20):

So it’s harder to get into the top 25 and it’s ever been

Mike Griswold (00:23:23):

Than ever than ever before. So the only reason I share those numbers is not to bore people is just to say that, you know, your supply chain, whatever it is, however you define it has got to get better every single year, regardless of whether you wanna land in the top 25 or not, it just has to get better because everyone around you, their supply chains are getting better and they’re, and, and the data would tell us they’re getting better. Not just a little bit, they’re getting kind of majorly incrementally better year over year. Yeah. So it, it, that’s huge, but really Scott, to your question, we, we actually broke tradition here and we, we have four macro trends. Typically we have typically we have three. I, I will give you the three that I think will resonate the most. The first is, and I really like this one chief supply chain officers turning and evolving into chief ecosystem officers.

Mike Griswold (00:24:25):

So a different take on a CEO there, there, and we can go into each of these a little bit deeper, but think of the supply chain, the chief supply chain officer, moving into an environment where they’re managing an ecosystem both internally and externally, excuse me. That’s one second is, and this will not be a surprise. What we’re referring to as authentic achievement of your ESG agenda. What that means in a nutshell is people are now starting to keep score. If you said you were gonna do something by 2020, guess what? You better have done it, or, or you’re gonna get held accountable. If you are going to do something by 2025 and people don’t think that’s aggressive, aggressive enough, you’re gonna hear about it. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So just to put in perspective, in our top 25 methodology, we have an ESG component, which is the accumulation of up to 10 points.

Mike Griswold (00:25:21):

63% of our top 25 companies have a perfect score of 10. That is up about 30% from last year. So ESG and kind of doing what you say you’re gonna do relative to this. And it’s more than just the environment it’s around de and I it’s around, you know, other social types of, of stances. People are now listening and they’re remembering, which I think in the past, people listened and kind of had other things to worry about. Now, people are gonna hold you accountable for what you say you’re gonna do on the ESG side. And the third one, and some of this will dovetail a little bit into the college university stuff is what we’re referring to as human centric, audit human centric, digital automation. And Greg will really like this one. This is where we’re trying to understand the balance between what do we want a machine to do, cuz it does it faster and smarter, but what do we still need humans to do to value, add to that process or value add to that decision?

Mike Griswold (00:26:28):

You know, we, we see in this whole idea of, of human-centric, you know, we’re seeing new ways of working. We’re seeing new ways of people going back to work. We’re seeing new skills emerge. What we cannot ignore is the role to Greg’s earlier comment. We cannot ignore the role that technology plays. And, and if you ignore it, you ignore it at your own peril. The, the top 25 companies have figured out, where do we insert people to get us better decisions? And where do we let automation and technology make those decisions for us? So those are the three big ones that, that we’ll be talking about a little bit in the webinar. A colleague and I are, are doing a presentation just on lessons from leaders at symposium in Orlando, but that’s kind of a flavoring of, of what do we see these 30 companies, right? Our five masters in our top 25, what are they working on? And what are they thinking about? Those are the three big things.

Scott Luton (00:27:30):

Wonderful. And I, and I love that last one, that human centric, digital automation, Greg, I’m gonna get your response, uh, here in just a minute. But first Natalie says Gardner list and quadrants are beneficial for benchmarking current state. The elements that set companies apart are great conversation starters within our strategy meetings. Excellent. Thank you for that, Natalie. I really appreciate that, James. Yes. Lots of tough scores. <laugh> you’re right. And, and I gotta, what

Greg White (00:27:56):

I thought,

Scott Luton (00:27:57):

I gotta clarify the blue Jays beat the Braves in 92, but the Braves didn’t get passed. The Phillys 93. I had a little slip of my, a little brain lapse there. So the blue Jays beat the Phillies for their second world series back then. So, but James congrats either way. And then our unit asked a great question and we’ll see if we can’t get, Mike’s take maybe throughout the conversation, you know, retailers that really show, uh, real resilience, good resilience through their, throughout their supply chains. So we’ll see if we, we can’t get a take from Mike on that in a moment, but Greg, those big three key takeaways, I bet you love all of them, but I, I bet that last one resonates with you as well.

Greg White (00:28:35):

Yeah, it does. Uh, and I think also the, the word authentic added to ESG initiatives that really stood out at me. I mean, for so many years and you know, Kelly Barner loves to talk about this and she’s so right. Companies have paid lip service to ESG initiatives. And I, I think all three of those things, particularly that those have come to the four come from the fact that over the last two years, 26 months, right, just over 26 months, supply chain has come out of the shadows, right? We asked for a seat at the table. We asked to be recognized. We asked not to have to fight for the funds to, to sustain and improve our supply chains every year. And we got it in spades. You know, now supply chain is mentioned as often and sometimes more often than sales in companies, quarterly and annual reports, right?

Greg White (00:29:30):

It’s mentioned more often than marketing almost 100% of the time in annual reports. There is nowhere to hide. Not that supply chain professionals were to hide anywhere, but there is sort of a subconscious comfort in knowing that if I, nobody is gonna notice and now everyone is gonna notice, and it’s not just people at your company, it’s not just your suppliers. It’s not just your customers. It’s the consumers. Consumers now have so much awareness to supply chain that they’re the ones holding companies. They’re holding companies accountable for the authenticity of their efforts, for the efficiencies that require automation and for the type of rapid critical thinking decisions that humans are so good at making. So it’s great that we are seeking that balance. I honestly, that’s a little surprising to me. I didn’t think anyone was kind of really seriously looking at that at that. So that’s great, totally expected of course from Gartner Mike, but, but still surprising and encouraging that, that you guys are looking for that equilibrium between what machines should do, what computers should do and what people should do. So I love I do. I love that. Mm.

Mike Griswold (00:30:47):

One of the things that has definitely happened if I bring us to that ESG kind of macro trend that we see, we we’ve actually re reached the point now where we’re publishing on the, the whole idea of, of how not to get accused of greenwash. Mm-hmm <affirmative> right. That, that never, would’ve been a topic that we would’ve written about two or three years ago, because we hadn’t reached the point where people were actually concerned about what they were reading about companies and their ESG agenda. Now that people are really interested in what you’re saying around your ESG agenda, it’s really important that you say the right things and you actually can do what you say. So this idea of greenwash and, and how not to, to get caught up in that is a really high topic for us. Yeah. The other thing that, that I’ll I’ll raise is we’ve got, and, and we’re not the only folks with this data, but depending on, on who you look at, the, there is a, a growing, at least response from consumers to surveys that says anywhere from 40 to almost 50% of consumers will pay more for a more sustainable product.

Mike Griswold (00:32:05):

Now, the cynical side of me says, I don’t know that I’ve seen that yet actually happen with their wallets, right? But even if, even if a percentage of that is, is kind of overstating, if we’re saying the number actually is 30%, that is still a significant number of people that are gonna vote with their wallet around, around sustainability. And, and I think the other element that we E even us at Gartner don’t wanna lose sight of is we, we’ve got this whole, you know, area of research that we call ESG, um, environmental, social, and governance. And, and we have, I think rightfully so expended a ton of energy on the E. And when you look at what people outwardly communicate, 90% of it is around the E. But what we’re also hearing is there’s as much customer thoughts around the S and the G mm-hmm <affirmative> as there is the E.

Mike Griswold (00:33:02):

And I think my advice to companies is you need to think about all three of those, or at least the E in the S the G can be kind of nebulous in terms of what does that act what’s what’s governance really actually mean? There is no ambiguity around the environmental and the social piece. And, and while I think it definitely makes sense to continue to focus on the E I think some folks are missing an opportunity to talk about what they’re doing in the SS, right? Whether that’s, you know, the makeup of your board right around how diverse is, is your board, how diverse is your senior leadership leadership team? How well are are women in other underrepresented demographics? How well are they represented in your leadership team? We’re writing a ton of stuff. We have a, a huge D and I quantitative study that that’s gonna be coming out shortly. The S is the area where I, I, I think people need to start thinking a little bit more about, we’ve talked a lot about my basketball coaching background and, and putting girls in position where you need to be comfortable being uncomfortable. And the S is an area where organizations are uncomfortable and they have to get past that because people are gonna start pressing them on the S

Scott Luton (00:34:16):

Right. Well said. And we just had a livestream yesterday with Kelly Barner, uh, Greg and our friends from risk methods. And we were talking about the Uighurs I think is how we pronounce that. I’ve also heard pronounce the Ubers and how, how supply chains now with the passage of, uh, the act, you know, they’re, they’re really having to prove their innocence and, you know, Mike and, and Greg Mike, to your point specifically, those are some really tough conversations to have, but gosh, if we don’t have, ’em not, not only are we missing a massive opportunity to make our, our supply chains more resilient, but much more importantly, we basically implicitly support what’s going on, uh, in that, in that part of the world. So well said, Mike ESG, it only is gonna grow not just in lip service, but in, in true investment in action and results.

Mike Griswold (00:35:04):

Sorry, one, one last. And I, and I listen, this will be my last, last thing. You know, when, when, and then this is kind of the convergence of sustainability and technology, you know, when, when we release the report, you you’ll read some examples from some of our companies in our, in our top 25 that are using technology like satellite technology and geolocation technology to do things as cool as mapping deforestation, as it relates to Palm, to Palm oil and Palm trees. Right? So there, there is this convergence, I think of not only the, the environmental aspect, but the technological advances we’ve made to help people in one part of the world monitor other areas and parts of the other world. I mean, if you think about even eight or nine years ago, it would’ve been easy to say, well, you know, I, I, I can wash my hands, cause I don’t, I can’t see this forest. That’s, you know, 3000 miles away. Well, guess what? Now you can. Right. Right. So, so that excuses off the table, what are you gonna do in, in some of those important areas? So we’re starting to see the use of technology start to come in into, into more and more areas around, particularly the environmental part of ESG.

Scott Luton (00:36:13):

Love it. All right, Greg, I’m gonna get your response. And then we’re gonna be talking about these talent pipelines, feeding industry, but really quick Del I believe Del is tuned in from Puerto Rico. So great to have you here at Del. I think that’s usually that’s the flag that just doesn’t transcribe over to the stream. So great to see.

Greg White (00:36:29):

So the blue matters on that flag, by the way, cuz Cuba’ flag is remarkably similar with a different color of blue.

Scott Luton (00:36:35):

Really? Yeah, man. I learned something new with Greg white every single day. Mike, I

Greg White (00:36:40):

Have a lot of Puerto Rican friends and they clarified that

Scott Luton (00:36:42):

For me. <laugh> uh, Sheldon says the Gartner top 25 validates effort. In many instances, it’s difficult to quantify supply chain benefits such as ESG, which Mike was speaking to a minute ago, uh, because all of this is a much easier sell to corporate excellent point there. Mike aver says, companies are now putting their goals, dates in writing. And that is a huge shift from five to 10 years ago. For sure. And finally, James, I love the environment aspects information. I feel it’s very overlooked. So despite, uh, some of our observations, how there’s getting a lot more attention and we still have folks and PR uh, practitioners that feel us, it doesn’t get enough attention yet. All right. So Greg, Mike has shared a wealth of knowledge with us. Anything else? Stick out to you before we move on to talking university’s to talk in universities and schools and have a little fun.

Greg White (00:37:30):

Yeah. It’s 100% the consumer’s responsibility to make sure that supply chains are sustainable and fair, right? The E and the S if we don’t drive, if we don’t really at to Mike’s point, if we don’t really vote with our wallets, which we don’t today, so I’m sure the numbers have changed, but a year or so ago, when we were looking at these numbers, huge numbers of people said they would vote with their wallets. And only 14% did Mike, by the way, those numbers have probably moved up. But if we don’t vote with our wallets, the companies will not change. But I, I, I, I also think that it’s important for companies to understand, because look, self interest is the best interest. It guides you to, if it guides you to do the right thing. I think if companies understand that dealing with the Uighurs or other, I mean, there are exponentially worse slavery problems than the Uighurs.

Greg White (00:38:27):

It’s just the Uighurs are in China. And so many companies work in China, right? India has its own share problems. It has a, the lion’s share of problems, frankly, but, but if you understand that that creates fragility in your supply chain, because C, B P could just do what they did about this time last year and say you are guilty unless proven innocent, nothing coming from gin, Jon province will come into the United States unless you can absolutely prove that no slave labor was used to produce those goods. Hmm. I love that approach by the way. And I think we need to do it more often. So when companies recognize that that the E and the S environmental and social issues impact the fragility of their supply chain and impact their top line more than their bottom line. Because by the way, even if you reduce your margins by a full point, because you have an ESG initiative, if you don’t sell it to begin with, because people know you’re a bad actor, you lose all of those gross margin points, right. Not just one. Mm. So I, I think that’s where companies are. That’s where their heads are starting to go, the smart ones, right? The ones that are also improving their supply chains by 10% every year, they’re, they’re improving those other initiatives as well.

Scott Luton (00:39:48):

Well, and the good news is we’re, we are seeing those numbers about voting with wallet. We’re, we’re seeing movement, and we’re seeing moving across generations, not as much as what Greg and, and Mike are pointing out to, but Hey, we’ll take what we can get. Right. Cause the, it does lie with the consumer. Um, okay. I wanna switch gears here to we, you know, we recently sat down with Dr. Brian, uh, Fett with the university of Arkansas, which it has been for quite some time. I think at least last year, at least maybe a couple years, the number one ranked supply chain management program here in the us, and they’re doing some really special things I met with Dr. Fu get and three of his outstanding, brilliant students. So Mike, a question for you, are you involved in those rankings and anything you can share?

Mike Griswold (00:40:36):

Uh, yes. So, um, the, I have two people on my team, Dana Stiffler and Caroline Schoff who run our university, top 25 program. It’s in every other year exercise. Uh, it’s coming up this year and, and this year we’re gonna do it a little bit differently from the standpoint that we typically had because of timing, we would run it as a webinar, but for the first time we’re gonna do the reveal live in our, at our symposium in June. And then similar to my top 25, once Dana and Caroline do the reveal, they will, uh, the, the note will be published that has all of the rankings. So we’re really excited about that. That’s the first week in June. I don’t, I don’t know if it’s Monday, Monday or Tuesday, the sixth of the seventh, but it’s, um, I’m sure if someone goes to gar.com or if they’re not gonna be at the event, they can, um, you know, get a link to it.

Mike Griswold (00:41:27):

But I did ask cuz I, cuz I saw that, that you wanted to talk about this Scott. I did reach out to Dana and Caroline and I have, uh, and I, I hate reading to people, but I, I wanted to make sure I captured this. So I have some notes that I’d like to kind of just share some bullets. Sure. And then we can, and then we can react to them. And, and the last one, I I’ve read it like six times and I, I I’m, I’m interested in people’s reactions to it. Okay. So the first is with the pandemic, you know, we’ve seen what Dana refers to as program types colliding. So typically on campus programs went remote hybrid, went fully remote and programs that were already remote, really thrived. So I think the first message is these successful college universities have figured out different ways to deliver education and deliver it.

Mike Griswold (00:42:16):

Well, that’s my first takeaway. The second is we are seeing more risk management and sustainability courses in the curriculum, especially at the graduate level. That’s great. Right. I think seeing the risk and sustainability two incredibly hot topics for us, I think maybe as a teaser and I dunno whether Arkansas needs to worry or not, but up and coming programs are challenging, the older and established upper Midwest and coastal supply chain elites. Ooh. So we’ll see how that, that shakes out. Yep. Yep. Salaries are gonna be higher in the higher than in 2020 undergrads in 2020 got 58, 5 69, roughly top 10 undergraduate programs, average 63. Wow. And this is the one that I read six times. Everyone needs to be sitting down. We expect to see the same 100% placement of all grads within three months of graduation.

Scott Luton (00:43:14):

Wow,

Mike Griswold (00:43:15):

Exactly. I mean, I, I looked at that and said, it’s gotta be a typo, but I mean, we’ve talked a lot the last several months about somewhat tongue in cheek supply. Chain’s the place to be. I mean, it really is. And the fact that you can almost write your own ticket coming outta school with a supply chain degree, I I think is incredibly exciting. You know, I, I do worry a little bit around, you know, is there a bubble and that, you know, if I’m a freshman, is that gonna be available when I’m still a senior? I think the answer is yes, but to me it’s, this is the best time I can remember to be in the supply chain.

Scott Luton (00:43:57):

Agreed. You know, so much there, we could do a couple hours just on your observations there. Folks, we dropped the link to the Gartner supply chain, uh, symposium and the comments that’s June 6th. Oh, thank through through the eighth. You bet. Um, I’ll be down there with our friends at InterSystems as part of one of the round tables. Looking forward to that. Mike, who knows maybe you gimme a golf lesson. Yes <laugh>. Well, he’ll

Greg White (00:44:20):

Give you a golf lesson. It’ll cost you way more than a golf lesson from a pro though.

Scott Luton (00:44:25):

I I’ve learned long time ago, not to wager on any of my athletic pros, so or lack thereof, Gooding <laugh> so really quick, Amanda Chanel, Catherine, if we can find that conversation we had with university of Arkansas, if we could drop that into comments, it was fascinating. We just sat down Mike with, uh, Texas Christian university this week, looking forward to that. And Greg, you know, one of the observations there and I gonna get your take, respond to, uh, what Mike just shared. Both of the students we interviewed and Jacob, both of them already had, uh, positions locked in with Dell and with Frito lay, but their specific job positions of what they’d be doing was still kind of evolving, which I found to be really interesting. Kind of goes back to that 100% thing, uh, that Mike was sharing. But Greg, what are you seeing? What are, what are some of the, go ahead, Mike?

Mike Griswold (00:45:13):

So real quick, Scott, not to give too much away, but both Dell and Pepsi, which owns free lay, both of them are top 25 companies. So he’s landing in a really good spot.

Scott Luton (00:45:22):

No kidding. No kidding. That’s really good news in the Greg, but what’d you hear there, Greg?

Greg White (00:45:27):

You know, as, as I, I think I wish I was going to school for supply chain now,

Scott Luton (00:45:32):

Honestly,

Greg White (00:45:33):

<laugh> I mean, you know, I, I don’t know how the rest of us got into supply chain. I kind of fell backwards into it. It wasn’t a profession. It was something that, you know, depending on the industry or depending on the level of, of supply chain you were at, if you were a salesperson who couldn’t sell, you got to work in the warehouse. Mm. Right. If you were the dumb brother-in-law of the owner, you, you wound up in supply chain. I mean, it’s, it wasn’t a job even back in the, I mean, except for the very, very highest positions, it wasn’t a job that one was interdisciplinary. It was mostly about transportation. And two was something that people sought out. It was sort of a job that you fell into. So in that short three decade span, we’ve seen it turn into a profession like sales or like accounting, right.

Greg White (00:46:22):

Or finance, and that’s encouraging. And we’ve also seen so many schools. So, so many schools, not only ad programs, but to challenge the, the status quo and, you know, Mike probably shouldn’t name, but I will, the Stanford, MIT, Michigan state, and Penn state kind of quad <laugh>, um, of, of supply chain universities. And there are dozens and dozens of others that are very, very good and also modernizing their programs. Because part of the challenge, you know, I work with a number of universities and part of the program, the, the issue that academics talk about is that by the time they’re able to put it into the curricula, it’s already outdated and that’s more, you know, the techniques and the methodologies. That’s more and more true today. For instance, there is one phrase that you should forget students, if you are ever, if it is ever ever said to you, by any, in any discipline of supply chain, the term, all other things being equal, forget that <laugh> all other things are never equal in supply chain. So that, that is one of the biggest fallacies. One of the biggest false presumptions of supply chain is that if everything else goes well, well, this works right. Well

Scott Luton (00:47:45):

<laugh> yeah,

Greg White (00:47:46):

That, that was never the case. Right. Right. Mike, and, and now even less so, and now you’re even more exposed because as we talked about earlier, now everybody knows who you are and what you do, and they’re watching you for, you know, because of your impact on the brand esteem and the reputation of the company.

Mike Griswold (00:48:07):

Yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s interesting. A, a couple of things. I mean, I like you, Greg, I kind of did the Nesty plunge into supply chain. Right. It was an accident. And, and even if you think about just the evolution, evolution of the word, right. I think you and I, right. We were first involved. It was distribution, logistics, and transportation. We didn’t even use, we didn’t even use the S word. Right, right. It hasn’t been a supply chain for, for very long. Right. And then if we, if, if we look at the macro trends, now we we’ve just kind of got chief supply chain officers, and now we’re even trying to evolve them. So, you know, we’ve, we’ve come a long way pretty quickly. My other observation is I think there is th this is, and, and I’ll preface this by saying, this is a, this is a gut reaction.

Mike Griswold (00:48:55):

Dan and Caroline may have a different perspective cuz they actually do the work around the study. My gut reaction is the, the supply chain degree and having, you know, accomplished a degree is more important than where the degree came from. So if you, you know, went to number 10, whoever that might be right. I don’t know that that’s going to hinder you. I, if it’s not like whoever’s number one, even if it is Arkansas again. Right. So mm-hmm, <affirmative>, I I’m encouraging people that if you think you want to go into the supply chain, you don’t have to go to Stanford. You don’t have to go to MIT. You don’t have to go to those places. If, if you can find a place that has a good curriculum for you in the areas that are important to you, I think there will be opportunities for you. Right. This a hundred percent placement is just not the people from MIT. Right. It’s the people that have a degree kinda regardless of where it came from.

Greg White (00:49:54):

Yeah. North Carolina, a and T I mean it’s everyone. Right? Right. I mean, it’s, it is everyone. So yeah. That’s

Scott Luton (00:50:01):

Pick it, get it in gear, apply yourself. Yeah. Look for new opportunities. Get outta your comfort zone, you know, make all of that part of your educational experience and you will have a job. Hey, we only got a couple more minutes with Mike, Mike really quick. If you were standing up the Mike Griswold school of supply chain management, what’s one quick thing that you would make sure is part of that offering.

Mike Griswold (00:50:24):

I think I would build upon one of some of the new areas that we’re seeing around risk management. And I think you, you, to Greg, I level the way Greg said nothing is created equally. That that’s, I mean, that should just be punted out of the Webster dictionary. It would be around resiliency. How do we teach this idea of resiliency? And I think it is as much an organizational dynamic as it is a personal dynamic. Quite frankly, the analogy I’ll use is I’ll bring us back to basketball, right? The men in the women’s season ended. And, and, and one of the, one of the worst things that I think’s been invented is this idea of the transfer portal, right? There were something like 1200 kids in the transfer portal in men’s basketball. Wow. I read a story. There was a kid that averaged 0.5 points per game in his, at his college team is in the transfer portal. It’s because things got hard for him at the school he was at, you know, so there, there’s an element of organizational resilience, resilience that we need to, to foster in people. But we also need to find a way to instill some, you know, personal resilience in people as well. Cuz if you don’t have personal resilience, it’s hard for you to move that into an organization. But the resilience piece would be my number one curriculum topic in, in my fictional university.

Scott Luton (00:51:49):

I love it. I bet you would. You’d be quite university. Uh, Mike Griswold, if you’re, if your, uh, popularity here is any indication, you’d have full enrollment. All right. So Mike, as much as I hate to close it, close our chapter here. I know you’ve got a, a, a slew of things get to this afternoon. Hopefully you get a chance to go swimming with your grandkids. That sounds like a lot of fun, but how can folks connect with you and Gartner,

Mike Griswold (00:52:12):

LinkedIn? And then again, shoot me emails, Mike Griswold at Gartner do, uh, gartner.com look forward to hearing from people.

Scott Luton (00:52:19):

It is just that easy. Well, I hope to see you down in Florida in a few weeks, and thanks so much as always for the time you spend here with Greg and I,

Mike Griswold (00:52:27):

My pleasure. Great to see everyone. Well

Scott Luton (00:52:29):

Talk soon, Mike, thank you. All right. Well, so Greg, you know, all things being equal that was when heck of a conversation,

Greg White (00:52:35):

Never not learning when my seriously, when Mike Griswold is around, you are never not learning. I mean, we learned some, some things behind the scenes, like his nickname, which I didn’t know. And I’ve known Mike Long

Scott Luton (00:52:48):

Time,

Greg White (00:52:48):

A long time.

Scott Luton (00:52:50):

Not, not more than 20 years, right? Not that years.

Greg White (00:52:52):

No. Yeah. But a but a long, a good long while. And you know, kind of his perspective on all of this is so powerful as well. Can I tell you what I would pick that every student should know in, in, in coming out of supply chain and that is that manufacturing is not the model for supply chain. There are three supply chains, three tiers of supply chain, and it’s critical to understand the uniquenesses of each one of them. There is a manufacturing supply chain. There is a distribution and by distribution, I don’t mean just the distribution of goods. I mean, distributors, right, right. Like the people who distribute food and don’t beverages and hardware and that sort of thing to chains and, and small businesses and that sort of thing. And there is a retail supply chain and the dynamics of each of those are distinctly different and yet different.

Greg White (00:53:46):

And yet the universities almost solely teach from a manufacturing perspective, the principles of supply chain and the, the reason for that is of course, because that’s where they get their money from. Right. And they build their research and they build their practices to help out those, those companies like at Wichita state Cargill, huge manufacturers. I can’t even imagine who, who, you know, uh, MIT and Stanford, but of course at Michigan state, it’s the big automaker. So there are specialty areas, not just industries, but tiers of supply chain. And you need to understand the unique dynamics of each tier of the supply chain.

Scott Luton (00:54:28):

Well said, I love that. So, you know, we were having a conversation yesterday. We hadn’t published this yet, as I mentioned with TCU, right. Great program. And Dr. Travis, tocar had to fill in for Dr. Morgan SW. Right. I think who leads supply chain program at TCU. And there was a moment Greg, much like, you know, with your brilliant moments of brilliance around here, there was a moment that Travis was kind of speaking to our listeners and he, he was really, uh, and, and you could tell he was coming from a very genuine space. You know, he was really telling supply chain practitioners around the world. Hey, when you have those days where you’re, you’re fighting with spreadsheets all day, or, or you’re, uh, having debates with your colleagues or, you know, as full of, of firefighting, whatever it is, man, keep your eyes on the prize. And more importantly, keep your eyes on this greater big picture impact that you are absolutely having. And it was such a, I can’t wait to publish the episode because it was such more powerfully stated than I just did there. And it was just a moment that stopped in your tracks. Cause so many everyone needs to hear that. Right. So, but in

Greg White (00:55:37):

Every role, truly, but particularly in supply chain, because it is to Mike’s previous points on this show, it is a lot of firefighting and sometimes it’s rewarding the arsonist. I’m so glad, you know, coined that phrase, but yes, I mean, you still are making progress, even if you’re firefighting that’s right. Cause otherwise that’s right. The house burns to the ground.

Scott Luton (00:56:01):

That’s right. And, and I also liked your point earlier. It’s on the consumers, you know, our dear friend Scott Case with NRF told me out in Vegas, uh, back in January, Hey, supply chains do what’re program to do basically I’m paraphrasing, you know, leader set priorities and that’s what supply chains do they’re built to execute. You know, so as consumers we can, based on our preferences and what we demand and what we’re willing to do, we can have major impacts. I think Sheldon was speaking to that earlier and that’s gonna be a big key to your point of unlocking a lot more progress with ESG initiatives and so much more so a lot of good stuff there, speaking of which, and good afternoon, great to have you back from Texas. I believe Evan’s dispatching logistics, supply distribution kind of sounds like, uh, an index we track, right?

Scott Luton (00:56:47):

Yeah. James says you’re totally right, Greg. I have extensive hospitality, hotel, restaurant background, and almost nothing in our curriculum was taught from a service based perspective. Great point, James. Uh, great point. I think James, I believe is up for his next opportunity. So folks reach out to James, grab a cup of coffee. We’ve all been there. And uh, James, let us know what you’re looking for there. T squared Morgan state is a great, a great program. The leader, Greg of DMSA the diverse manufacturing supply chain Alliance. I cannot remember his name. He’s gonna kill me. Dave,

Greg White (00:57:21):

David. Gosh, Kevin Jackson. If you’re out there,

Scott Luton (00:57:24):

Remind us. Uh, well <laugh> so, uh, let’s do it one better. Looks like our team. David Burton. Yes. David Burton.

Greg White (00:57:30):

I was thinking burns. I don’t know why. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:57:32):

Close, uh, David Burton as a graduate and give us so much give back to Morgan state university. One of our great friends of the show. Y’all check out Deka. I think it’s deka.org, DM sca.org, but TCO a great point and great to have you here today. And finally, before we wrap Natalie Christian says, uh, I fell into supply chain answering the question. How do, how do we raise, fill rates above 90% today? Well, before COVID so yesterday anything less than 97% is unable. That’s right. How about that?

Greg White (00:58:05):

Yeah. I mean, it is, it is amazing how many people, uh, you know, for this two have become a profession. It is amazing how many people kind of fell into it.

Scott Luton (00:58:14):

Yes. Agreed. Agreed. Okay. So Greg, before we wrap here, we’re just a couple minutes over, but we’re about to wrap up great show with Mike Griswold, loved all the comments. Mike’s, you know, we really need to book four hours with him each month. Uh, there’s so much there to dive into, but Greg what’s one, you know, beyond the fact that we gotta strike all things being equal and I even snuck it in. You didn’t say anything but beyond that, what’s one key thing that folks gotta take away from the last hour

Greg White (00:58:43):

That the S in social is, you know, in ESG is every bit as important as the E that, you know, there are so many, so many lessons here today, but the one that jumped out at me so much, and the authentic application of ESG initiatives, I love that. That is such a huge part of the top 20, uh, five evaluation. It’s really encouraging to hear how many of the candidates for the top 25 and how many of the top 25 score 100% on that. Right. That’s truly, truly impressive.

Scott Luton (00:59:17):

Excellent point there. And, you know, speaking of which, uh, all at ESG, be sure folks to check out hope for justice. They are. And we talked about them on the front end, there are nonprofit partners that were working together on our 2022 supply chain and procurement awards. And they’re, they’re leading that noble mission to eradicate human slavery and global trafficking. And, and unfortunately every part of the world, there’s a lot of that exists. We’ve got so much work to do. So y’all check it out, doing great work, be sure to join us May 18th for, as we reveal our winners and Greg that’s. Uh, gosh, we got about a, uh, uh, eight day head start on the top 25. I wonder if we, there’s gonna be some similarities between our winners and

Greg White (00:59:56):

We already know two that’s true. I don’t know if you noticed that <laugh>, those were obviously ones that will, that are already there and that will stay, but we learned to, so we kind of scooped that a little bit.

Scott Luton (01:00:07):

We did, man. It’s great. Call out. Great call out. Hopefully Gartner Gartner’s army of lawyers will not be coming after us. Uh, who knows they’ll

Greg White (01:00:15):

Be coming after Mike.

Scott Luton (01:00:16):

<laugh> right. That’s right. Hey, really quick, Brenda Allen, Hey, thanks again for your generous gift. But she says, uh, for small businesses, especially just getting started, you’re at the mercy of who you are ordering from, but we’re learning to navigate the supply chain, thankful to one of your listeners who reached out to us a few weeks back. Hey, how about that? There? You so thankful for the show, Brenda. Thank you. And we look forward to learning more about your journey in the weeks and months ahead. Okay. Folks on behalf of our entire team, big thanks, Amanda, Catherine and clay and Chantelle behind the scenes helping make production happen. Big, thanks to my colleague here, Greg white, who brought it today as always big. Thanks everyone of the comments. There are so many comments. We couldn’t get to a lot of great stuff there. A lot of great stuff that we shared, but, but if you take one thing away, right? If you take one thing away, it’s take action. You know, Scott Luton challenging you to do good to give forward and to be the change that’s needed here today. And with that said, we see next time, right back here on supply chain. Now. Thanks your buddy.

Intro/Outro (01:01:17):

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