Mike Griswold is the Vice President of Research at Gartner, specializing in retail with a particular focus on forecasting and replenishment. He is responsible for Gartner’s annual Top 25 Supply Chain ranking and joins Supply Chain Now on a monthly basis to discuss the latest in retail supply chains from an analyst’s perspective.

Much of the country is either back to school or headed there soon – but what about our supply chains? If they had to pack their backpacks and start the school year off on the right foot, what would they do?

In this episode, Mike takes global supply chains ‘back to school’ with co-hosts Greg White and Scott Luton:

• Official recession designation or not, the best defense is a good offense

• Employee retention is already critical for supply chains, but it will only become more so as human-centric digital automation is adopted

• Cash management and inventory management are absolutely essential – and supply chain leaders need to work with finance to get to the head of the class

Intro/Outro (00:03):

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

Scott Luton (00:33):

Hey, good morning, Scott, Luton and Greg White here with you on supply chain. Now, welcome to little

Greg White (00:37):

Late

Scott Luton (00:38):

Livestream, Greg. <laugh> how you doing? What’s going on? <laugh> just

Greg White (00:43):

Sliding in here a few minutes late here. A little late for lunch. You know, we were working hard this morning, Scott, so we didn’t hit the lunch hour right on time. Did we?

Scott Luton (00:53):

No, we didn’t. And, and you know, we’ve been doing some late breaking,

Greg White (00:56):

Busy

Scott Luton (00:56):

Working, innovating, adapting, overcoming you name it. There

Greg White (01:00):

We go.

Scott Luton (01:01):

Murphy’s law Marines

Greg White (01:02):

Would be proud.

Scott Luton (01:03):

<laugh> Murphy’s law is alive and well, and everybody’s trying to take our bandwidth these days, but nevertheless, we’ve got a solution cause we’ve got an incredible team here and today, Greg, are you ready for today’s show

Greg White (01:17):

Always,

Scott Luton (01:18):

Always one of our favorites.

Greg White (01:21):

Yeah. This is the show that makes the months seem really short, right? Because you go, oh, it’s time for that again. Yeah,

Scott Luton (01:27):

That’s right. That is right. So what Greg’s talking about is, uh, supply chain today and, and tomorrow with Mike Griswold with Gartner, one of our longest running series here, one of our most popular series. And I’ll tell you, Mike is a more consistent than, or bill Russell, the late bill Russell, which we’re gonna talk about in just a second. I was thinking baseball analogy with Austin Riley, who is hotly consistent for the Braves, one of the best third basemen and all of the game he’s lately here,

Greg White (01:56):

Especially in clutch situations. You love to see him come to the plate when miracle need to have in the ninth inning. Right?

Scott Luton (02:05):

You are so right. So today with all those analogies <laugh> used up, we got plenty more. We’re running with the back to school theme. We’re gonna be talking about if global supply chains were headed back for a brand new school year, right at this very moment, what would be new about their approach? Because Hey, here in Georgia, at least in Walton county, we’re already back in school August the second goodness gracious yesterday. But Greg, always a big show as we’re talking about when Mike Griswold stops by, huh?

Greg White (02:33):

Yeah. Um, you know, for anyone who doesn’t know, which shouldn’t be many people by now, Gartner is the premier analyst organization in the world and Mike is one of their premier analysts. So if you wanna talk about retail, supply chain, you know, any of the topics we’re gonna talk about today, Mike is a great go to an incredible analyst and former practitioner. So he knows of what he speaks.

Scott Luton (02:57):

You’re so right. You’re so right. As the immortal philosopher, MC hammer has said sound the bell, ah, school’s in suck him. So <laugh>

Greg White (03:08):

<laugh>

Scott Luton (03:10):

He said it just like that too. <laugh>

Greg White (03:13):

Love that

Scott Luton (03:15):

I had to hide that one from the running show. I didn’t wanna give you a sneak peek of that one, but so all right, folks, before Mike joins us, I hear momentarily one of our favorite conversations. I want to, uh, invite you to join us along August 10th. We just had a, um, a planning call yesterday with the wonder only James Malley, doing some great things at Packard. Uh, join us at 12 noon. As we talk about sustainability and profitability, the ripple effect of shipping less air Greg kind of an important thing, right?

Greg White (03:44):

We’re gonna try and fit everything that we can into this discussion about fitting everything that you can into a box, a truck, a trailer, a container, right? Yeah. I mean that’s what James and his crew do is, um, uh, is figure out how to utilize space. Most effectively the most expensive pro ship is air. Yep. Right? It’s worth nothing. And it still takes up space

Scott Luton (04:14):

August 10th, 12 noon Eastern time. Join us as free to, it’s free to join us, but you gotta, you gotta register for this webinar. So check out the link in the comments, uh, will said there, Greg. Okay. So Greg, before we bring Mike in, let’s say hello to a few folks. Yeah. We got some of our faves joining us from, uh, really across the globe. Starting Stacy is back with us evening from Zambia via LinkedIn. Stacy was bringing it, uh, was it, was it the buzz this past Monday or maybe last week that Stacy was with us? Do

Greg White (04:45):

You remember every time she’s on? Yeah.

Scott Luton (04:48):

<laugh> also so another model of consistency is what you’re saying. There also one of our faves Dr. Julio. Great to be back with you. I saw her comment on, uh, your post this morning, Greg.

Greg White (05:00):

Yeah. Always, always with the wise input, you know, I, I really appreciate that. Yeah. She really thinks about this stuff.

Scott Luton (05:08):

Well, it’s like, we always say we have got the sharpest smartest, most experienced audience in all of, uh, global supply chain. So thank y’all for being here. And we’re looking forward to your comments. Of course, our incredible team we talked about earlier, Katherine is with us here today. Thanks for what you do. Happy to have Mike back. I completely agree with you. Hey, I never get this gentleman’s name. Right. But, uh, he’s from Texas.

Greg White (05:32):

That’s good name.

Scott Luton (05:33):

<laugh> well, Hey yeah. Great to have you back with us, Evan Evans, uh, via LinkedIn, let us know where you’re tuned in from. Remind us somewhere in Texas, I believe. And, and also your first thing. So I get that right, but great to have you here first

Greg White (05:47):

And or last. I mean, I wonder if Evans is his last name?

Scott Luton (05:51):

Ah that’s yeah. That’s right. Uh, Sophia man, two, two streams in a row. Greg, we got, got Sophia with us. One of our faves.

Greg White (05:58):

Yeah, no kidding. Always out there making the news and making stuff happen.

Scott Luton (06:04):

That is right. Sophia. You know, one thing we haven’t check

Greg White (06:07):

Late at HP. Right? Is that right? HP?

Scott Luton (06:10):

Uh, let us

Greg White (06:11):

Check, check me on that. I think so making supply chain happen at HP.

Scott Luton (06:16):

<laugh> also Sophia. Listen to how your sister, your twin sister has been doing. It’s been a little while since we checked in on Andrea, I believe. Hey Dr. Rhonda’s back with us. Good morning to you via LinkedIn out in Arizona. Great to see you, Rhonda. Hey, Shelly. Phillips is back with us from Colorado. I think that’s Arizona’s neighbor is right Colorado. Okay. I failed the geographic, the geography test from time to time, Greg <laugh> clay is with us. Great to see here, diesel Joey’s with us. Joey, enjoy your comment yesterday. I think on the webinar you were talking about the Choco taco rest in piece. <laugh> so love your, your

Greg White (06:57):

Perspective. I don’t understand that. I, I, I mean, it’s funny when stuff gets handled and then every, it seems like everybody mourns for it. So what happened there? I don’t kinda like old Coke,

Scott Luton (07:09):

Right?

Greg White (07:10):

You weren’t alive then when that happened, but

Scott Luton (07:13):

Well you mean new Coke is, is dead and gone old Coke classic.

Greg White (07:18):

No. I mean, when they tried to kill old Coke and come up with new Coke. I gotcha. Yeah. That’s what I’m thinking about right.

Scott Luton (07:24):

Was up in arms.

Greg White (07:26):

Yeah. Everyone in arms. Right. And suddenly their sales exploded.

Scott Luton (07:30):

Gotcha. That’s

Greg White (07:31):

Right. Best mistake ever made by a major brand, right. Was to cancel their core product.

Scott Luton (07:38):

Right. Man. People were up at arms across the globe. You’re so right, Greg, but Joey, great to have you back from the great state of Minnesota, have we really have gotten a kick out of your comments and your sense of humor Sharon’s with us via LinkedIn. She says school starts early September in the UK and it’s never too early to plan. Well said, Sharon, uh, let us know what part of the UK you’re in. And Greg, you were right as always Byron Evans, Byron. So Byron’s

Greg White (08:05):

1. There we go.

Scott Luton (08:06):

He must be a fellow entrepreneur. So Byron, great to have you back from that’s right. Waco, Texas. I knew that I knew it was in Texas. So Byron, great to have you here today.

Greg White (08:15):

Um, there today.

Scott Luton (08:17):

Bet it is. So y’all keep it coming. Keep the comments coming. We’re gonna hit as many as we can here today. Wait a second Valentine. First time joining heard great things about you. Well, Valentine mm-hmm <affirmative> we appreciate that. Let us know where you’re tuned in from obviously via LinkedIn and, uh, great to have you today. All right. So, uh, are we ready to bring in, so folks today, as we try to, you know, innovate a little bit, problem, solve a bit, get around some of the bandwidth issues that are out there into greater market. We’re gonna have Mike GW with us in audio version only. So not full 4d. Like we normally have Mike with us, but he’s not gonna miss a beat. So <laugh> so yeah, no puppets either Greg, no puppets. That’s a good idea. Yeah, but with no further due, I wanna welcome him in Mike Griswold. He is vice president analyst with Gartner. Hey, Hey Mike, how you doing?

Mike Griswold (09:09):

Hey, I’m great. How’s everyone doing there?

Scott Luton (09:12):

I’m doing wonderful. And, and Greg, he sounds great.

Greg White (09:16):

Yeah, he does sound great. How do you look, Mike, I’ll tell you today.

Mike Griswold (09:20):

As I’ve told everyone, I am designed for VI for audio. I am not designed for video <laugh> and, and I’m thinking as, as you guys were, we’re going through the intro. What other place can people get an MC hammer reference and a Choco taco reference at the same time? <laugh>

Greg White (09:38):

Good point.

Mike Griswold (09:39):

That’s people tune in

Scott Luton (09:40):

<laugh> and Hey, good things come in threes. And that new Coke O old Coke. Ah, yes. Uh, quick story in, in two sentences from Greg. So all of that, plus Mike Griswold, who, uh, as we were talking earlier, your ears may have been burning. Mike, you always deliver, and we get a lot of feedback about each of these shows. So

Mike Griswold (10:00):

The two, the two sentences part on Greg, that was the remarkable part of that story. That it was only two sentences. <laugh>

Greg White (10:06):

Good point. Well, I know Mike, I know Albertson sold Coke obviously, but what about Choco tacos? Did you GU do you know, remember that? I don’t, if that was an area of your direct,

Mike Griswold (10:21):

Uh, yeah, no idea. No idea. <laugh>

Greg White (10:23):

Yeah. <laugh> just curious how that, how Albert’s, you know, how popular Cho tacos were in the north and Northwest,

Scott Luton (10:31):

You know, I’ve never had one and really I, if I’m being honest, I didn’t even know they were a thing until I saw the grieving over the, you know, the product coming to an end. So, uh, to your point, Greg, Hey, really quick, Andrea, you know, we were just talking about, uh, Sophia’s sister, missing your line. I’m okay. Could be better spend a sad week and it’s just, uh, Wednesday. Well, let us know. We’ll send good, good vibes, thoughts and sympathy is your way, but I hope you’re hope you’re doing well. And one heck of a, a profile shot, Andrea. So great to see you here, Sharon. We were talking about earlier Mike and Greg in the UK born mouth, and I probably said that wrong bsmith bsmith mm-hmm <affirmative> since 1986 home with a PC check diagnostic software. How about that

Greg White (11:16):

PC check? Okay.

Scott Luton (11:17):

And Gloria Mar cannot overcome the MC hammer quote I’m with you, uh, Gloria

Greg White (11:23):

Mar so, but she’s glad to be here to have heard it. I’m sure.

Scott Luton (11:26):

<laugh> all right. So let’s get some work done. We wanna start Mike. All right. As we always do kind of on just a, kind of a non-business question and comment, I wanna get extra you and Greg’s take here because as we all know on a serious note, bill Russell passed away early this week, gigantic athlete ti I mean, just a Titan early of the sports world of the business world of the societal movement world, you name it to pride of, uh, I believe Monroe, Louisiana, if I’ve got that right. And get both of y’alls take. Yeah. Uh, that’s right. Monroe. We say Monroe here in Georgia, but Monroe. Right. But wanna get your, you know, your, your thoughts on his life lived all of his accomplishments, his legacy, just kind of, what do you think folks will be remembering bill Russell by, you know, over the next few months, Mike?

Mike Griswold (12:14):

Yeah, I think it’s, there’s a couple things you summed it up. Well, Scott, I, I think there’s certainly the things that he accomplished on the court, which I think we, we have, you know, I, I think a tendency to have this recency bias in recency could be 20 years, but you know, mm-hmm, <affirmative> for a guy that won 11 championships. He has the most championships of anyone in any sport to, to not be in the discussions of the greatest player in his sport. I, I think is, is, is, is wrong. He has more, as we mentioned before the show, he has more championships than Jordan and, um, LeBron combined, he’s got, you know, I think as many as Jordan and Kobe combined, you know, he won 11 and, and in people, it, it was a long time ago, right. It was in the sixties and the seventies, it was with the Boston Celtics.

Mike Griswold (13:09):

And I think there is this misperception or misconception that, you know, because he was on a Celtics team that winning 11 is somehow diminished. Well, you know, no one diminishes Jordan six when he had Scotty Pippin and, you know, John Paxon and Steve Kerr and Dennis Rodman, you know, right. No one diminishes Kobe when he had Shaq. So the fact that he’s not in that conversation, I think is wrong off the court. You know, at the time when he was playing, you know, the, the, the social issues that he had to deal with, the social issues he got involved with, there’s a famous picture of, of him Jim brown and Muhammad Ali when Muhammad Ali, uh, had decided to, to not go to Vietnam. So he, he, he, I think was, was one of the, for runners of someone that was able and willing to bridge those tough discussions and that intersection with sports.

Mike Griswold (14:07):

Yeah. And, you know, I think it’s a shame that, and it’s not just him. We could go to Oscar Robertson, you could go to people like Jerry West, you could go to people like Rick Barry. Right. And I’m definitely dating myself now <laugh> <laugh>. But, but we, we tend to forget slash diminish the players that were, you know, great in their generation as, as being, you know, I irrelevant is probably too strong of a word. Right. But they don’t get the recognition that, that they probably should. And I’m sure someone that listens to this is like, oh, there’s Mike, you know, the, the get off my lawn guy. Well, no, it’s, I think if you appreciate a sport, you need to appreciate the history of the sport. Not just what has happened in the last, you know, 10 or 15 years.

Scott Luton (14:59):

So well said, uh, Mike and Greg, I’m coming to you next, but really quick couple comments. Byron says he is the greatest of all time. Cecil agrees with what Mike was, uh, sharing out there in Cecil. So great to have you here, diesel 11 championships, an NBA, two in college basketball with the San Francisco dons and two in high school,

Greg White (15:17):

What a powerhouse they were. Right.

Mike Griswold (15:20):

<laugh> well, and, and let’s not forget an Olympic medal, I believe that’s right. That’s right.

Scott Luton (15:23):

So he’s a winner. Yeah. He’s a winner. And, and you know what his leadership did not stop, uh, to your point, Mike, at the, you know, the court boundaries, uh, so to speak. All right. So Greg weigh in on bill Russell.

Greg White (15:36):

Yeah. I don’t know what more I could say, unless you pour a cold beer down me and we start talking about the greatest players in the NBA, cuz I have an incredibly long diatribe about why bill Russell is the greatest. It includes everything that Mike said along with all of the social impact that he had. And he did so gracefully on and off the court and just a force. I mean, just watch the old videos of him tapes <laugh> of him play and he absolutely dominated the sport. And, and it was not as if there weren’t other great players as you, you know, as, as Mike was talked about in the league at the time. So I, I would argue, I would argue to the argument, uh, of, yeah, but he was on the Celtics is he made the Celtics who they were. Yeah. Right. There were a lot of players through those 11 championships that were on and off that team during that time. But bill Russell was the constant.

Mike Griswold (16:34):

We’ll see. Yeah. Greg, Greg, the other thing I would add to that, you make a great point. And then I, I know we wanna get onto business business Scott, but if you look at, at some of the other names that are up there, there, there did not tend to be a lot of overlap, meaning playing against each other for significant periods of time. You know, Jordan didn’t play against Kobe a whole lot. Jordan never played against LeBron, LeBron and Kobe had limited overlap. Bill Russell went head to head for a number of years with will Chamberlain, arguably mm-hmm, <affirmative> one of the best players to ever play in the NBA. And he went head to head against him, had a, had a, a better record against him. Obviously basketball’s not an individual sport, but if you look at someone who competed against some of the best people in their prime, it’s hard to find a better example than bill Russell.

Scott Luton (17:24):

Yeah. Well said,

Greg White (17:25):

Unquestionably,

Scott Luton (17:26):

Uh, and you’re speaking of wilt, by the way, in case you didn’t know they were best friends, they had a fallen out. They didn’t speak for 20 years, but they made, they reconciled, you know, 10 years, 15 years ago and were really good friends. That’s, that’s a, that’s a good thing. Especially when you know, the news comes up that, uh, bill brussel passed away. So Hey, couple quick comments here, Sophia, she’s already got one of your t-shirt isms, a power quote, as she calls it. Mike quote, appreciate the history of the sport. Not just what’s happening now in quote, as you said, Byron says not the now, but I treasure the history of the sport and the multiple people that made an impact on sports. That’s right. Byron, I love how the game has evolved. And clay says, uh, could have been a comedian in another life as well. Talking about bill Russell always stole the show at awards and in documentaries. And Cecil says as Kareem AUL, Jabbar is someone who has been forgotten for all his contributions.

Mike Griswold (18:17):

That’s a great point as well.

Scott Luton (18:19):

Yeah. All right. Well, I tell you, uh, we’ve gotta tee up our sports show again. I love all the comments. Uh, Mike and Greg, both y’all I love what y’all shared about the one only bill Russell. So, uh, best wishes that he and his family. One quick comment, and then we’re gonna get into the main topic for today. Let’s see, Andrea answered our question. I guess she was called up in what’s going on at Oracle. So Hey, we’ve all been there, Andrea, if there’s anything we can do to help wanna definitely help you connect and, and uh, network, but uh, hang in there and I’m sure your next opportunity is just around the corner. So all the very best. Okay. So again, we got Mike Griswold, the one only with Gartner here in audio fashion only. So if you hear that voice, it’s not me, Greg. What’s the term

Mike Griswold (19:05):

Quis.

Scott Luton (19:05):

Yes. We’re not <laugh> we have it really dialed in our ability <laugh> to vent wise. I, I don’t know. Anyway, that is Mike Griswold, our dear and, uh, monthly guests. So central question, uh, question today, Greg and Mike, uh, again, Luton kids are already back in school. They went back to school Tuesday, and a lot of the states, you know, back to school is not for a couple weeks, but Hey, it is what it is. So the question I’m gonna start with you, Mike and Greg, I’m gonna get your take here too. If global supply chains were headed back to school this week, new school year, right? New school year, what would be new about their approach? You know, what maybe, uh, different questions, uh, but related is, uh, what mistakes from the previous school year might they still be thinking about and not make that mistake again? So, Mike, what do you think working with our analogy here? What are global supply chains doing differently?

Mike Griswold (19:57):

I think there there’s three things. If we get to all three of them. Great. If not, that’s fine too. I, I think the, the three things, as I was thinking about this question, Scott is the one, one of them is a recession. And, you know, we can debate whether or not we wanna call it that we can debate whether or not, you know, people think we’re gonna, we’re gonna have one by definition. We are in one or heading towards one. So thinking about, you know, as we go back to school in the era of a recession, what does that mean? That’s one mm-hmm <affirmative> I think the other two I’d wanna touch on our topics that we, we spent a fair amount of time talking about here. Anyway, one is talent and the other one is metrics. Yep. So let me start maybe with the recession one and let people react to that.

Mike Griswold (20:40):

We we’ve done a ton of research across broader Gartner. We’ve just introduced a supply chain kind of playbook around the recession. Cause for us we’re, we’re not gonna worry about people debating the topic. We’re gonna say, you know, you need to think about when this happens, what are you gonna do? And there were a couple of, of kinda aha fo aha moments for me. One is the fact that we are encouraging people to play offense and be on offense during a recession. Don’t wait and let things happen to you, go out and, and do things within your supply chain to position yourself. You know, when, when this happens, another thing that we see is it is about having, you know, a level head and not doing major or trying to do major course corrections. You know, our feeling is, you know, if someone goes in and starts doing over corrections, that’s gonna potentially cause challenges for your supply chain.

Mike Griswold (21:40):

And the last thing is we talk about this idea of one plus four scenarios to think about within your supply chain planning. One of those scenarios in that one plus four. So I guess, I guess we didn’t wanna say five, right? So we called it one, one plus four. One of them is, okay, there’s gonna be no recession. I mean, that, that is a legitimate scenario for us though. The other four seem more likely in terms of how you might wanna plan and, and they they’re, they’re in two buckets, there’s a demand driven bucket where we say there’s either gonna be a slow recovery or a fast recovery, or it’s a bucket around supply constraints. And again, it’s either a slow recovery or a fast recovery. So my advice to folks, if we stay going in the back to school, um, theme is, you’re thinking about going back to school, you need to be thinking about in our word, in our view, one of these four scenarios.

Mike Griswold (22:38):

Hmm. And how is your supply chain gonna react within each potentially within each of those four scenarios and for your particular supply chain, which of these scenarios do you see more likely? Are you gonna feel a demand pinch or sorry, a demand surge say in a fast recovery, what would you do around that? And if I go maybe to the other end of the spectrum, if you feel like you’re in a supply constrained environment and we’re gonna have a slow recovery, what does that mean to you as well? But to me fundamentally tackling this idea of a recession head on to me is, is lesson number one as we go back to

Scott Luton (23:18):

School. Yep. Okay. So Greg, I’m gonna get you to comment in just a second. I wanna share a couple early, quick Mohamed. Great to have you here via LinkedIn. Welcome. Welcome. Let us know where you’re tuned in from. So from France. Oh, sure. Newton. Great to have you, uh, looking forward to your perspective here today, by the way it is Dr. Rhonda’s birthday. I believe what? Oh

Mike Griswold (23:37):

Yes. Happy birthday.

Scott Luton (23:39):

Happy birthday from the whole game one. <laugh> that’s right. That is is right. And then also you’ve already got some points. So Mike’s a big fan. What you’re already saying, Mike being proactive, not reactive. And Dave. Great to see you here. Be at LinkedIn, let us know where you’re tuned in from. Okay. So if I’m keeping score, Greg, at a high level, Mike was sharing, you know, three point plan, play offense more about small adjustments, rather than trying to, to turn to whole ship. And that one plus four scenarios. Cause obviously there’s a Brett far fan at Gartner and whoever, I don’t know who was number five. I don’t know who led to number five anyway. So Greg, your comments on those three things.

Greg White (24:19):

Yeah, I think I go above supply chain and then I’m gonna back into how supply chains need make cash, hoard, cash, create cash, whatever. Right? Okay. Cash, cash, cash, cash, cash. And then there’s cash. <laugh> look comp in, in a draw down a slow down a recession, whatever you wanna it, you have to have cash two, one, well, not just for two reasons, but what is, if you want to go offensive, it takes cash to do that. For instance, what happens is a lot of the weak companies with good products struggle and they get gobbled up by strong companies, right? Who have cash in a recession. There’s a lot of opportunity created in a recession. And there’s a lot of, of struggle created in a recession and cash solves both of those, you know, money doesn’t buy you happiness, but it will buy you out of a lot of sadness. Let’s vote that

Scott Luton (25:16):

Way.

Greg White (25:16):

<laugh> so, uh, so I think to the way that that goes to supply chain drives right back into what Mike was talking about. You have to get really efficient with how you manage your inventory, how you balance demand, supply inventories in, within your supply chain. And to do that, you have to have a really very clear transparency and ability into your own supply chain. And a lot of those dynamics for GS that talked about that can impact that. I’m a big fan of, I wouldn’t worry about what causes an outcome that hinders your company, focus on the hindrance and what you would do for it. And then watch for those causes like Mike is talking about that, that start to indicate a demand slow down or supply slow down, or a shift in demand shifts are really dangerous because you, you have all this inventory like lawn, like, uh, patio furniture, which by the way, if you haven’t realized that it’s on sale, it is on sale everywhere.

Greg White (26:21):

<laugh> and big discounts because everyone was wrong, right? Target Walmart Kohl’s predominantly announced how wrong they were on that. But they also had money invested that they could have invested in things that were moving. Yep. And that’s why the cap becomes important is for every mistake to offset in terms of over investing in some that’s kept, you had to either put towards the business to continue operating or to put to what is selling, as Mike said, yep. Some things will increase in demand in the supply chain. So that balance really becomes very, very important buying on shorter time. Horizons is also very, very critical, right? Don’t I mean, if you can avoid it and it’s, this is a very delicate situation right now, but don’t buy something with a six month lead time that has a, a two month lifespan, like patio furniture in, in big speculative quantities.

Greg White (27:16):

Right? You, you need to really think through and model what your risk is there in terms of that, because you are stuck with it. When, you know, when it happens, if you have to buy it six months before the season or the uplift or the trend, whatever, and you miss you can be released with it. Some Mike and I thankfully avoided in large part because of the industries we were in, but it’s huge in fashion and in highly seasonal retail. And that’s, who’s gonna get caught on the back foot, by the way, is the retailers.

Scott Luton (27:49):

Okay. So appreciate what you and Mike have already shared a lot. We’re gonna have to deconstruct some of this. I wanna share a couple quick comments and then we’ll get Mike’s reaction. Shelly, uh, cash is king and Greg started that and pounded that on the front end of his response. Uh, David, great to see ya from Tampa bay. I appreciate that. Hopefully, uh, things are going well there. I think your baseball team is doing pretty good. Byron’s talking about being creative and generating revenue. That’s right. We heard, you know, uh, Greg yesterday from the webinar free your mind, right. Was a big theme, right? Not being so tied to the norms and current assumptions, you know, being creative in a meaningful way. Byron, uh, Michael says creative,

Greg White (28:28):

But careful

Scott Luton (28:29):

Creative, but careful that’s a great comment.

Greg White (28:30):

Sometimes risky creativity in a time when it’s hard to recover can be really, really dangerous. But yes, and I know that’s what Byron means by the way. Right? I just wanna make sure everybody takes that in the spirit, in which it’s intended.

Scott Luton (28:45):

Mike aver says, uh, Yahoo finance had a good article, laid out how private equity companies have been buying public companies at record speed over the last quarter. We’ll have to check that out. Sied welcome. In from Morocco, uh, via LinkedIn, we were just inter interviewing a supply chain leader yesterday from Morocco and talk about culture and culinary stuff, all kind of stuff. Uh, Cecil says mitigate risk in supply and demand risk. Of course, risk mitigation, risk management continues to be king queen you name it. And finally, Dr. Ronda says money certainly helps us feel a little more secure during different struggles outside of our control, liking your fiscally, uh, mindful thinking, Greg. Okay. So Mike, um, I’m not capturing everything Greg said, cuz I couldn’t write fast enough, but cash, cash, cash being efficient cash. Right? Ma maximizing efficiency in your operations and then looking for those signals, right. Those shifts. So you can get out ahead, but Mike, your response to those and anything else that you heard Greg say?

Mike Griswold (29:44):

Yeah, I think as usual Greg is spot on. I think the, the challenge we’re gonna have is, you know, it’s kinda like when you have kids and they get to a certain age and it’s time to have the conversation, right. Is mom gonna do it? Is dad gonna do it when we get into the recession discussion? Right. I think a lot of people will defer to finance because they think it is a, a, a financial topic. My advice to people is, is the supply chain needs to insert themselves in that conversation whether you want to or not, because there are ramifications all of which Greg highlighted very well. There are decisions that are non-finance decisions that the supply chain can influence and, or has a direct impact on. So I encourage supply chain. And I think during COVID one of the things that came out of it that helped the supply chain is our status was elevated in the organization.

Mike Griswold (30:42):

We were moved from the little kids’ table at Thanksgiving to, Hey, you know, in some instances at the head of the table making the toasts. Sure. I think we need to translate that currency into our, into this recession discussion. We’ve earned the right to have that discussion with finance and, and other parts of the business. Because I don’t think Greg, to your point, if we leave this in the hands of finance cash is good. Right. And I don’t disagree with that, but the other, the other C word that comes up is cost. And we don’t wanna have a myopic focus on cost that can happen when only finance is having these discussions.

Greg White (31:23):

Mm. Yeah. And then this will Beary period, right? Where the, where the economy will go backwards, but prices will remain high in a lot of cases because monetary policy we’ve already seen isn’t impacting the inflation rate yet. Right. Because the inflation rate is so far up, I mean, inflation has caused so far up the supply chain that monetary policy, which impacts consumers hasn’t yet impacted the supplies of, of products yet. So, and there’s so much disruption in the supply chain that those costs will be hidden for, for quite some time. Right. Yep. Agreed. Um, I, I think one, one of the things we have to really guard against Scott is, is not, is people being responding the way they always have right. Which is to tighten their belt. And when that happens, investment in creativity, right? Like Byron was talking about in technology, in supply chain, other than cost saving, meaning creating efficiency, which often takes process change or, or technology, um, or training for, for human capital for people, those things tend to get tightened right out of the budget. And that’s, I, I think Mike, that’s probably some of the underlying things that you’re not addressing specifically, but are the risk when finance leads an initiative, right. Uh, during a period like this agree completely.

Scott Luton (32:56):

So I’ve got 1236. We wanna protect Greg and Mike’s time. Everybody’s time here. And thanks for everybody for bearing with us again, uh, tuned in audibly, we’ve got Mike Griswold with Gartner, our regular monthly guest that joins us the first Wednesday of each month, one of our longest running series. So, so let’s, uh, let’s do this. I wanna go back to an earlier point. Both of you are making Dr. Julio acting with caution is crucial. Both of y’all have really made that point as one of, uh, uh, Mike’s first three, you know, making those small adjustments during these crazy times, rather than trying to, to turn a ship and, and over correct. Mike aver says my corporate finance professor always told us when times get tight, the ropes gets short. The rope gets shorter. Meaning control is brought closer to management as times. Got tougher.

Scott Luton (33:41):

Yeah. Excellent point there. Sophia says supply chain cannot be separated from finance anymore to Mike’s point and Greg’s point, we need to be bilingual and start leading conversations in action and, and action with strong money slash number oriented foundations. Sophia. I think that’s not only is that well said. I think that’s gonna be a, a major theme in global supply chain, uh, new muscles that we’re gonna be working as practitioners. These, uh, there’s gonna be a lot more financial intellect than global supply chain practitioner dump. So a great point there, Sophia. Okay. I’ve got to that’s stage

Greg White (34:15):

Advice throughout the company. Few people outside the finance department, do what Mike talked about handed at the finance. They don’t know Jack about finance, and I think we need to have a better bridge in education or post education or corporate training to take people like me who can barely do math. And that’s true and enable them to under it is true. I can barely do math and, and enable them to understand enough about finance yeah. To speak intelligently and to counter or to enable better discussion.

Scott Luton (34:53):

But if you want to, if you wanna degree measured, Greg’s great with a pro tractor. And if you want to identify different triangles as being equilateral or other Greg Greg twos. All right. So I’ve gotta move us forward for the sake of our conversation here. I’ll tell you we could go down and rabbit at why

Greg White (35:13):

Dont. I think Scott has so to go.

Scott Luton (35:16):

Right?

Greg White (35:18):

Think he’s protecting his time,

Scott Luton (35:21):

You know it all right. So, so Mike, I want to ask you about something that caught my eye, uh, on social earlier this week, and that is this 2022 Gartner global labor market survey. There’s a lot of great information. I was reading blog article put out by your colleagues. They, as I was trying to dive a little deeper because you know, talent as we’ve leaned on, you know yeah. Throughout time. But especially these last couple years, leaning on the workforce, leaning on the team, these incredible individuals that make up global industry. And, and then of course finding ways to protect them, finding, finding ways to engage ’em and develop. ’em give them opportunities to develop and, and move on up and move into different, you know, functional areas, new opportunities. But what’s been a couple of key takeaways from this labor market survey that your colleagues put together from your, your side.

Mike Griswold (36:06):

Yeah. I, I think there’s a couple things, Scott. I, I think one is just a continued reinforcement that, that there is still some turbulence in the market. There are still people, you know, willing to move around and you know, what we talk about in terms of this employee value proposition, you know, why stay right versus why am I leaving? Right. And as an organization, how do you put emphasis on answering the question? Why do people stay? Or why would someone want to stay? I think that we don’t spend enough time. I don’t think as supply chain organizations asking ourselves that question and what are we doing to, to give people lots of reasons to say, well, this is why I’m staying right. I’ve got a flexible work. I’ve got, you know, day to day challenges that are, that are testing me, but testing me in a good way, whatever it might be.

Mike Griswold (37:01):

I think the other observation I would make, and, and I had, I’ve had a couple of calls that I, that I’ll characterize as interesting, you know, as we talked about a couple months ago and, and we talked about the supply chain top 25, and this idea, those four macro trends, human-centric digital automation was one of those four macro trends and deep within that is this idea of the employee value proposition. And I’ve walked a couple companies through that. And a couple people have said to me, Hey Mike, you know, I, I, I hear what you’re saying, but you know, there’s a recession coming. There’s high inflation are people really gonna think about leaving the job they have today to go to a different job. And my answer to that was that’s a great point, but can you take that risk if someone is crucial to your organization and they, and they decide that they’re gonna up and leave and, and they’re gonna decide to take a risk, what risk does that put on your organization?

Mike Griswold (37:58):

So, so my answer was, yes, I think that’s a fair point. I think you might see less of that, but it doesn’t matter if it’s a high, if it’s a high magnitude person in your organization and they decide to go look for greener pastures, you, you are left in a bind. So I think it’s, it’s, it’s a recognizing that while the number of people, you know, may not continue this search for, for another opportunity, the ones that are highly valuable and highly marketable, they will continue to do that. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And that just brings me back to why the, why people stay conversation. Cuz I think we’re gonna continue to see that churn in the market. I think it’s our responsibility to, to have that compelling answer about why people are staying with us. That’s that was one of my big takeaways. Scott,

Scott Luton (38:48):

Mike, hallelujah. Uh I’m with you, uh, you know, one of the several lines, I think Greg, uh, again, kind of a different version of what I just shared a minute ago, the last couple years, you know, I think, uh, workforces before the pandemic were even more taken for granted, you know, what folks did, uh, to make organizations do what they do to serve the consumer, you name it just to make the world move forward. And I think one of the server lining we’ve talked about time and to again, which what Mike just shared reminds me yet again, is that I think to some degree leaders were smacked across the face, you know, and, and in many cases and Hey man, this isn’t just a, a machine and these people show up every day to deliver. We gotta, we gotta lean into ’em and, and, and answer that employee value proposition that Mike was just talking about. But Greg, your thoughts.

Greg White (39:40):

Yeah. I’ve been blessed to never work in an environment that you described Scott. So I really can’t relate, but I can see where a lot of people do you hear, you see a lot about it on the internet of, I can’t even imagine what the work environment might be like. Uh, and on the other, you know, I guess another point is hubris to say, where are they gonna go? Why would they leave us? Well, why would they is equally the question, right? I mean, millions and millions of people left the workforce permanently, almost 4 million people left the workforce permanently just last year, right? People with a lot of tenure and a lot of expertise. And, and they left just like that and retired, which raises a whole nother point, which we may or may not get to. But, but what makes you better than the alternative?

Greg White (40:29):

It’s just switching cost. The switching cost of going to somewhere else what’s to say that that’s somewhere else, isn’t more stable, right. Less risk even where you are. And that’s the evaluation. One of the evaluations that people are making, not just how they’re treated, but how stable is your company compared to the one that I might go to? How likely are you to weather this storm versus other companies out there? So I, I mean, I think there’s a lot to think about here, including Scott I’ll do it quick, including I wonder if as the economy goes down and that most of the, of the 4 million people who left the workforce last year were baby boomers, nearing retirement age as their retirement kitty goes down, which it has all year, this year <laugh> might they think about returning to the marketplace and think about the dynamic that, that brings someone coming with 10 or 20 years of experience, right. Versus someone who’s relatively new in the job and basically starting it over. I mean, the dynamics of this could be really, really complex. So

Scott Luton (41:33):

Agreed.

Greg White (41:34):

I, I think you had to with candidates, employees and employers have to think about this really carefully and not in, in such a simple way as where else would they go

Scott Luton (41:45):

That’s right. Right. Well, we have got some real golden nuggets in the sky box comments here and make Jack Binion, uh, jealous here today. And I wanna start with, uh, Cecil who totally grew to Mike when it comes to employee retention. David says I was, I was the whole procurement department for nine years for a major hospital. I got tired of working alone with no support had to leave two years ago. I can’t imagine David. I bet you could write a story on nine years in that kind of situation

Greg White (42:13):

Probably make more be made during that nine years too.

Scott Luton (42:16):

That’s right. So David, I’d love to sell

Greg White (42:18):

It on YouTube.

Scott Luton (42:19):

<laugh> uh, Sophia says the why behind people who stay is crucial to understand what needs to be done to continue their time at the company and how can employers ensure their value in the company that’s poetic Sophia. And then finally,

Greg White (42:37):

That’s the voice of recent experience. I bet

Scott Luton (42:40):

Isn’t it though. Isn’t it? Byron says I was in the medical field 13 years and two days after my work Ann anniversary, they came in and terminated me and eight others. I was so thankful to have been building my company. I’m not going back valuable lesson learned. I lead the company in numbers in all areas. See, I lead the company

Greg White (43:00):

For five years.

Scott Luton (43:01):

Yes. Okay. Well, Hey Byron, congrats, uh, as a, a fellow entrepreneur and founder more power to you and, uh, we look forward to getting some updates from you. Okay. Mike coming around the back stretch. I love man. One of my favorite topics to talk about is the workforce and people and the people of industry. So I appreciate you and Greg’s perspective there. You know, as you know, Mike, we were down in Orlando for, uh, supply chain symposium had a great time down there, uh, connected with some folks that we’ve only had only had known digital, you know, for too long. And we’re able to break bread, had a really good time. What’s one of the next big events for Gartner Mike.

Mike Griswold (43:39):

Yeah. So appreciate that Scott, the, the Orlando event, you know, set a record in attendance and we had set a record in 2019 at Phoenix. The feedback we received, uh, has been really, really positive, I think partly because people were just clamoring for in-person events, but for us, the next big one is September. I think it’s the 27th, 28th and 29th. We’re in London for our European event. It’s already sold out. So I, I hate to bring it up and get people excited, but the venue only holds a thousand people and we’re at a thousand, we we’ve sold. You’ll appreciate this. Great. We’ve sold out the sponsorships. So again, I think it’s there, there’s a clamoring for, for in person events. We’re really excited about that. And then we’re, we’re already starting to think about 20, 24 where we’ll be in Orlando and then the European event will go back to its original home, which is in Barcelona, but the September event, the other thing I’ll I’ll tease people with is in 2024, we’re also gonna launch two planning summits. So we have the big supply chain conference, the symposium, which is geared towards chief supply chain officers. The summits are D are directed towards their direct reports. So this planning one will be for people that run planning organizations, as well as people that do demand planning as an example, we’re gonna do one in Phoenix and one in London. So we’re really excited about our opportunity to get back together with people in person starting with this event in September,

Scott Luton (45:13):

Man. Let’s let’s do it, Greg. Yeah. We need to get, uh, hook up with Mike and make some, uh, some drop ins on these, these events. Yes. Can you imagine Greg and Mike, can you imagine the planning that goes on for a planning conference?

Mike Griswold (45:27):

Yes.

Scott Luton (45:28):

All right, Greg, what’d you hear

Greg White (45:30):

Image that comes immediately to mind is, or the question that comes immediately to mind is where Mike, will you be taking, which golf course will you be taking Tom en writes money?

Mike Griswold (45:40):

Uh, well, that, that, that remains to be seen, uh, I think for next year, Greg, we’ll have to wait and see on that. Ah,

Greg White (45:45):

Okay. Okay. So there’s no golf course attached to where you’re having the event in, in London. Okay.

Mike Griswold (45:51):

Yeah. No, there is not so that, so that’s, that’s the downside and it’s, it’s actually out for people familiar with, with the London area it’s out at the oh two. So it’s, it’s not even, I mean, it’s, it’s London, I’m putting that in air quotes. Right. Because it’s, it’s a ways for London.

Scott Luton (46:08):

Gotcha. Yeah.

Greg White (46:10):

Gotcha. Yeah.

Scott Luton (46:11):

Well, I appreciate the sneak peak of coming events. Uh, again, Gartner, uh, does such a great job, not only with other aspects of business, but those events are just topnotch. We were reminded of that just a couple months ago, couple quick comments. And then we’re gonna make sure folks know how to connect with Mike. Dr. Ronda says work means different things to different people, having a more humanistic understanding about work and how it’s evolved in purpose, meaning values and social connection. The and social connection needs of a modern society is important to continue to discuss from a diversity and inclusion perspective. Lip service does not work anymore. That is right. Thes not words. That that was very nice to put, uh, Rhonda Glomar. I think the companies need to focus more on hiring than retaining Glomar. I believe I’m not putting think this is public, but she is a veteran.

Scott Luton (47:01):

She’s got tons of experience in the, in the supplier development space. And I think she’s kinda looking at, uh, what’s next. I believe, hopefully I’ve got that right. We enjoyed you a part of our veterans in logistics events, uh, event of gore Mar last week. Now David back to David, Mike and Greg David is, is who put up with being the one person procurement team. He says I’m back on the market since pay is much better now. And the culture has improved David that’s great news. Good. That is great news. And then, then finally, Sophia’s responding to Glomar. Most companies have made it clear that employees are replaceable, but now employees have realized that other and better opportunities are out there. And that moving towards them is an option too nicely put Sophia. All right. I told y’all we had a ton of golden nuggets and the comments here today. I love it. All right. So Mike Griswold always a treat, uh, next month, we’ll get you back in full 40 5g or whatever the latest technology is leading on virtual reality, maybe, but let’s make, let’s make sure folks inverses metaverse that’s right. Mike Griswold, new new metaverse. So let’s make sure folks know to connect with you, Mike. And of course all the cool things Gartner’s up to how, how can folks do that

Mike Griswold (48:14):

LinkedIn, for sure. Just send me an email. Mike do griswold@gartner.com. gartner.com has a bunch of stuff, both. Uh, obviously we spend all of our time on the supply chain, cuz it’s most important, but also there’s a little business we have on the it side. So if you have some it support help, you need that’s the place to go. It’s interesting. I, I, my wife and I are going to Scotland in a week and a half, so maybe I can share a little bit of my, uh, Scottish trip when we get together in September

Scott Luton (48:40):

Outstanding.

Greg White (48:41):

Take pictures or didn’t happen.

Scott Luton (48:43):

That’s really Greg <laugh>.

Mike Griswold (48:45):

Yes, yes.

Scott Luton (48:46):

One, one last comment before we let you go, Mike, uh, we had an opportunity to interview, uh, students at Western Michigan university, which is one of those on the Gartner top 25 supply chain schools. Excellent. And they were folks, I think you could have dropped them in an executive office that that’s global supply chains and they wouldn’t miss a beat. I mean, they were remarkable, be bright. So we appreciate that information you put out there cause it helps people connect and, and create great content. Uh, as we are developing a leadership pipeline into, uh, the industry to makes, uh, the world happen. So Mike Griswold with Gartner, thanks so much for your time today. And we look for, have a safe trip and we’ll see you next, uh, month, September. It’s hard to say.

Mike Griswold (49:27):

Sounds good. Looking forward to it. Take care everyone.

Scott Luton (49:29):

Thanks

Greg White (49:30):

Mike. Take care, Mike. Bye. Thanks.

Scott Luton (49:32):

All right, Greg, it sounds like Mike’s got a big trip lined up, man. I’m I’d be excited.

Greg White (49:37):

Yeah. Well Scotland is beautiful. Just grass everywhere. I mean, and yet it’s beautiful. So, and also he’s, he and his wife are both quite the golfers, so you can bet there will be wee bit of golf play

Scott Luton (49:51):

<laugh> oh, I bet I wonder who wins those matches.

Greg White (49:57):

Yeah, I don’t. I think he told us once and I can’t remember. She’s pretty good. Really? I, I know that.

Scott Luton (50:03):

So, all right. So Catherine in our team chat said I was, I was hoping someone was gonna do an accent and Greg, you just, uh, you just delivered. So thank you very much. Uh, Han hardly welcome in from Egypt via LinkedIn. You’re kind of catching us on the tail end of today’s live stream, but would love for you to be a part of these. Typically we go live about 12 noon Eastern time, and of course we welcome in comments from around the world. So hope, hope this finds you well and great to have you here, Julio. Great to have you here. Yeah. Mike always brings it. Yep. Thank you. Uh, we’re grateful for what he shares here each and every time Dr. Rhonda said always enjoy hearing and seeing, uh, Mike we’ll have that 40 back next month for sure. Uh Glomar is confirming. So she’s looking for the next opportunity. Folks connect with network Glomar you know, as we all know, Greg, it’s about, you know, building that connection, um, yeah. That network, you know, so you can get market Intel, uh, you can get inside tips, you know, maybe even get a conversation you might couldn’t get without the network. And it also, Greg is what’s the, um, it’s not who you know, but who knows you if I’m that’s right. If that’s a Greg white ism, right?

Greg White (51:12):

Yeah. Who knows you? A lot of people know Scott Luton, if Scott Newton knows you, it’s a lot more likely he can do something to help you. <laugh>

Scott Luton (51:20):

Who’s a Scott Newton guy. I wonder if I, he he’s a evil twin.

Greg White (51:25):

Scott w <laugh> looting

Scott Luton (51:28):

Boutique. That’s right. Oh, that was a long day in Vegas. Wasn’t it? And Sophia, uh, you know, the supply chain now summit, you never know we’re you, you know, there’s a lot of planning we’re doing here as well. And I know you were part of kidding with this question, but you know, with these awards that we had that we conducted virtually, uh, a month or two ago were thinking about different ways. You know, we wanna keep the purpose going with those awards and keep serving. And, and especially with human trafficking, which it was just the, you know, the global day on Saturday and modern slavery. Mm-hmm, <affirmative>, we, you know, we wanna double down the purpose, but as we all know, connecting with people from around the globe is really important, especially in person. So we’re, we’re going through some conversations. Uh, so who knows?

Scott Luton (52:10):

So stay tuned. Sophia. We’d love to have you and, and, uh, Andrea with us, uh, whenever we, we pull the trigger on that. All right. So Greg, we’ve got just a couple minutes and I, I do want you to speak to this because I think, I think a lot of folks are gonna be surprised really quick. So we can’t do the full, fully throated version, but you know that Ford earlier today on your supply chain site today for Wednesday, you, you kinda let off your, your, uh, your take using Ford CEO’s comment, which I’ll let you talk about. And I think you’re gonna trigger out a lot of thought as you usually do, but around this particular market, which I’ve been a lot of folks don’t know some of the constraints that we’re facing in light of all the demand and, and the Fe over for. So Greg, tell us what you were talking about here today.

Greg White (52:59):

Yeah. So Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford talked about that because of the initiatives, the goals, and in some cases, the mandates, uh, to get, get to electric vehicles by certain dates, that’s placing a huge strain on raw materials, right? He’s and his quote is at best 50% of raw materials required to meet the combined announced targets for all EV OEMs electrical vehicle. OEMs is actually available only half of what will be needed once we’ve hit all of the numbers that are either required or, or goals for the marketplace. And the immediate thoughts that came to mind were that’s gonna be inflationary. That’s gonna be a rapid upturn in mining, usually in third world countries who aren’t usually the best stewards <laugh> of the planet, especially when they’re doing things fast. And so, you know, it immediately brought to mind all these things and, and the fact that we need to think about the impact of, of moving to EVs throughout the entirety of the supply chain, right?

Greg White (54:10):

I mean, we need to think about the mining and extraction the, the production, the use, the, the recharging, and then the Deion of all of these products and the vehicles themselves. And, you know, it, it creates environmental issues on the front end. Some argue that a, that an EV can’t offset the environmental damage that is done during to produce it right in its lifetime. It can’t offset that there’s the disposal issue with batteries, which of which we’re all well aware. And all I wanna do is just challenge people to think about all of those aspects. Let’s not let those arguments become a hindrance to doing what is really important work. And frankly, I mean, I think as important as it is, it also opens a lot of doors to how we commute, how we travel as humans. First of all, much quicker, cuz if you’ve ever driven an EV man torque is instantaneous.

Greg White (55:06):

<laugh> watching drag races with EVs will be a lot of fun anyway, but, but I don’t want those kind of hindrances to be an excuse not to do. I want to figure out how to make an environmentally sound on the front end on the back end to make the noble purpose of using these vehicles to offset carbon feasible. And you know, anything that is a big change is, is going to have these kind of arguments. It’s gonna have these kind of impediments when the, when the automobile was, was created. Right. What did people ask for? They asked for a faster horse, right? Henry Ford gave them the horseless carriage. Uh, uh, the, you know, the complaints were, were huge. Then in fact, there’s still a law in Kansas that a horse carriage translated as automotive automobile must be proceeded by a hundred feet by a man waving a red flag because the vehicles back in that time were so prone to backfiring because they didn’t have proper timing in the engine, huh.

Greg White (56:07):

That they would scare the horses when they drove down the street. So you had to warn the whole town that you were coming down the street in a horse carriage <laugh> but we overcame all of that. Yeah. And I think we have to think about this new era of vehicles and this new era of environmentally responsible vehicles, the way that we thought thought about that, or we think about any innovation, usually it’s two steps forward and one step back in the initial stages. But I want us to think about that really hard because the implications here could literally offset the balance of the planet. If we dig too many holes on one side of the planet, if we take away too much of the, of the crust of the planet, right. It could really throw the, the planet literally out balance. I mean like out of orbit balance,

Scott Luton (56:48):

Right? And the James web telescope will capture it all for someone’s reality show

Greg White (56:54):

Way we go

Scott Luton (56:55):

<laugh> in the metaverse kidding aside, Greg. Excellent commentary as usual catch Greg’s take on a lot variety of things across global business every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, uh, on LinkedIn. So follow him connecting, uh, connect with him, you name it, but most importantly, weigh in on what he is talking about, give your, take, give your reaction, you know, that that’s some of the best reading to, uh, kind of see the message and, and see the conversations and in the comments. So y’all check that out. And by the way, kudos to our friends over at supply chain, dive that, uh, uh, Greg used kind of a basis to, to for the vehicle in the, in the message this morning, they do some great work. Okay. So Greg, uh, rip roaring, uh, wild west past hour, uh, Mike always brings it next time. We’ll get him in person.

Scott Luton (57:41):

And who knows, we’ll be, maybe we’ll have to break bread with Mike in person at some point soon, but Greg, always a pleasure to use with you. Uh, big, thanks to Amanda and Catherine and clay and Chantel, you name it, whole production team to help make these productions happen. Um, and thanks for all the comments I’ll tell ya. Uh, we can never get to all of them. And y’all really brought it today with all kinds of nuggets, really from across the globe. So we appreciate that. Uh, but whatever you do to still Sophia’s comment earlier, it is about deeds and not words, right? It’s about the actions you take. That’s what that’s, that’s, that’s what, uh, how you, how you drive outcomes and make change. So with that said, on behalf of Greg white, the whole team here, Scott Luton signing off to now challenging you all of our listeners to do good, to give forward and to be the change that’s needed. And we’ll see you next time, right back here at supply chain now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (58:37):

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.