Intro/Outro (00:03):

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

Scott Luton (00:33):

Hey, Hey, good afternoon, Scott Luton and special guest co-host friend of the show. Jenny Froome here with you on supply chain. Now. Welcome to today’s show Jenny, my friend. How are you doing

Jenny Froome (00:44):

Really well, really well, always nice to be here. I always say it’s the best night out.

Scott Luton (00:50):

Yeah, because local time it is what? Six or 7:00 PM?

Jenny Froome (00:54):

7:00 PM.

Scott Luton (00:55):

7:00 PM. Have you already had dinner?

Jenny Froome (00:57):

No, not yet. No. Was too excited.

Scott Luton (01:02):

Have you already enjoyed an adult beverage? Maybe?

Jenny Froome (01:05):

No, not yet. Oh, dear. I needed to have all my wits about me. Hey, all those trick questions you

Scott Luton (01:11):

Asked me. Hey, next time we’re gonna do dinner and a live stream all at the same time, invite folks in to break bread with us. So we’ll have to, uh, plan that show. Sounds like

Jenny Froome (01:19):

A great idea.

Scott Luton (01:20):

Well, great to see you here today. Always a pleasure. Uh, we get to continue our supply chain leadership across Africa series in conjunction with our friends at SAP picks. You may know, uh, unless you’re one of maybe three people across the globe that Jenny Froome serves as COO of SAP picks, which is doing outstanding work from a really from a professional development and a networking standpoint, uh, in South Africa, but really across the continent in the region. And you can check them out at say, pic.org, Jenny, what’s your favorite aspect of what you do at Sapics.

Jenny Froome (01:53):

It’s seeing people grow. It’s, it’s understanding that whole professional development. That’s also personal development and you know, whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but I’ve been doing it long enough that at our recent student conference, since we had some alumni actually speaking at the conference, they’d all grown up and there they were. And I felt very proud.

Scott Luton (02:16):

I love that. And, and you know, I’m not surprised in the least bit by the answer because I see that in all of our interactions and all of our collaborations, I see it in your communication. It is just a wonderful thing that you do. And we’re very pleased to continue our friendship and collaboration across this series. So, but folks as if Jenny Fu is not an incredible participant in this conversation, we’ve got a second dynamo. We have ABI a di CEO at supply chain. Africa are joining us in just a couple of minutes. So stay tuned. He is one heck of a, of a guest and interview Whitney, Jenny.

Jenny Froome (02:52):

Absolutely. And I recently listened to your veteran voices interview with him. And I tell you if, if you haven’t listened to it, you really should listen to it. I, I didn’t mention that today, cuz I didn’t want to steal any thunder, but after this I really recommend it. And that whole series to you. Well,

Scott Luton (03:10):

I, I appreciate that, that, that endorsement, Hey, if we got, if we got Ginny FRS endorsement, we can do whatever we, we can move mountains for sure. But uh, outta bio was a great interview on that one. Uh, I think we interviewed him, uh, on a subsequent supply chain now podcast and have back live so that y’all can see it and pose questions and or your, uh, your comments is a wonderful thing. Let’s we’ve got one quick programming, uh, announcement I wanna share with everybody. But before we do that, Jenny, let’s go ahead and say a hello to some of the folks tuned in from a around the world. Like, uh, Savannah’s tuned in via LinkedIn. Hey Savannah, let us know where you’re tuned in from. We’d love to, we’d love to connect the dots, uh, across the global community of, of really industry supply chain and beyond Ajit is tuned in via LinkedIn and Jen, if you know any of these folks feel free to give us the goods, give, give us the skeletons in their closet or right.

Scott Luton (04:01):

GE great to see you via LinkedIn. Lamont is back with us. If you don’t notice, talk about development, look at all those professional certifications, Lamont brings to the table. Project management is, is, and project management. Leadership is one of the things that Lamont I know is, is really passionate about. And we always enjoy his perspective from sunny, Sandy Lamont, hope this finds you well, is it G ad, uh, EA perhaps. And I apologize if I’m getting that wrong, let us know. I like this. It’s so important to get folks names, right, but regardless G ad, thanks for joining us here today via LinkedIn, Joseph Morta. Have you ever met Joseph Morta Jenny.

Jenny Froome (04:37):

Dave.

Scott Luton (04:37):

So mark your calendar. I, I know that y’all y’all call with ASM community. Joseph is part of, is a leader within a chapter up in the Northeast and he also has a great podcast. I need to catch back up on.

Jenny Froome (04:50):

There’s definitely a name I recognize.

Scott Luton (04:51):

I bet that’s what I thought. So Joseph hope this finds you well and feel free to give us an update on the podcast that you are leading and Jonna, uh, via link. Great to see you let us know where you’re tuned in from Jenny. You know, T squared holds down to Fort force on YouTube, right? It is fryer E folks bring on the supply chain nourishment. Great to see you here. Amad tuned in from Calgary via LinkedIn. Great to see you. Amad Marus is tuned in via LinkedIn. I hope I got that right. Let us know where you’re tuned in from R great to see you. Okay. So Jenny, before we bring on ABI, just a second, I wanna make a quick announcement. We’re gonna talk about, uh, we’re all celebrating, uh, the good things that the global supply chain ecosystem’s doing. We’re gonna talk about a project that Jenny’s leading a towards the end of today’s show.

Scott Luton (05:43):

But up first, I wanna talk about the supply chain and procurement awards, right? Coming up in may. Nominations are open through April 1st, but Jenny, just today I was talking with, uh, Tony Jackson, who is the senior vice president and chief product delivery officer at Lexmark. She talking about dynamos. I, I was able to interview her a few weeks back. She is gonna be, has agreed to be our sixth and final executive judge. And she is that’s like, that’s like sign when the Braves went out, Atlanta Braves went out and Greg Maddox, you know, put him in position to win that world series. It that it’s almost that big. Jenny, have you ever met Tanya?

Jenny Froome (06:23):

No, but I have to say she’s gotta be good because the rest of your judges are your judging panel is amazing.

Scott Luton (06:29):

Well, we have been, you know, we’re gonna talk a lot about leadership here today, and we’ve really been the beneficiary of a bunch of wonderful leaders from the organizers to the judges, to the nominees that are coming in. It’s just, it’s been a study in leadership some, and that’s kind of a, a big part. We’re big item we’re gonna be talking about today. Right? Leadership.

Jenny Froome (06:48):

We so

Scott Luton (06:48):

Important. It is so important and we can’t get enough, really good action focused leadership these days, Camin. It is a crime shame. See, it doesn’t even the, the state of leadership doesn’t even need a verbal response from Jenny. It’s just a Nope. Nope. Well,

Jenny Froome (07:06):

No. And I think that that’s kind of something that, that our kids are, are crying out for are these role models. And you know, that’s, what’s really important. And I guess as parents, we have to be those leaders, but it’s hard work

Scott Luton (07:20):

Agreed. It really is. It really is. But the good news is you got folks like our guests here and I’m introducing now that is willing to roll up the sleeves and due to heavy lifting in conjunction with the other non lip service leaders out there doing big things for industry. So with that being said, I am so excited to, along with Jenny here, interview and, and kind of share the perspective of one of our favorite people. Let’s welcome in Adebayo Adeleke a CEO at supply chain Africa.

Adebayo Adeleke (07:50):

Hey,

Scott Luton (07:51):

Hey, Hey, good afternoon. Good evening. Adebayo. Hey you doing I’m

Adebayo Adeleke (07:54):

Well I’m well, Scott, Jenny, as always, you guys are awesome. You guys are awesome. Thank you for having me.

Jenny Froome (08:01):

Same back at you.

Adebayo Adeleke (08:02):

Hi to everyone out there, wherever you are tuning in. We really do appreciate your audience. I just finished teaching an operation class over here. So that’s why I’m here in my office quite empty, but I think most people get the gist of it for the most part, but I’m really, really happy to be on supply chain. Now I can tell my mom, I made it. I made it for the seven time like mom, I made it

Scott Luton (08:26):

Well.

Jenny Froome (08:26):

And the best thing about the empty shelves is we can focus on you and not get distracted by

Adebayo Adeleke (08:33):

That. That’s one of the reasons why you use the empty shelve.

Scott Luton (08:36):

I love that. So we got a full hour with the one only at a bio case. So stay tuned really quick though. I wanna, I wanna welcome in a few folks. We got Donna from Houston, Texas via LinkedIn. Great to see you here, Donna, uh, Chu, uh, from Winnipeg, Canada, he’s been with us previously. So it’s great to have you back via LinkedIn. Looking forward to your perspective. Tempus is tuned in from the Dallas Fort worth area. Great to have you back Tempus. Yeah, Mohe. So Mohe is part of the Wichita supply chain ecosystem. So he’s a wonderful people, uh, person. He is an instructor over at Wichita state university. So for Greg white, I got, I gotta say go shock, right? Mohe. Great to see you. Okay. So let’s start with a fun warmup question, right? We gotta try to keep our sense of humor, uh, in light of, of challenging events around the world. But here this time of year is really special here, Jenny and an bio here in the states, especially in the wonderful, beautiful city of new Orleans because it’s Mardi GRA right? Mardi GRA time, never been I’ve been to new Orleans before, but I’ve never been able to participate in Mardi GRA have either of you

Jenny Froome (09:44):

Never a Mardi GRA I’ve

Adebayo Adeleke (09:46):

I’ve been, I’ve been to new Orleans, but I’ve never yeah. Had to be that in Mardi GRA as well.

Scott Luton (09:49):

So man, the food, the people, the history, the city is just such a special, special city. Well, you’re the

Jenny Froome (09:56):

Cocktails, the

Scott Luton (09:58):

That’s right? The cocktails. Well, Hey, you know, you’re in for a treat because a great friend of the show, great partner of our team here, Donna Croci former executive producer at CNN who helps us out with some things Donna spent like the full week in new Orleans. I think she’s got a house there and she in some footage that gives us a flavor of what goes on this time of year. So we’re gonna see if this works. We got faith, we got an awesome production team. Let’s see if they can, they can bring us for a little tidbit of what’s going on in new Orleans this week. Goodness gracious.

Jenny Froome (10:54):

Extraordinary

Scott Luton (10:55):

Jenny. I was so, uh, the honest sent in and, and, and folks really quick aside, we lost autobi, you know, sometimes you’ve got perfect connections, but most of the time, you know, we’re all fighting for the best connection. So if we lose folks, we’re just gonna keep, uh, working through the conversation. Hey, that Murphy’s law is alive and well, unfortunately, Jenny, but that scene just the Don had sent in several videos. I’ll just sat there and was mesmerized, just the grand, the showmanship, the buzz, the energy, the positivity, the

Jenny Froome (11:27):

People all together. That’s the, you know, for us still, we’ve still got reason, not strict restrictions, but from an event perspective, we’ve got maximum them and minimum numbers and social distancing and all the rest of it. So to see that energy and to see people together, it just makes your heart glad.

Scott Luton (11:47):

I agree with you. I agree with you. So Outba welcome back. We were just talking about sometimes you got a great connection. Sometimes we don’t, it just we’re rolling with the punches today, but did you see that footage?

Adebayo Adeleke (11:57):

I saw briefly, uh, sorry about that in and out. It’s the thing here, you know, just, we just roll with the punches. That’s

Scott Luton (12:06):

Right. That is right. That’s really the question. Well, so I really quick I a bio, uh, you’re you’re like a superstar. We got folks messaging you from across the world, including Chu, who we just talked about from Winnipeg. He’s good to see you again. Yes,

Adebayo Adeleke (12:20):

Yes. Great to see you. Chuko awesome. Awesome.

Scott Luton (12:24):

And Joseph responded, so supply chain briefs, y’all check out his podcast there. Joseph. I appreciate what you do in continuing to move the global supply chain industry forward. Okay. So I wanna ask, y’all a quick question. So we’re talking Mar Mardi GRA, we’re talking new Orleans. What’s one of an autobi. We’re gonna start with you. What’s one of your favorite, what I’ll call early events of the year, any traditional events for you?

Adebayo Adeleke (12:49):

So for me, uh, it’s always the new year’s, it’s always the new year’s I grew up in, in Africa and the new year’s always quite special. You know, at least from the part of Nigeria I grew up in is always the most celebratory, you know, holiday of the year, you eat, you, you know, kind of this festive environment. And the atmosphere is something that, I mean is something that is quite special. And during that time, it’s Amon is in the Amon season. So for, for people that are, you know, we have winter spring, uh, summer and autumn in, you know, four seasons over here in north America. But for folks in Southwest, some part of Nigeria, then it’s Amon, it’s a little bit cold, dry. It’s too hot though. I mean, don’t, don’t get it twisted now it’s still hot, but, but it still has a bit of, you know, flavor.

Adebayo Adeleke (13:38):

And it was just that it set the right on for the year for me and always, you know, new year. Unfortunately, once I move over here, there’s so many holidays here. I mean, from St. Patricks, all kind of stuff, you know, so I mean, I, I I’m planned in 4th of July is always, uh, is very special to me in the us as well. It’s, it’s such a, it’s such a rich tradition and looking at the stories of what led to the independence of United States and how a particular group of people came together to fight for common cause. And, and that in the itself is, is quite rewarded. And it says a lot about what people can do when they come together to achieve a goal. So

Scott Luton (14:15):

Well said. And of course that has start relevance right now. And we’re gonna touch on that in just a minute, but thank you for sharing I’m with you. New year’s brings new opportunities and a kind of breath of fresh air, a white open palette, right. For folks to start a new. So Jenny, how about you?

Jenny Froome (14:32):

Yeah, but a boring, but I also, I mean, I agree and this new was very special because our son who’s supposed to be studying in Spain was with us. And I actually felt quite sorry for him because he had a boring night in with mom and dad, but for me it was super special and he made beef Wellington. Wow. From scratch all by himself. We won’t talk about the state of the kitchen, but the food was delicious. And, uh,

Adebayo Adeleke (15:00):

As long as the end justified,

Jenny Froome (15:01):

Definitely, definitely. And dad had to do the cleaning up. So I, I won both one. So

Scott Luton (15:06):

It’s fun. Well, cheers the club for doing that. And also hopefully, uh, uh, CLS doing well. I’ve seen some, some pictures, some, some puppy battles. You’ve got a raging puppy. We’ll save that maybe for a later conversation really quick, wanna say hello to Marie rehearses with us, uh, tuned in from a ball Atlanta. It’s gonna be in the seventies, uh, or upper seventies, I think today. Uh, Marie hope this finds you well, great to have here as always. Okay. So folks, we warned you sometimes, uh, technology does just does not cooperate, but Jenny, we’re gonna keep on driving. It’s

Jenny Froome (15:40):

Normally me that has the problem.

Scott Luton (15:42):

Well, you know, don’t speak too soon. Don’t speak too soon. That’s the, uh, I think that’s our, our key phrase here today, but let’s bring in autobi back in. I think he is back with us here and let’s see, can you hear me

Adebayo Adeleke (15:55):

All right? Yes. Fine of it.

Scott Luton (16:00):

Well, so while we’ve got you, let’s jump into the, the first big topic of the day, cause we’re gonna be talking leadership and, um, you know, you were just talking a second ago about what we can do, folks unite and, and build that, you know, that, that aligned Alliance, that, that unified Alliance and, and we can move mountains. Um, talking leadership, obviously the Ukrainian president, uh, Vladimir Linsky is offering a masterclass in leadership right this minute in, in one of the most challenging and, and heartbreaking situations that I think of, um, outta bio, I wanna start with you, what has stood out to you the most related to his leadership? And then let’s, let’s also kind of as follow up question and when it comes to supply chain leadership, what’s, what’s critical right now with the backdrop of, of where we are in 2022.

Adebayo Adeleke (16:49):

So, um, like you said, Scott, right since the last of Ukraine is given the class, the world is that is, is that this audience right now is telling us what leadership used to, you know, what leadership used to be and what it should be. And for the most part, but I do have several, you know, positions on this. And, uh, but one thing for is a leadership by being there really the presence often time, what, we’ve a lot of people we know there’s so many diluted, uh, definition of leadership these days, but leadership by just being there, you know, most fathers understand this more than anything else. You might not do anything else. But as a father, when you’re there, there’s a present that, that presence of leadership. And most importantly, you know, when, in, in the time of trouble, in the time of, uh, you know, uh, where there’s a lot of uncertainty, people need to hear from their leader, people need to hear loud and glad of what he’s.

Scott Luton (17:55):

All right. So we might have lost. Oh, okay. So let’s take him out really quick. Okay. So what I heard there, Jenny, I wanna get your take on what I heard there. Two prongs presence, right? The power presence. I completely agree with him the there, and then secondly, uh, the power of, of clarity, uh, of mission, of clarity of what’s important. And what’s, what’s our priorities, what, what’s our values, what we, you know, what we are willing to tolerate and what we aren’t willing to tolerate. So Jenny, what comes to mind for you when it comes to leadership in this situation?

Jenny Froome (18:27):

Yeah. And I think it’s also acting, acting on what are your values and working with people who respect those values, but being able to put them over in a way that is not dominating, just because they’re your values doesn’t mean everybody has to agree with the way in which you do stuff. So it’s being able to do that given take scenario, but at the same time still provide the boundaries and the support that, that maybe people are looking

Scott Luton (18:54):

For. Agreed well said, uh, really quick little sense of humor. Uh, Saham says maybe he’s got a class now. He had to, he had to jet really quick. So

Adebayo Adeleke (19:05):

Can you hear me now? Yes, yes, yes.

Scott Luton (19:07):

We got I’m

Adebayo Adeleke (19:09):

Obvious. So I’m using my computer now, cause before that computer and was the thing was out place. So let me back to the question, please. Hopefully this holds on, uh, so, you know, presence of leadership by being there often time is been on the retail for so long. We saw these in I in hour, we saw these in doing world war II when we, those are classic traditional means of, uh, leading. But now during the cold war, we saw a lot of it when the last five, you know, 10 years, some of those things have been absent, but this, I mean, uh, president Lansky has given us a reason to be hopeful that the world is, uh, that was in a better place. And I’m really appreciative of just being there and telling these people, uh, that, you know, that is hope. And I think that’s what leadership is all about, but actually being there is a sense of focus. It becomes a become of not for, only for himself, but for people and the world at large.

Scott Luton (20:02):

Yeah. There’s so much there. Uh, both y’all in terms of what you’re sharing. I wanna share a little quick aside. I know we’re gonna talk about supply chain leadership in a second, but I was watching the PBS a news hour yesterday afternoon, and we’ve all seen the stories of fathers taking their families to the border so they can, they can exit and egress the country. And of course LA’s fathers are of, of conscription age or they just wanna be in the fight. And so they’re saying goodbye and they’re, they’re staying home. One father was getting interviewed and he mentioned, he is your Ukrainian father. And he mentioned, you know, just two weeks ago I had a full-time job. You know, we were eating as a family, you know, breakfast and dinner. I even had a blog dedicated to heavy metal music, but in the span of a second, all of that became irrelevant and not important. And it’s now about this one mission to defend the Homeland. And he talked about how his four year old daughter had two daughters, four year old daughter said, when will the Russians be leaving Ukraine, dad? How do you answer that? How do you answer that? Did it’s, that’s where we are in 2022. So get y’all’s quick response to that and just kind of giving hope people, and

Adebayo Adeleke (21:13):

Often time we have a better list. Uh,

Scott Luton (21:18):

I think we’re losing you, Jenny, your thoughts.

Jenny Froome (21:21):

I was, I was gonna comment on the fact that, you know, we’ve just come out of, or some people still are in, um, the whole COVID situation. And, and there, we had a common enemy and there, we, as, as, as a population, a global population were most of the time pulling together to try to at least stem the, the, uh, the results of, of the pandemic here. We’ve got a situation where some people believe one thing and other people believe another, and there may be a majority view, but it’s definitely not a, you know, it’s not the whole globe that is fighting the same enemy and, and that’s the that’s, what’s gonna be really, and to use the word. Interesting, just sounds so shallow. And so like it’s a school project or something, and I don’t mean it like that at all, but it is gonna be really interesting just to see how, how, how we move forward as a, as a global community in,

Scott Luton (22:21):

In this agreed as certainly as scary as a pandemic was, you know, this situation that we’re all navigating as a world because the, no one, you know, no, one’s not touched by what’s going on right now in Ukraine. So may cooler heads prevail and may, you know, may, may the suffering and, and what’s going on with civilians, the, the whole situation. And we, we, we need to, we need to negotiate. We need to, we need to come together and talk and find diplomatic solution. So, um, just my take there.

Jenny Froome (22:52):

Yeah. And it’s, and it’s also, it’s ironic because just at the beginning of the year, articles were starting to come out about how supply chain professionals can take a breather were starting to get back. There are still challenges, but they’re not the challenges that we were experiencing last year. And now suddenly the, the rug’s been pulled out from under, under our feet. And there’s a, a whole new set that, that nobody, well, I don’t know, maybe somebody and had anticipated, but I, I think a lot of people would

Scott Luton (23:25):

Like, agreed, agreed. And Jake, Hey, thank you for this. I really appreciate that. I, my are the troubleshooting on the fly to keep the conversation going. We’ve all been there. You’re right. You’re right. And, and, you know, we’re a transparent bunch around here, but Jake, I appreciate the support. Okay. Outta bio. I think we’re back. We’re gonna, we’re trying a different hit.

Jenny Froome (23:44):

Can you

Scott Luton (23:44):

Hear me? Yes.

Adebayo Adeleke (23:47):

Yes.

Jenny Froome (23:48):

It,

Scott Luton (23:52):

Oh, it’s so

Jenny Froome (23:54):

Well done,

Scott Luton (23:55):

Catherine. Thank you, Catherine. And Chantel and Amanda. So out bio, you can hear us, right?

Adebayo Adeleke (23:59):

Yes. See, that is why, you know, the rest of the faculties are here. So as you like dash down the whole, who has a, he like, yeah. Supply chain, you supply chain. And I like,

Jenny Froome (24:09):

Yeah,

Scott Luton (24:12):

I love that. We come together. Whatever, if you need a microphone, we got, you know, if you gotta get a shipment in somewhere on a Tuesday afternoon, we got, but regardless, great to have you back. So let me let share this. Uh, Saan we just talking about the situation Ukraine and the, the overall, uh, environment, a test for supply chain leaders, no easy answers, but decisions have to be made and acted on. So hum, excellent point there. Okay. So outta bio you’re back would love for you to kind of continue your thoughts around leadership and Ukraine and supply chain. So

Adebayo Adeleke (24:45):

Very, so something special about defending of others land. And oftentimes we’ve read about this in different books, vignette and different storylines. We saw it on movies, but this is right happening in front of us. So fortunately we thought we’ve passed those kind of time in our, in our world history, but we actually reliving it as well. So I really understand when those fathers stayed behind to defend their father’s land, there is nothing as noble as those for every free country on earth today, somebody defended their borders and that’s why these men and women have to stand back and defend. And oftentimes is a societal mission, but there’s nothing as nos as defend any your father’s land because that is all you have. That is. And you know, we, and also there is a message it’s not about defending its person. It’s about the message that’s not been actually communicated.

Adebayo Adeleke (25:37):

It’s about standing tall and going at shoulders to shoulders and you know, with your brothers and sister, that defended for a common cause by common goal, to make sure that you defend your life. Oftentimes, you know, it might not be the most prudent answer. It might not be the most prudent idea to be time, especially you defending your country against Russian army. Uh, and know, I mean last time we saw them in action. If football is a red army during world war II, it was a completely different ball game and they probably still have the same glory now, but it’s telling us about Ukrainian. People are teaching us about resiliency. They teaching us are being persistent and there’s a lot to learn from them. There’s a lot to learn from they’re great ability to stand, uh, despite facing the fall.

Scott Luton (26:22):

I completely agree. And, and I don’t wanna take anything away from the Ukrainian situation, the invasion and all that. We could talk for hours about the, the inspiring stories and the true real resilience we’re seeing there outta bio, but on a much lighter, less important note when it comes to current forward looking leadership in global supply chain, what are some either parallels or what’s some observations outta bio you think is really important for supply chain leaders to, to know and act on today.

Adebayo Adeleke (26:54):

Spontaneity, I believe to be spontaneous. The world we live in today will continue to change. And that’s what I’ve learned in the last two, three years is that a leader must be spontaneous it’s you have to be kind of ability to operate on that, that spontaneous atmosphere. See, as we usher into area of digitization and there’s so much risk involved, there’s some risk right now that I, myself in the risk business cannot even factor. There are risk the have yet to be on board. You know, there’s so much risk that are coming out there with the advent of web 3.0, the inclusion of blockchain, artificial intelligence and uh, internet of things. They’re gonna burn new risk and new ideas and new sets of truth that will never send before. And we need leaders who can stand to who can, you know, who can stand off for this.

Adebayo Adeleke (27:46):

And oftentimes situations like these kind of bird, those kind of leaders, ability to kind of figure out yourself where, you know, you know, just tick out the great, uh, is what’s going on. So unfortunately, uh, and I’m not, I’m not a prophet of doom. Unfortunately, situations like this will continue to happen until the rest of time. And especially that we’ve now, you know, uh, we’re not usher into the new era of, you know, metaverse I heard of a few weeks ago that somebody’s actually alleging that she’s been gro on, on, in, on a metaverse world.

Scott Luton (28:19):

Wow.

Adebayo Adeleke (28:20):

And that is a new level of just craziness I’ve yet to even kind of understand, but yet we’ve just, we Don even we, as people cannot, even under, we’ve not come to the full understanding of what this metaphor actually entails, but yet people are really using it for things of evil. So you, that can tell you that the world will live in, unfortunately it’s not fair and on, unfortunately it’s not saying, you know, so imagine for supply chain leaders have to traverse this world, have to provide sanity in the world. That is insane. You know, and that is what is require of us. The world looks to supply chain leaders, to be honest with you, I was telling someone over there, he said, you don’t, you think you need to be buyers. I’m not, I’m not, I mean, supply chain rules the world. So imagine the world looking to us to provide sanity in the midst of insanity. That’s right. And that is what is going on at the moment.

Scott Luton (29:13):

Agreed. Uh, you know, along those lines of what, uh, ABI sharing Jenny, one of our favorite phrases around here that came about from one of our earliest interviews was no product, no program, which is, there’s so much truth in that simple phrase, which supports what auto bios is sharing. Because if folks can’t get the products, what can you do? Your hands are, are tied. Jenny, speak to that a little bit.

Jenny Froome (29:37):

Yeah. I mean, absolutely. And, and there’s a, there’s a great program. I think it’s called empty hands and empty shelves, empty hands, which is another, another, an initiative in the public health space. Um, and exactly that, but I was gonna say that from a, a supply chain, um, leader perspective, there’s got to be a calmness and one of the, one of questions at our recent student conference. And remember this came at the end of two years of right. Of COVID and the vaccine roll out and all the rest of it. And, and they asked is supply chain management, a stressful job. And that was kind of, and the answer was yes, until you learn how to handle it. And I just thought that it was such a great answer. And I do think versatility, flexibility, and ultimately calmness rational.

Scott Luton (30:28):

I love that, Jenny. All right. So I wanna, I want go back to risk out bio as Jenny and I were kind of prepping for, uh, our interview with you. It, it dawned on both of us again, uh, cause you’ve, we’ve interviewed you a couple times mentioned veteran voices and an earlier, uh, supply chain now episode, probably about 18 months ago or so. Yes. And you dealt back in two, uh, 2011, you had some personal experience with the devastating earthquake in tsunami that, uh, impacted terribly impacted, uh, our friends in Japan. What, what did that teach you about risk management that we’re seeing, you know, number one priority in global business right now?

Adebayo Adeleke (31:08):

So one thing, I mean, and being in the business of, uh, defense pretty much deal with risk all day long as we call it. I, I saw, you mentioned the word egress the other time. It’s been a while. It’s been a while. I’ve heard the word egress. Like most people, I would not understand it, but I do, but, uh, what tsunami and all this, uh, is a natural disaster. Man. Disaster has thought you by the course of time, regardless of how much you prepare for risk, uh, if it is meant to be, to be, and you have to be prepared. And the essence of having a risk management within your processes as a of supply chain managers, my pro professional is that whenever this risk does happen, that it can only stretch your supply chain, but not break it. And that’s what I’ve hammered during the COVID crisis or whatnot.

Adebayo Adeleke (31:55):

You would not be able to anticipate every risk out there. There are risk in saying, as I said earlier, that are not born yet. There are risks that would not even seen it or known risk as always categorizing or known risk. There are certain risks that regardless of how much we pate different mitigating strategy, there are certain risks that will not be able to fat, but ability to have a structure and framework in place in your risk management processes in such a way that provider safety net, that whatever happens, whatever call it’ll only stretch your supply chain. It’ll not break it, but often time we don’t do that. Is it that we are stubborn or we think we, you know, we know it all for the most part, we should always want to stretching our supply chain can be very stressful on everyone involved, either the process and the people are combined, but it is better than being, having a broken supply chain. We have a broken supply chain. Your company is no alive, and that is a problem.

Scott Luton (32:52):

That’s a huge problem. And going back to what you said a second ago, if I can outta bio the people, the last ask people, the folks, I don’t wanna be in a room with ESP, whether it’s normal times I’ll call it or a contingency contingency situation are the folks that claim to know everything. Yeah. That’s when we all lose. Is that right? Outta bio?

Adebayo Adeleke (33:11):

Absolutely. Absolutely. I, I think that’s where it’s very dangerous. You know, I used to jump, I used to jump out of airplanes as a power trooper for many years. And every time I try to exit the bird, you know, I always there’s this sense of anxiety. There’s this sense of fear, but that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna step out of airplane. I will still step out of it. And that’s what I’ve done it for so many years. Every time I, that bird is, does the fail uncertainty or fear of a no, and that comes with it. So on one day, one of my last few jobs that I had, I was talking to this gentleman that I was done over hundred and something times. And I asking, I was like, cause I only did mine for about 60 something times I jump out of airplanes, like you’ve done it over a hundred times. You still get scared. He said, every time he said, the moment you are not scared, you should be worried. That is the beginning of trouble. And that is problem. Anytime somebody is not worried or believed that they’ve known it all. You just have to understand yourself from that, because that is, is you like sitting on a part of a gun, you sitting on a ke of gun powder. It’s about to happen

Scott Luton (34:17):

Out bio there’s so much truth there. And Jenny, I’m gonna come to you next, but really quick. Donna had a question, uh metaverse is what autobio was talking about with that particular situation. And that’s that’s, you know, been around for, I don’t know, a year or so now the metaverse is real estate being sold. The metaverse unfortunately there’s are some offenses being taken and, and, and conducted in the metaverse. Yes, but Donna, that was, uh, the word that he, uh, used, oh, egress was the other word egress egress. And, and so I was air force. I didn’t jump out of any planes outta bio. I was a lowly data analyst, but I remember my egress training in a couple different ways, but you know, if you’re exiting a, an airplane or if you’re you’re exiting a, um, a certain geographic territory or scenario, uh, egress is a word that’s often used is that, uh, it’s

Adebayo Adeleke (35:07):

Is your get out plan. It’s a get out, get out, get out the Dodge plan. So whatever plan you have going into a situation, you need to have your egress plan. Like if everything else goes to crap, how do I get out of it in the fastest way possible? And that’s the egres

Scott Luton (35:22):

Yes. Out outta bio. I can tell you’re an excellent teacher, which I already knew in our, in our earlier, uh, conversations. Cause you give these simple answers that anyone can get. And that’s a sound of an excellent, excellent teacher with plenty of experience. Okay, Jenny, we were just talking, I loved auto bio’s analogy. He used experience. He used, you know, if you’re jumping out of a plane and there’s not a little, little touch of anxiety, you better stop jumping outta planes. Jenny talk, uh, your thoughts there.

Jenny Froome (35:52):

Well, I was gonna say, you know, in a far more, not necessarily mundane, uh, example, but we have speakers who are the calmest most together, people in the world and 10 minutes before they’re due to go on stage it’s that whole adrenaline rush it’s that whole, which makes them better speakers. It makes them, it brings all the stuff they know to the front of their mind and all the north noise and everything to the back of their mind. So, you know, it is it’s, it’s like you say by it’s that whole thing about once you lose that adrenaline or you lose that, that commitment to succeed, that’s when that’s obviously when you fail.

Scott Luton (36:32):

Excellent, excellent point. Uh, SAAM is talking about how your get out plan, your egress, the same applies to supply chain, uh, on a variety of levels. I would agree with you and yeah. Chu, I agree with you as well. He is a GU I’ve seen this time and time again. Aw. I wish I had six hours. I wish I had six hours, uh, with you. Uh, we’re gonna have to, I’m gonna have to take one of your classes, but, uh, we enjoy your perspective here. Um, Jenny said, so ABI, what else? When it, when it came to that scenario in Japan, you know, the earthquake and the tsunami kind of, kind of going back to risk management, what else sticks out that really you saw manifest itself in that, uh, experience

Adebayo Adeleke (37:13):

Is just, uh, you know, the tsunami that happened over. So I, I was tuna me in Japan is one thing. And then I was there in Japan during the, the big tsunami that ravaged the, the art and everything. So it was just, uh, you know, you cannot really far form the, the, the consequences of such action. So you can only anticipate where the action would be, but the consequences you really cannot really gauge the impact. You know, talk about risk manager, talk about probability and consequences, right? And you can, you can envision the probability, but the consequences might be quite one. But, and I think what I’ve learned as well as a supply chain professional in dealing with those such kind of event is, you know, applying every knowledge possible. You know, oftentimes some of the knowledge that build or out of those kind of situation worrying necessarily supply chain centric knowledge is knowledge from psychology, from anthropology, from sociology.

Adebayo Adeleke (38:17):

And oftentimes when I tell, uh, junior of supply chain professionals coming up in this, that as a supply chain professional, you have to dabble into lot of knowledge space that are not particularly centric to supply chain, because you never know when this knowledge will come at play. How do you explain to certain people that this is convince them that this is what you’re trying to do. You need them as a stakeholder and you need a buy as a stakeholder and what you’re doing, trying to Eva them from the situation, or try to get supplies from them to be able to serve these folks. You have be able to convince them beyond reasonable that, that this is the ideal thing to do. And often time under it’s situation with high DRES, you know, so, and the, the knowledge and experience I’ve gained in supply chain did not, did not help me through is the other knowledge, uh, domain that I’ve have over the course of time that I came to my rescue over here. So that is why I always advise supply chain professionals necessary, you know, branch out, diversify your knowledge domain, your knowledge base, learn about intelligence, not about things that are not particularly centric to supply chain, because trust me, you get to use it one of these days, if you hang around and off, you know,

Scott Luton (39:29):

That that is million dollar advice, right there, million dollar advice outta buyer, because your supply, I chain touches everything. It certainly helps to even have just a, even if it’s a shallow level understanding of different things, uh, you you’re, you’re talking anthropology and some other things. I, um, we met someone that works with the escrow organization and he went to school and you, I think you and I talked about this. He went to school for classic art, but found himself years later in global supply chain. And he was talking about how his classical art training and appreciation helps with creativity and supply chain and beyond, and, and of course, building rapport with people. And that’s a really, really important thing. So folks branch out, as often as you can, Jenny, what, uh, your,

Jenny Froome (40:16):

I was just gonna say, you know, the folks who work in humanitarian logistics, which is effectively what, what ABI was, was working in, in most of the things that you, you do, because people, people are fundamentally affected by the breakdowns in supply chains or in infrastructure. Um, and, and like you were saying, you know, to, to know your culture to in the country that you’re working in to understand the way the governments work. There’s, there’s, there’s big asks for people who, who are really focusing on getting stuff from a to B it’s. So, so, so much more than that

Scott Luton (40:53):

Agreed so much more, and those are set land segments. If I remember my, my, uh, geometry training back in, in third grade, you know, line segments, cause there’s a, there’s a, an a and a B, it’s not a ongoing continuous line. I think I I’ll check with my third grader bio let’s, uh, while we’ve got you here while we’ve got you here, Jenny, I’m gonna talk about the awards in just a second. The Africa supply chain excellence awards, but, uh, at a bio, let’s talk about supply chain Africa, this venture that you’re leading. Tell us what, what, what is that all about?

Adebayo Adeleke (41:26):

Very thanks so much, Jenny, and for providing this platform yourself and Scott to speak about supply chain Africa, supply chain Africa is a digital platform that showcases the people, the culture and the business of Africa. I’ve, I’ve been on the sideline, looking at different processes across the continent about how supply chain is run across the board. As you know, I’m the Western guy, it’s the sun exported out of the land to the Western world, learn so work so much. And I came back to the land and I realized that we could do better, not necessarily following the Western world, the Western ideology and civilization has helped us as been the beacon of hope for the world at large. And we’ve seen it, you know, in the same light as we what’s going on in Ukraine and Russia at the moment between the two conflict, how the Western world is coming together, liberal democracy and whatnot.

Adebayo Adeleke (42:17):

But at the same time, Africa as a continent is very unique at the zone popularities and oftentimes these popularities have been ignored over the course of time. Africa has as Dean stage of adaptation and adaptation just absorbing all these French cultures, but the kind of neglected their own culture. We’ve been trading among other before colonization centuries, before we even have other people visited the continent, and that has helped outdoor house. It has helped us house enormously over the course of time. We’ve jet in those things, and we’ve embraced other cultures, but yet we’ve had difficulty kind of implementing these culture within, uh, within our societies. There is two facts about supply chain. It’s a science and it’s an art. Science is universal, is basic anyway, going the world. But the heart part of it is very regional. And I think that as being the ACC Hills for African, uh, supply chain to be, to be, to be Frank, and I think understanding the supply chain popularity has not been brought to light.

Adebayo Adeleke (43:17):

What has MI unique? What has MI special? We need to highlight it and need to embrace it, not to be shy away from it. It is what MI unique I thought was always the best thing to explain is brown boxes. I mean, I’ll call it brown boxes. Brown drops of ups and the colorful drops of FedEx. It’s a last mile for the Western world in America. And the motorcycles as a last mile might not be pretty. It might not be ideal in the Western world, but it works perfectly in Africa continent. And I think we need to embrace that. We need to embrace what is ours. And that is what supply chain Africa is all about. It’s about understanding our context across 55 countries country. What makes us unique and what make us different and what is a common, there’s also some kind of commonality on the continent and how we can use those commonality to solve our problems. And also for people that are coming to the continent to invest, to able to see different, the colorful part of Africa, because our culture is part of the way we do business. It’s part of our do economic it’s part of our do trade. And obviously it’s very, very entrenched in our supply chain and we’ve neglect that over the course of time. So I want, that’s what African supply chain is all about. I lighting those uniqueness and popularities

Scott Luton (44:37):

Okay. So Jenny, I’m not sure where there’s so much I wanna talk about with what he just shared. Yeah. I’m not sure where to start Jenny. What, what out of all of that, what’s, what’s the thing you’re most excited about or agree with or what have you

Jenny Froome (44:49):

I’m I’m just so excited. It that it’s another platform that’s, that’s showcasing, highlighting the, the brilliant that is on the continent. So often it’s all the negativity and to have something that’s positive, that’s actually going to educate people that Africa is not one country that’s going to highlight the nuances in, in different countries, but also also create that unity as well. I think it’s just, I think it’s so exciting. Um, and I think that if anyone can do it, you can do it.

Scott Luton (45:21):

Yes. Yeah. All right. One final. So one final question, and, and then I’m gonna circle back to Jenny, to you and the awards, but outta by, you’ve got a, a great event coming up next week with a friend of the show DC. Yes. Tell us what, what is that gonna be about? And, and where can folks go and, and plug into that.

Adebayo Adeleke (45:41):

So it’s gonna be live on, uh, on zoom and people can register the free event. Uh, but it’s also I to highlight, uh, women in supply chain and how the have been able to create their businesses and you know, how they’ll be able to champion different initiatives and teach other, you know, this it’s an international women’s day deal. And, uh, women across the world have been disenfranchised, been, you know, not been able to reach their full potential because of the world created by men. And, and I think you should be lighted, especially from supply chain Africa. We know the largest block of business owners in Africa, they are women. So in this particular case, we want every woman and people that are supporting women calls to common line to hear from DC and a couple of other folks, uh, who told me about low coming from Nigeria and jet as well, them people to come and just listen to their experience and have, they’ve been able to kind of traverse this crazy world of, uh, business.

Adebayo Adeleke (46:41):

And they’re also supply chain, uh, centric as well. So I think it would be a wonderful thing to celebrate women and celebrate, uh, uh, you know, business run by women as well. So next Tuesday, March, I mean, March eight, 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM central, where gonna live to log on with us, we’re gonna plug into LinkedIn as well, and everyone can actually do live or can just share experiences. DC is dynamic. She is, she’s like, I don’t even know how to describe her as well. She has raised last. I think she is over 17 million worth of revenue for small businesses for women, or it’s just, it just, I mean, it’s, it’s,

Scott Luton (47:21):

It’s remarkable. Yes.

Adebayo Adeleke (47:23):

It’s beyond remarkable itself. It’s beyond remarkable.

Scott Luton (47:26):

So I agree with you. I agree with you. We, we’ve been fortunate to interview, uh, DC around here and, and it sounds like you’ve got an outstanding, uh, show and event and learning opportunity and, and information exchange opportunity it to, for our team and by the way, the best production team into business, Amanda, Chantel and Catherine, thank you’all so much for navigating through the last hour of so, but Hey, if y’all can, uh, if you go venture over to ABIs LinkedIn profile, if y’all could grab that link for next Tuesday’s event and drop that into comments, so folks can, can register directly. That’d be wonderful. Uh, and temp says, DC’s my mentor looking forward to the event. How about that? Uh, looks like it could, it could check. Who’s gonna be there, LinkedIn, not sure who this is, but that’s the greatest way of Africa speaking about some of the things that you you’ve been, uh, referencing, uh, outta bio. Okay. So Jenny speaking of excellent events, excellent events. Let’s talk about the Africa supply chain. Excellent awards. And I think I’ve got this teed up here. So tell us what is, well, little snippet talk can take us a long ways. You know what I mean? Uh, tell us about the Africa supply chain excellence awards.

Jenny Froome (48:36):

Okay. With pleasure. But first of all, I just want to say at ABI, you know, how to pick the topics that have near and dear to my heart. So thank you for all you do in that regard. This is, this is one that kind of, you know, dovetails totally into what, what is being done with supply chain Africa, which is to showcase and highlight and applaud, um, supply chain management that’s of excellence on the continent. And that means everywhere all countries, anybody, and these, these things are not just about people who’ve managed to save money. It’s about any example of supply chain excellence that has made a difference to something, to a person, to a life, to a business. It’s gonna be a very varied selection. We’ve got some fantastic, uh, submissions already. It’s the first one that is hap that has happened. We’ve got nine D associations from across the continent, uh, involved. And the whole idea of it is that is four supply chain professionals and managed by supply chain professionals. So there’s no, there’s no kind of, you know, hidden money making machine. It is all about making, making awareness and applauding supply chain excellence.

Scott Luton (49:52):

I love that. I love that. And I think, uh, if we can drop that link in the comments as well, a S C E a.co dot Z, I’m throw it back up there really quick. That’s where you can learn more. You can nominate, you can get, you can support it, uh, attend you name it. Uh, I love the purpose

Adebayo Adeleke (50:11):

And Scott just caveat thing that I know we run out of time, supply chain, African excellence award, and SEP our partners with, uh, supply chain Africa. They’ve been gracious. And, uh, you know, we need to collaborate that collaboration to be able to put Africa, uh, a special African supply chain in this rightful place.

Jenny Froome (50:30):

It’s all about working together. It’s all about working together. Absolutely

Scott Luton (50:34):

Agreed you so much. Well, no, thank y’all. Thank I really. I mean, thank y’all for what you do, uh, because it takes action, heavy lifting, a lot of work to do these things that both of y’all are involved in it industry better. It connects people more effectively. It opens doors of opportunities for men, everybody, everybody, uh, and that is so important. You know, both of y’all are, you know, have done big things in your career. And now you’re, you’re spending time to extend that ladder to help people, uh, do, do similar things. So I really appreci shape what you both do. I’m also thrilled that all of the nominees for the African supply chain excellence awards will be nominees will be rolled over into the 20, 22 supply chain and procurement awards. Right. We wanna lift up everybody,

Jenny Froome (51:21):

You see my internal happy dance that’s going away. It’s so exciting.

Scott Luton (51:26):

Well, really quick. So let’s make sure folks know how to connect with both of you. But before we do, I wanna go back to a, a comment here. So SAAM says he has heart. Now you’re gonna take a lot of things away from the last hour or so about outta bio. You know, obviously he, he’s brilliant. He’s been there and done it. He jumped of planes for some reason, for a long time. But if you, you know, my favorite thing perhaps about autobi is the passion that he wears on his sleeve for making things better for all and, and the passion he has for supply chain and beyond. And autobi, she must know you well, because, oh,

Adebayo Adeleke (52:09):

I know. Oh, I know. I know. She’s, she’s a great friend. She’s a great friend and she’s also a risk supply chain, risk management as well. So yes.

Scott Luton (52:17):

Awesome. Well, really quick, looking forward to the event T square says this was a supply chain management student for life’s dream. How about that? Y’all inspiring a bunch of folks. Uh, Jacob’s looking forward to the event, a lot of good stuff there. All right. So let’s make sure folks know how to connect with both of y’all autobi to start with you. How can they connect with you and supply chain Africa?

Adebayo Adeleke (52:41):

So supply chain Africa, uh, for just followers on LinkedIn supply chain Africa, we are there, uh, for the most part, all info, uh, supply chain, africa.org. Uh, we are there and also you can follow me if you follow me on alibi, I delegate on LinkedIn. You know, you always find your way. I, I I’ll route you to the right, uh, to correction supply chain Africa we need. And as right now, our first addition meeting additions gonna be dropped, uh, end of this month, we are looking forward to it it’s know, be our first land break. And I mean, ack magazine. So we are looking forward to, I’m really excited about this. Folks are working these four Africans by Africans, and, uh, I’m quite excited about it. So, Jenny, thank you, Scott. Thank you. I really do appreciate now everyone out there supporting supply chain Africa, and also just whatever you’re doing in your, you know, look some crannies of your, of your respective location that are progressing the work of supply chain. I really do thank you from the bottom of my heart, because we doubt supply chain. We don’t know where we are. We we’ll be today, especially with the COVID backdrop and whatnot and craziness that is going on in the world. So every supply chain professionals out there. Thank you.

Scott Luton (53:49):

Uh, I can’t echo that enough, well said, uh, outta bio. I really appreciate you, you know, a lot of times the workforce, a lot of times as consumers as everyone is, and certainly the three of us we take for granted, you know, how easy we can get something delivered to our home or return from our home, or we can pick up that milk off the shelf or whatever it is. And man people make that happen. Even in today’s technological world. We live in so excellent call out there, a bio Jenny, uh, let’s make sure folks know how to connect with you and the awards and say picks. How can folks do that?

Jenny Froome (54:21):

Yep. Very easily LinkedIn, um, um, reasonably active on LinkedIn. I like Twitter, it suits my attention span better. And, and, and it’s fun too. So there are kind people on Twitter. It’s not all evil people. I agree. And it’s just Jenny free. Keep it simple. And SAEX is info SAP. What is that info? Summing saex.org. O

Scott Luton (54:46):

It’s just that easy folks.

Jenny Froome (54:48):

It’s only 25 years and I still can’t remember it.

Scott Luton (54:52):

Well, Hey, I really, I, I admire both of y’all. I’m so tickled outta bio about this next chapter with supply chain Africa and, and the impact you’re gonna have there. End up man, the passion that’s fueling it, Jenny, you know that we’re big fans of, you know, I chair the Atlanta area, Jenny fr fan club, try to say that three times fast. So we need more ABIs and Jenny’s in this world we live in. So thank you so much for what you do. Listeners folks in the cheap seats, uh, folks, maybe listen to the replay. Hey, hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as we have. I’ll tell you, we need, need more of this type of, uh, results focused, pay it forward. Focus, give forward focus leadership. I’ll be sure to find supply chain now, wherever you get your podcast, but do good give forward and be like out bio and Jenny be the change that’s needed on that note. We’ll see. Next time. Right back here on supply chain now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (55:50):

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 supply chain now.