December 21, 2023 • 38 mins
In this month’s episode, Ted Stank and Tom Goldsby speak with three business leaders who recently graduated from the Executive MBA for Global Supply Chain (EMBA-GSC) in UT’s Haslam College of Business. They discuss their paths into the industry and the fine details of the program, including how it has brought value to their current roles at their companies and developed both their supply chain knowledge and leadership skills in just 11 months.
Guests featured in this episode:
- Hans von Steiger, Director and Team Leader of Clinical Supply Strategy and Management
- Patricia Covington, Executive Director of Global Integrated Aftermarket
- Rebecca Ann Perreault, Director of Global Capabilities and Compliance
Ted and Tom also discuss holiday inventory and spending, consumer confidence, the state of the labor market, inflation and housing, backlogs at the Panama Canal, and more.
The episode was recorded at the Haslam College of Business on December 11, 2023.
Related links:
- By the numbers: Black Friday and Cyber Monday achieved record sales
- Holiday inventory is balanced, no concern over stockouts or overstocks, per NRF
- Consumer confidence ticks up in November after months of decline
- Q3 growth rate for GDP was fastest since fourth quarter of 2021
- Solid US job growth, drop in unemployment underscore labor market resilience
- Consumer return fraud a growing concern for retailers
- Logistics Manager’s Index Report for November 2023
- Panama Canal drought to delay shipments into 2024
- Watch: Why the EMBA-GSC makes sense for senior supply chain leaders
- Learn about the Executive MBA for Global Supply Chain (EMBA-GSC)
- Register for the 2024 SCM Leadership Academy or SCM Finance Academy
- Subscribe to GSCI’s monthly newsletter
- Read the latest news and insights from GSCI
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ad (00:00):
Are you an ambitious business professional ready to
take the next step towardadvancing your career?
It takes just 14 weeks tounlock your true potential with
the SCM Leadership Academy fromthe University of Tennessee
Knoxville's Global Supply ChainInstitute.
Get immediate access tocutting-edge resources and
invaluable industry connectionswith our convenient online
(00:23):
format.
Secure your spot for ourupcoming sessions starting on
January 31st by following thelink in the show notes or
visiting supplychainmanagement.
utk.
edu.
Accelerate your journey tosuccess with the SCM Leadership
Academy.
Introduction (00:39):
Welcome to the Tennessee on Supply Chain
Management podcast.
Listen in as co-hosts Ted Stankand Tom Goldsby set sail into
the world of end-to-end supplychain management, diving deep
into today's most relevantbusiness topics.
They'll share insights andpressing industry issues and
tackle the challenges keepingsupply chain professionals up at
night.
If you're enjoying the ride,download and subscribe to
(01:02):
Tennessee on Supply ChainManagement on your favorite
podcast platform now.
Tom Goldsby (01:07):
Hello and welcome to another edition of Tennessee
on Supply Chain Management.
It's great to have you with us.
I am your co-host, Tom Goldsby,with Dr.
Ted Stank.
Happy holidays, Ted.
It is the holiday edition, andedition it's peak season around
here at Rocky Top, wouldn't youagree?
Ted Stank (01:24):
Yeah, a lot going on, depending on how you define
peak season.
Tom Goldsby (01:33):
It's finals week here at UT, we've also got a lot
of our executive MBA studentson campus, and in fact we're
going to visit with some ofthose folks a little bit later.
But let's go ahead and jumpinto some of the news of the day
.
Ted, you know we always thinkthat we can just kind of scratch
the surface on this.
It seems like there's never ashortage of topics to take on.
Ted Stank (01:55):
For those of you who know Tom and I, you know that we
always have a lot of thingsgoing, so it's usually like
maybe 24 hours in advance, Ithink, because this is a Monday,
that we're recording it.
We actually started looking atit on Friday, yeah we had the
weekend, we thought well,there's not that much stuff
going on right now, so you knowwe'll be really brief on the
upfront section and over theweekend, as I started taking
notes, yeah, holy crap, there'sa lot going on.
Tom Goldsby (02:17):
There's always a lot going on, Ted, so why don't
we start off with big economystuff?
You know, Q3 updates toobviously we're in the holiday
season.
Holiday sales have beenreportedly quite brisk.
It was a very robust BlackFriday, especially online, and
then that carried over to CyberMonday.
And now Cyber Monday is notenough.
(02:38):
We've got Cyber Week,apparently.
Ted Stank (02:40):
The whole time week is dedicated to it.
I'm not going to offend ourmarketing partners, but really?
I mean we used to just look atBlack Friday sales, but now the
sales are extending beyond BlackFriday and Cyber Monday is
becoming Cyber Week.
But that is the interestingtrend is that online sales
continue to increase as apercentage of overall sales at a
(03:03):
faster pace than overall sales.
Tom Goldsby (03:04):
That's right.
I think in-store was up, maybeonly a little more than a point.
It was just barely online.
Ted Stank (03:10):
I'd last saw 7%.
Tom Goldsby (03:13):
And Cyber Monday was up 6% year over year.
Cyber Week was up over 5%.
So a lot of stuff, butobviously there was a lot of
inventory.
It seems like our supply chainsthus far have held up pretty
well.
Inventory is moving, and theysay that if you were to take the
deflationary factor into effect(and that's probably through
(03:34):
some aggressive pricediscounting that's going on
right now) that the sales wouldbe up even more than what
they're reporting.
Ted Stank (03:40):
Yeah, inventory levels have stabilized.
Seems like we've cleared outthe bullwhip effect inventory
that we had last year.
Tom Goldsby (03:47):
Things are kind of you know more and more whether
we're talking about inventories,we're talking about warehousing
, we're talking abouttransportation.
There's a lot more acceptancethat maybe we are where we were
pre-pandemic, even up a bit,obviously bit.
Ted Stank (04:00):
But this notion of kind of settling down, even
though I know transportation.
I mean I have long felt likeCOVID just gave us such huge
shocks that the system just wentcrazy.
It's going to take some timefor that system to stabilize and
even out.
Tom Goldsby (04:13):
Yeah, but spenders keep spending.
Credit card balances did exceeda trillion dollars, which is a
record in my notes.
I said but who cares?
Ted Stank (04:23):
Consumer confidence is up.
Tom Goldsby (04:24):
Yeah, you know, I've learned to stop paying so
much attention to consumersentiment, because I tend to
believe what people do more thanwhat they say.
But even the consumer sentimentindex ticked up a little bit.
Ted Stank (04:37):
Q3 adjusted GDP was 5.2%.
Oh, huge.
Yeah, I mean we're expecting1.2% in quarter four and maybe
also slow down in the firstcouple quarters of 2024, but the
"soft landing seems to havebeen saved.
I hate to say that because thensomething will happen.
Tom Goldsby (04:59):
Don't jinx it, Stank.
Maybe some of that optimism isattributed to cheaper gas.
Gas prices are at the lowestlevel since 2021.
Ted Stank (05:08):
Food prices are coming down as well.
The fact I was just readingabout core inflation is at 2%.
We're kicking it up to 3.7% ishousing.
But the Fed is making somenoises like they're pretty
comfortable with where we are.
I have read some bankinginstitutions saying that we
(05:29):
could expect perhaps three tofour interest rate cuts in 2024.
Tom Goldsby (05:34):
Cuts, huh, wow, and that maybe helps explain why
the general stock market's beenpretty healthy and showing more
positive days than negative.
Ted Stank (05:42):
Yeah, what I've read is inflation cooling, demand,
staying relatively healthy.
Labor market, which we shouldprobably talk about, seems to
have stabilized as well.
The jobs report was prettyhealthy in November, but that
also took into account 47,000jobs of UAW and Hollywood
writers and actors coming backto work, so it wasn't 199,000
(06:06):
seems like a lot and exceededthe 190 that economists were
expecting, but also almost50,000 of that where people are
returning to work.
Tom Goldsby (06:13):
Yeah, fair enough.
Well, it is the season ofgiving, but it's also the season
of returning, and I did want totalk about a little news item
that came across my inbox.
The folks at Pitney Bowes do agreat job with this box poll to
get these pulse reads on lastmile logistics and also consumer
returns, and they issued areport late last week on returns
(06:35):
fraud and it was prettyalarming, frankly.
Of course, we're looking atconsumer returns here and some
of the research we're doing withour advanced supply chain
collaborative.
But with regard to fraud, it'spervasive.
We knew that.
But just how pervasive and thegeneral attitudes toward fraud,
I think were what was mostalarming in this report.
(06:57):
If you look generationally hey,I'm going to call you out as a
boomer you all are okay.
You all are okay withfraudulent returns, 10% of the
time, or 10% of the population.
We move on to my generation,Gen X.
It goes up to darn near 20%.
Ted Stank (07:15):
I've always thought you all were smart.
Tom Goldsby (07:19):
Well then you look at the subsequent generations,
Gen Z, millennials.
And about a third of Gen Zyears and millennials thought
that return fraud was acceptable.
What do you think of that?
Ted Stank (07:32):
I don't think I can say on the podcast what I think
about that.
Frankly, that really frightensme, because what does that say
about our mors and ethics?
And I guess what it says iswhat you read in the papers and
see on TV about our politics,our government, our business
leader.
I mean so much.
I think it's always been us.
Maybe what it says is thatboomers are lying.
Tom Goldsby (07:55):
Again I say don't believe what they say, believe
what they do.
But with regard to the report,it spoke of policy abuse, which
is bracketing behavior, which Ithink is pretty common, abusing
the returns policies that are soliberal.
But meanwhile, when we talkabout fraud, it's reporting that
an item wasn't delivered whenin fact it was and seeking a
(08:16):
replacement.
It's also reporting returningan empty box or that you know a
box full of rocks or what haveyou, and seeking the refund.
We are seeing that a lot morecompanies today are issuing the
instant refund.
Just hey, just keep it.
But it wouldn't do anythingabout these returns.
Yeah, in certain circumstances,right.
So maybe more about that.
Hey, just one little touchpoint on that.
(08:37):
They did say if you perform aquick inspection upon the drop
off, just a little check on theconsumer, that would curb that
behavior quite a bit.
Ted Stank (08:47):
So no time.
I know you worked a lot inreturns management and clearly
it's an area that we need to getso much better on.
Tom Goldsby (08:53):
Yeah Well, I think our sophistication is just so
low.
We're such a level ofimmaturity.
So to the extent we can advancethat, hey.
Just a couple more areas totouch on before we move on to
our guests.
You and I pay attention to boththe Logistics Manager Index and
Purchasing Manager Index.
Both of those were down a bitsub 50, which is indicating
contraction rather than growth.
(09:15):
But the folks with the LMI werekeen to point out that even
though LMI was about 47, I think, oh, actually it's just 49.4
down from 56.
It's a big drop.
It is a big drop.
They said, hey, we think thingsare kind of leveling off.
They actually indicated a lotof optimism moving into 2024 on
that.
Ted Stank (09:35):
Last thing I'd like to bring up, and then I really
do want to move on to labor andcareers and talent.
One of the big things and froma supply chain world current
event is what's happening withthe Panama Canal.
Tom Goldsby (09:46):
It's a drill.
Ted Stank (09:47):
Yeah, you know you would send me this note that I
thought was super interestingFor every drop of a foot in the
lake level and for the canalthat supports, the canals
requires keep me right on this350 less ton of equivalent units
of a container ship that can gothrough.
Tom Goldsby (10:05):
You got to make the load a lot and it's down six
feet, which is 2,100 TEUs.
Ted Stank (10:10):
And what there, some ships are doing?
Well, actually, we're seeing anincrease in the Asia to US east
coast trade going through theSuez.
Those that are going throughthe Panama Canal are actually
offloading that number ofcontainers on the Pacific side
and railing it across and thenpicking up when they get through
the other side, which obviouslyadds handling, adds cost time,
(10:30):
et cetera.
Tom Goldsby (10:31):
Right.
As I understand, the rates areheading up through the canal and
then also the longer lead time,so there's a lot of hell to pay
.
Ted Stank (10:39):
It's really impacting bulk shipping because they're
the lowest priority movingthrough the canal.
Several of them have beentalking about going around.
One of them actually hastransit in the Straits of
Magellan.
Tom Goldsby (10:49):
And this is peak season, right for South American
, Central American transit.
So, yeah, very impactful.
Hey, one more data point andwe'll move on.
It's maybe related to the laborissue in the November jobs
report.
You already touched on thatquite a bit, so I think that
maybe we can go ahead and moveon to our guests.
What do you think?
Ted Stank (11:06):
Yeah, one of the things from the big economy
standpoint and then let's bringour guests into this is that it
seems like labor supply anddemand seems to be stabilizing
as well.
Job quits are down, which meanspeople are staying with their
companies, and if you stay withyour company, that means
hopefully the companies haveinvested, both from a salary
standpoint and a developmentstandpoint.
(11:27):
So as we talk development,let's introduce you to our
guests.
We have, as Tom mentioned, ourexecutive MBA program in global
supply chain is currently oncampus with us in their fourth
residency period and theyactually graduate on Friday.
I think y'all are going tograduate on Friday.
Tom Goldsby (11:48):
Should we be so presumptuous?
Yeah, I think I mean.
What fits of strength andcourage do we have in store
these next couple of days?
Ted Stank (11:53):
Not too much.
Ok, all right, it's pretty muchall over about the shouting.
But three great students in ourprogram for those not familiar
with the program, generallyspeaking, students in our
program are at the directorabove level from our corporate
partners.
They've generally been outworking 15 plus years, so
they're pretty sophisticatedfolks who have been in industry
(12:15):
and they dedicate one year oftheir lives pretty much to this
program.
Tom Goldsby (12:19):
It follows the calendar year and I remember
teaching in this program back inearly January when you all
started, and I don't know if itfeels like that was a long time
ago or just yesterday.
Ted Stank (12:29):
So let's introduce them first and then we'll get
their inputs on this.
We've got with us PatriciaCovington, executive director of
global integrated aftermarketwith Cummins, Rebecca Perreault,
director of global capabilitiesand compliance with a large CPG
company, and Hans von Steiger,director of clinical supply
chain management with Pfizer.
Welcome everybody.
Thanks for taking the time tobe with us.
(12:49):
We had to get them out of class.
We got hall passes for them.
Tom Goldsby (12:53):
We got to get them back right after this.
Ted Stank (12:55):
Let's start off, and I do want to feel like how have
you felt about this journey?
I would love to take videos ofpeople in the first week of
class in January.
The body language is amazing.
Y'all are not sure who else isin class with.
You've got legs crossed, armscrossed, like I'm not sure what
I'm in for.
And by December they've been ontwo international residency
(13:17):
periods together, spent a lot oftime together, and they're all
pretty good friends and theygive each other a hard time.
They're just so much morerelaxed.
Maybe that's because they knowthey're getting all this time
back.
So let's start off with askingeach of you how you got into
supply chain management as acareer.
Did you have an educationalbackground in supply chain
management?
Hans, want to start us off?
Hans von Steiger (13:38):
Sure.
So I came into our organization, Pfizer, that is doing contract
manufacturing, and this waswhen Pfizer was dipping its toe
into contract manufacturing, theR&D space.
We then transitioned to anend-end supply chain within
clinical supplies, and being theperson who was managing the
(13:59):
contract and outsourcingcomponent of it was a natural
fit.
They actually brought me intosupply chain, versus me deciding
on it.
Ted Stank (14:07):
Ok, you were drafted, I was drafted.
Tom Goldsby (14:10):
OK, found you, as it did so many of us.
Ted Stank (14:13):
Rebecca.
Rebecca Perreault (14:14):
I came to supply chain accidentally.
I did not have an educationalbackground for it.
I had a master's degree inmedieval history, which is great
.
But I took a position in myhometown that was for a
Halloween costume company madeof e-commerce and they had just
decided to start doing their ownprivate label manufacturing of
(14:35):
their own brands, and they hadno idea how to do that.
So I was brought in as somebodywho could learn fast and
capable to just figure out whatthat meant.
I didn't know for those threeyears that what I was doing was
called supply chain.
But in reality I had a windowinto every single step of the
supply chain, from curament tocompliance, to manufacturing, to
shipping, to logistics, tofreight forwarding, the whole
(14:57):
chain up and down.
Ted Stank (14:58):
And that happens so much with small to medium-sized
enterprises.
I always feel like we workpredominantly with large, giant
multinational corporations, butI always think that a lot of the
stuff that we do to havegreater impact at the small to
medium-sized companies.
I have a friend that owns arelatively small refrigeration
company, and I was literallyhaving beers with him last
(15:21):
Christmas and his shippingmanager came in.
I was talking to her about whatshe does, and I'm like you are
not a shipping manager, you arean end-to-end supply chain
manager, you are an entiresupply chain.
Which she then went back to himand said you need to change my
title and give me more money.
Patricia, how about you?
Patricia Covington (15:38):
See, I think this is one other thing Rebecca
and I have in common.
I too was an accident, but thebest one that probably ever
happened.
I got my undergrad inaccounting, but I was curious
enough and my company started upour largest distribution center
in the town I was living in,and I took the job as a
materials planner and there werethings that needed to be
(16:00):
improved that I fell in lovewith.
So my curiosity, my passion, mylike for data, my love for data
even at the time Not big data,but it was about connecting the
dots.
And the more I could figure outhow to connect the dots, the
more I fell in love withplanning, and then logistics,
and then it just continued to goon and on and on.
(16:22):
So there are so many elementsof supply chain that that's what
has really caused me to stayput in there.
Ted Stank (16:30):
And y'all are not alone, by the way.
I have had very little formaleducational background in supply
chain or logistics, nothing atthe undergraduate or master's
level, and although I was anengineer, and then even my PhD
is in marketing and distributionfrom University of Georgia and
frankly the coursework was waymore marketing than it was
distribution.
(16:50):
I kind of learned that workingwith my advisor and who really
was a logistics professor.
So you're not alone.
Tom Goldsby (16:58):
Supply chain is something that finds us, and we
all love it and that presumablyultimately brought you to this
program.
Can you talk a little bit aboutwhat brought you to this
program and maybe some of thegrowth that you've experienced
over the course of the past 12months?
Hans von Steiger (17:13):
Sure, so I was actually here trying to recruit
people for supply chain Okay.
I was participating in thespeed networking.
Speed networking.
Great experience, I couldn'trecommend it strongly enough.
There were some breakoutsessions.
One of the breakout sessionswas describing what things
(17:33):
looked like in the program andlatched onto it and thought that
would be great.
Looked into it a little moreand here I am.
Ted Stank (17:39):
Great, that's a great story.
Rebecca Perreault (17:43):
What brought me to the program is that the
company that I work for has aformal sort of nomination
process that they go through.
Some three people from ourcompany go each year, and so
they pick from the top 5% oftalent in the company within
supply chain and then that goesthrough a vetting process, and
so I was selected for the year,and it was something that I had
said that I was interested in,maybe six months prior to being
(18:06):
told that I had been selected.
So I didn't know about it atfirst and then, once I did, I
said that it's something I wouldlike to pursue.
I like to continue as a student.
It feeds me and I need mentalstimulation and mental challenge
and I need to keep growing,otherwise I could become very
complacent.
I don't want that.
So I was very interested and Iwas very happy when I was
(18:27):
selected and I'm really gladthat I did that.
Ad (18:30):
Great.
Patricia Covington (18:31):
For me, we recruited from the university.
Since it's in Knoxville foryears and, like Hans, I've had
several opportunities to getgood talent from here.
So as we think about continuousimprovement, it's not just in
our process, it's also in thepeople, and so, as a leader in
the organization, identifyingwhere you still want to have
(18:51):
opportunities to grow and learnand develop, it just made sense
that the areas that I wanted tolead in better and grow and
develop my leadership.
We just thought it's a trustedprogram, we're partners with the
program, it makes sense and sojust really super happy to have
had that automatic and legacyconnection.
Ted Stank (19:11):
And we've got a pipeline of folks in your
organization as well who havecome through the program, so
that's always a great way to doit.
So to kind of get back to Tom'squestion, thinking about where
you were in January and whereyou are today again.
We graduate this Friday,December 15th, so it's been
(19:34):
almost a full year.
I'd like to get really deeplyinto how your perspectives on
the career have changed, how youthink you'll be different this
come in January, other than nothaving to do a full time job and
a full time MBA as well.
Patricia Covington (19:47):
I'll start by saying I'll go even before
starting the program.
In the course of the pandemic,I was in the thick of logistics
and it was, to say the least,chaotic as it was for a lot of
people.
And then, after joining theprogram, really getting to
understand and benchmark withprivate and public organizations
(20:08):
that were experiencing theexact same things that I was
experiencing.
So, having that added networkof what I now consider to be
family as we share and thinkabout ideas, just that
opportunity to have someoneoutside of my organization to be
peer, you know, to have thatpeer mentoring and peer coaching
(20:29):
and benchmarking opportunitywith it just informal
benchmarking really, really hasadded a tremendous amount of
that.
Ted Stank (20:36):
Yeah, and that is consistent over the years.
In fact, I'm a partner toseveral WhatsApp chains of
different classes and it'samazing how they all stay in
touch with each other over theyears.
Hans von Steiger (20:49):
When I came into this program, one of the
things I anticipated was, youknow, because this happened in
my undergrad I came out lookingat things differently, problem
thought solving different,approaching problems differently
, but you're not sure how thatwas going to net out at the end
of it, and I think I find myselfnow, at the end of the program,
in a space where I'm notanticipated that I have a better
(21:11):
appreciation for how to assessculture in a different
organization where we'reregimented and approach about
how to make that assessment andhow to drive changes in that
culture to optimize how we dobusiness.
And that was the piece of itthat I knew there would be these
tools coming out, but didn'tknow what they would look like
exactly, and that's kind of anexample of you know where I
ended up.
Ted Stank (21:31):
Yeah that's a great comment you and I talked a
little bit on Friday about.
I want to get into some of theleadership issues that you learn
Again.
For those who don't know theExecutive MBA and Global Supply
Chain Program we have to telleverybody in January this is not
master of science and supplychain management.
It's not a deep dive into everyfunctional area of the supply
chain.
It is designed to take folkswith a pretty good knowledge
(21:54):
base in supply chain already andto integrate you so that your
level set across functions but,more importantly, to give you
those leadership and financialskills to move into senior
leadership positions.
Rebecca, what's your take onthis?
Rebecca Perreault (22:08):
So for me I think there's been.
I thank you for everyone, right,but for me I think it's a blend
of what I was saying theprofessional and personal thing,
so, when I think back to myself, in January, I first of all was
anxious to keep up witheveryone that I met and anxious
to make certain that I wasrepresenting our team well, our
(22:31):
company well and myself well.
And so I just came out of theposition of if you want to call
it out, the lack of belief inmyself, right, and that's been
something that has plagued meand I eroded and chipped away
at, right, bit by bit for myentire career.
And now, when I think of myself, now when I think of,
(22:52):
professionally, what this hasdone for me, what this has done
for me is it has made me more.
I'm more robust.
Here I think the network thatwe have established has been the
greatest benefit, without anydisrespect meant to the
coursework or the pieces thatwe've learned right.
The network has given me such adifferent perspective and such
wonderful relationships and theability to tap into different
(23:14):
aspects of those relationships.
But the biggest piece for me,my biggest takeaway, is that I'm
leaving the year far moreconvinced of my own capability
and my own competence.
So I actually have no ideawhat's entirely going to come
next, but I'm 100%, perfectlycomfortable with whatever that
(23:35):
reality is, because I know thatI'll be able to handle it and
I'll be able to deliver it.
Ted Stank (23:40):
In that sense, yeah, never underestimate the impact
of that cohort effect, theimportance of the network that
you build.
You've got people from acrossthe supply chain, from all
different companies.
Patricia, you call them family,right?
You can call up any one ofthose people you know.
You get a new initiative thrownto you and, like most of us,
you have no clue how you'regoing to go about it.
(24:00):
But you say, yeah, I got it,boss, and you walk out and now
you have this group ofprofessionals that you can call
and say Hans, I know that you'veworked in this area.
Can you give me some cluesabout how I should attack that?
And that goes with our facultyas well.
But we're not naive.
I mean, a big part of a programlike this is you bring super
talented people together and youkeep them in a kind of a
(24:21):
crucible.
For a year we could probablyjust lock you in a room for the
RP and you get a lot out of it.
We just have to give you alittle structure.
Tom Goldsby (24:29):
I think also there's that international
travel element too, whichprovides some great
opportunities to get out of the,you know, rocky tops, a great
place to learn and engage.
But meanwhile traveling theworld brings some great
experiences to camaraderie right.
Hans von Steiger (24:42):
To expand upon that a little bit.
I mean, I think each one of ushere came with you know kind of
some expertise in splotching ishuge and you have expertise in a
small portion of it and byworking closely with some of the
other people in the class, Iwas able to gain a much better
understanding of pieces ofsplotching I honestly don't
touch.
I want planning and logistics,customer- facing side, the
(25:05):
warehousing, distribution, pick,pack, ship, inventory control
systems.
That wasn't my fit, but Iunderstand what their challenges
are, how they approach that.
It's been a huge learningexperience.
Ted Stank (25:16):
One of our old lead faculty who was really
instrumental in creating thisprogram guy by the name of Tom
Mentzer, sadly passed away.
Geez, it's almost 14 years agonow.
We literally were sitting onhis dock out at Lake Loudoun and
we're creating this program,and program we said we wanted a
program that sat somewherebetween a senior leadership
(25:37):
executive MBA and an MS insupply chain, so that we were
giving you the skills that comeout of a senior leadership or
strategic leadership MBA, butalso built upon that end to end
supply chain knowledge.
So, Hans, you're making TomMentzer smile down on us right
now.
Let's get a little bit moreinto the elements of the course.
We created all thesedeliverables that you've had to
(25:59):
do throughout the year andthey're designed to be.
Tom, you're a lean guy.
What is it?
Tom Goldsby (26:07):
That would be, "Genchi genbutsu.
" Go to where the work is done.
Ted Stank (26:11):
So I mean, a lot of our assignments are designed to,
"hey, here's a concept, we'regoing to talk to you a little
bit about the concept, but nowyou have an assignment to go
back to your organization and goand see how it works.
I was telling Tom that I have aNavy background in the
submarine force.
To qualify as an officer of thedeck in the submarine, you
literally have to go from oneend of the sub to the other,
(26:31):
identifying different systems,blindfold it, because you might
have to do that if power goesout.
And this seems to me like whatwe've created is a similar thing
.
Go and get your hands on allthese different parts of the
organization that you like.
Hans, that you said you knowyour area really well.
Can you comment on, on, likethe OAP in general, which is
(26:52):
might want to define an OAP,yeah, the organizational action
project, which is a project thateach student has to scope and
identify and then work throughthe course of the year?
Patricia Covington (27:02):
I'll start by saying it was a good match
for me.
My organizational action planwas actually my job, like that
was what I've been charged to do, and so integration is never
easy.
One of the biggest benefits thatI selfishly got from it is that
I essentially and I wasfortunate enough to have Ted as
my advisor I use him as aconsultant.
We talked about how often areyou meeting with your OAP
(27:24):
advisor, and we were on everyother week, and it was because I
wanted to be able to sort ofsay here's what's going on,
here's what we're thinking, whatdo you think, and it was just a
tremendous benefit.
So having the programstructured such that it is
intended to help you whetherit's solving a problem or
building a strategy in yourexisting day-to-day
(27:45):
responsibility, that is one ofthe most valuable pieces for me.
Rebecca Perreault (27:48):
I would agree with that.
My OAP is also directly relatedto what I'm doing all day,
every day.
And part of that is the choicethat you make, right?
That's just to teach yourchoice.
If I can't actually do full-timework plus a full-time EMBA, how
do I somehow find ways tosynchronize that together, right
?
So my OAP was a project that Iwas going to be working on here
anyway, but what I would say thecourse gave to me was a lot
(28:14):
more official tools to actuallygauge the success at each
milestone, which was lacking,and so I think I really
appreciated that part of it andI also appreciated the way that
there was, just in general, justa lot more structured to the
things that you just learn andknow instinctively in supply
chain.
(28:34):
But to try and articulate thatoutside of the brand, you need
some sort of framework, and Ithink those pieces I took away
the most.
Hans von Steiger (28:43):
Yeah, so my OAP was a supply chain
integration for acquiredcompanies, and so that's one of
my roles at Pfizer.
And to learn more about howothers have experienced that, I
set up interviews with somepeople inside of Pfizer and
outside of Pfizer, and anybodywho's been through a corporate
integration or an emergencyknows it's a very emotional time
.
So one of the things I thinkthat surprised me the most was,
(29:06):
during the interviews, theopenness and honesty and almost
a part of feel to it, as peopletold me things that I was
surprised that they would evendivulge, but it gave me a window
into what people are feeling asall this is happening to them.
What you need to address firstto make sure that they're
focused on what you need them tofocus on Because, quite
(29:29):
honestly, if you don't know ifyou have a job, you don't know
who your boss is going to be,you really don't care that much
about which process gets adopted.
You don't have people'sattention.
That's true across everybody Ispoke to.
How prioritize where you focusyour efforts?
Tom Goldsby (29:44):
The OAPs, I think, are such a fascinating part of
this program and it's a greatway for us as faculty to learn
as well.
I think we got to call that out.
I learned from every, every OAPwhich I have the opportunity to
mentor and and even justobserve.
Now we try to assert thatthere's guaranteed payback on
the program with the OAP, ofteninside of the year in which
(30:07):
you're in the program.
Did we get there?
Are we close?
Patricia Covington (30:11):
We did, yeah , fantastic.
Tom Goldsby (30:14):
All right, all right, so we can keep making
that assertion, Ted, I guess.
Ted Stank (30:18):
Yeah, and you all mentioned how each of you chose
something related to your job,and that is really what it's
supposed to be, because of whereyou are in your careers and the
nature of this program.
It's not like you quit your joband come here, for, you know, a
full-time MBA, and so, to takeadvantage of that synergy, we
want you to be able to choose aproject that helps you further
something you're doing at yourwork anyway.
(30:38):
I'm going to throw somethingelse at you that I've heard
other classes say is a valuethey've taken away from it
Because of your time constraints.
This is what others have said.
Because of their timeconstraints, being in the
program and being gone forperiods of time, they had to
push more things to their teams,and it gave them lessons in
(30:59):
delegation and also gave them anappreciation for some of the
things that their team memberscould do that they hadn't
appreciated before.
Did y'all find anything likethat?
Patricia Covington (31:09):
I did.
I would say, you know, youthink, going into the program,
you think, okay, I may be ableto check in every now and then
there was no check-in timeespecially on the international
RPs, no check-in time.
It sort of forced me not just tohave confidence in my team— I
always do— but to trust and makeand know that it was going to
(31:29):
be, that I was not going to bemissed.
Yeah, and that was just a goodsignal for me.
I was back to work and, allhands on deck, everything was
coming and that was really.
It was really good.
So even more of a reason tocontinue to focus on that
delegation.
Rebecca Perreault (31:44):
I would say delegation is something that I
actually think I've done quitewell in my career.
So people development, andleadership development, and my
team feeling empowered issomething I'm super passionate
about.
Something that I getfulfillment from whatever role,
and then that's my key role.
So I'm not trying to say oh,I'm great, but I'm just saying
it wasn't a big shift for methere.
But the lesson I learnedactually is that my leadership.
(32:09):
So not my team they had noissues, they didn't miss me,
they didn't handle everythingfine, but my leadership
struggled when I would be out.
Ted Stank (32:17):
Interesting.
Rebecca Perreault (32:18):
Because of the way that they lean on me,
and so I needed to balance thatbetter throughout the year.
Hans von Steiger (32:24):
For me it was slightly different and I had to
manage my own internal guiltabout you know.
I felt like I'm leaving theseguys for ten or twelve days or
whatever.
Ted Stank (32:35):
And we work hard in the international art piece, but
we have a lot of fun in them aswell.
Hans von Steiger (32:40):
But at the same time you're maybe doing
very valuable things in thoseten days, but you're not with
the team.
Ted Stank (32:44):
You're not back with the team.
Hans von Steiger (32:46):
You're not necessarily.
At least, I personally feltlike, oh, that's time I'm not
there for them.
But you know, somebody, said tome, "the most important thing
you can tell me is that youdon't need me here.
" And I was like, yeah, you know, you're right.
It's that you know you feelempowered now and I trust you.
Ted Stank (33:05):
Right.
Hans von Steiger (33:06):
And they actually appreciated that.
Ted Stank (33:08):
Yeah.
Patricia Covington (33:09):
You know, Hans, one thing that makes me
think about is visibility.
That, in my absence, it gave myteam more visibility to others
than new leaders, because theyhad to engage with them.
So that's another added valuethat you know may help suppress
the guilt factor.
Ted Stank (33:27):
By the way.
Rebecca Perreault (33:27):
This happened on my team too, yeah.
Ted Stank (33:29):
Because of some of these things, we find that a
pretty significant amount of ourgraduates get promoted within
the next year or two.
Because of the recognition ofthe different person that you
are coming back.
Tom Goldsby (33:42):
We don't necessarily guarantee that.
No, we don't guarantee that.
That's the weakness to you.
Stop just a little shorter,although, if you want to come
back and work with us we have ahistory of that too.
Ted Stank (33:49):
You all just had Andrea Sordi with you and Thomas
Deakins.
Let's put a bow on this byasking them a final question.
Well, you have a final question, not for you.
Oh is that just for me?
Okay, and Rebecca, you answeredthis a bit already, and perhaps
Hans and Patricia you have aswell.
But I'm going to put you aformal question: how will you
(34:09):
use what you've learned movingforward?
How will you be a differentleader than you were a year ago?
Rebecca Perreault (34:17):
I will speak up more, and not just in any
sort of confrontational way,also in the ways where I am
softer than other leaders.
And I will not hide that, theway that I have in my career.
I'm not ashamed of that.
I'm not ashamed of the style ofleadership that I bring to the
table.
So how I will be a differentleader is I will give you a
(34:40):
voice to what's already in me.
Ted Stank (34:43):
That's awesome.
Patricia Covington (34:45):
I'm not too different.
As we went through the courseof the year, there were moments
where I would, in the course ofmy OAP, sort of tell to you
here's what I think needs tohappen, here's what, and it
wouldn't be too far off.
It wouldn't be too far off andthere would be tools again to
Rebecca's point that help youframe it up, and so having more
(35:06):
of a voice, but also havingaccess to tools and different
thought processes to help othersalong the journey.
Hans von Steiger (35:14):
Okay, and I'd like to add to that because
we've got tools pieces critical,so I'm not going to be a
different leader.
I evolved over a 12-monthperiod.
I am a different leader.
Right, and one of therealizations I had is we started
to be taught these differenttools just how effective they
could be, and now it'seye-opening.
Part of that was yeah, well, weonly got a glimpse of the tools
(35:36):
that are out there, and thatthere are additional tools out
there.
Here's how you find them.
Here's how you build upon whatyou've gotten and kind of put
the whole puzzle together.
So that's really how things aregoing to look different, and
you rely on things that othersdevelop versus things that I
have.
Ad (35:52):
Yeah, I think.
Ted Stank (35:53):
I've read this.
I don't think anyone told mepersonally.
If they did, I can't rememberwho it was, and I think I've
read it one time that the markof an educated person isn't what
you carry around in your head,it's knowing where to go to get
the answers.
Tom Goldsby (36:05):
And we hope that you'll look back to Rocky Top
from time to time as well.
Don't forget about us here.
Ted Stank (36:09):
I'll tell you what you all have warmed this old
educator's heart, becauseeverything that you have said
about what you've got out of theprogram is what in my fondest
dreams is what I would likestudents to say they get out of
our program.
And I'll tell you what.
Graduation, particularly thegraduation celebration Thursday
night, is very bittersweet,because we've gotten to know you
all over a and year, and we saygoodbye.
(36:30):
You're going to look at eachother Thursday night and go,
"hey, we're not getting togethernext quarter for 10 days like
we have for the last year.
Tom Goldsby (36:37):
And it's like oh wow.
Ted Stank (36:39):
Yeah, it's going to happen.
You've got plans.
You've got plans, all right.
Well, hey, Patricia, Rebecca,Hans, thank you so much for
joining us during this time.
It's been really great.
It's great to have you with us.
It's great to have thoseperspectives out.
Tom Goldsby (36:52):
And in this season of growth and reflection, Ted, I
do want to direct a finalquestion to you.
A New Year's resolution (36:58):
you have one for us.
What's your area of growth andopportunity?
Ted Stank (37:04):
Yeah, I do have one and, Hans, you're with Pfizer,
so there's no disrespect toPfizer.
There have been great partnersof ours and great partners of
mine personally in life becauseof what we've had.
ut my resolution is that in theyear 2024, I don't want to ever
step foot in a hospital.
Tom Goldsby (37:20):
Less health care, which is a big buzz folks.
Ted Stank (37:24):
These folks.
I joined you all like four daysafter I had hip surgery.
I was so wiped out after thatday that we spent a few sessions
online.
It was like, oh well the spiritof moving along.
Tom Goldsby (37:34):
My resolution is to maybe sign up for a 5K and
actually toe the line.
Ted Stank (37:38):
Yeah, People that don't know Tom Goldsby.
Tom Goldsby not too long agofinished second in his age class
in the Boston Marathon and hassince had two partial knee
surgeries.
So his goal is to get back outon the road.
Tom Goldsby (37:52):
So, yeah, I'm half bionic now, so I shouldn't
expect even better things ahead.
But hey, let's go ahead andclose out on that positive note.
And again, thank you very muchto our guests today.
Very enlightening conversationand I guess this is so long for
2023.
Wish everyone a wonderfulholiday season, a safe,
enjoyable close to 2023 andbetter things in 24.
(38:14):
We look forward to engagingwith you.
As always, you can reach us atGSCI at utkedu.
Introduction (38:22):
Thanks for tuning in to Tennessee on Supply Chain
Management.
If you enjoyed the episode,subscribe today on your favorite
listening platform to get allof our episodes as soon as they
drop, and don't forget to take amoment to leave us a rating.
Have any questions, thoughts orfeedback?
We'd love to hear from ourlisteners.
Email us at GSCI at utk.
edu.
Join us next time as wecontinue pulling back the
(38:45):
curtain on the world of SupplyChain, educating and
entertaining you along the way.
Until then, listeners.
Are you an ambitious business professional ready to
take the next step towardadvancing your career?
It takes just 14 weeks tounlock your true potential with
the SCM Leadership Academy fromthe University of Tennessee
Knoxville's Global Supply ChainInstitute.
Get immediate access tocutting-edge resources and
invaluable industry connectionswith our convenient online
(00:23):
format.
Secure your spot for ourupcoming sessions starting on
January 31st by following thelink in the show notes or
visiting supplychainmanagement.
utk.
edu.
Accelerate your journey tosuccess with the SCM Leadership
Academy.
Introduction (00:39):
Welcome to the Tennessee on Supply Chain
Management podcast.
Listen in as co-hosts Ted Stankand Tom Goldsby set sail into
the world of end-to-end supplychain management, diving deep
into today's most relevantbusiness topics.
They'll share insights andpressing industry issues and
tackle the challenges keepingsupply chain professionals up at
night.
If you're enjoying the ride,download and subscribe to
(01:02):
Tennessee on Supply ChainManagement on your favorite
podcast platform now.
Tom Goldsby (01:07):
Hello and welcome to another edition of Tennessee
on Supply Chain Management.
It's great to have you with us.
I am your co-host, Tom Goldsby,with Dr.
Ted Stank.
Happy holidays, Ted.
It is the holiday edition, andedition it's peak season around
here at Rocky Top, wouldn't youagree?
Ted Stank (01:24):
Yeah, a lot going on, depending on how you define
peak season.
Tom Goldsby (01:33):
It's finals week here at UT, we've also got a lot
of our executive MBA studentson campus, and in fact we're
going to visit with some ofthose folks a little bit later.
But let's go ahead and jumpinto some of the news of the day
.
Ted, you know we always thinkthat we can just kind of scratch
the surface on this.
It seems like there's never ashortage of topics to take on.
Ted Stank (01:55):
For those of you who know Tom and I, you know that we
always have a lot of thingsgoing, so it's usually like
maybe 24 hours in advance, Ithink, because this is a Monday,
that we're recording it.
We actually started looking atit on Friday, yeah we had the
weekend, we thought well,there's not that much stuff
going on right now, so you knowwe'll be really brief on the
upfront section and over theweekend, as I started taking
notes, yeah, holy crap, there'sa lot going on.
Tom Goldsby (02:17):
There's always a lot going on, Ted, so why don't
we start off with big economystuff?
You know, Q3 updates toobviously we're in the holiday
season.
Holiday sales have beenreportedly quite brisk.
It was a very robust BlackFriday, especially online, and
then that carried over to CyberMonday.
And now Cyber Monday is notenough.
(02:38):
We've got Cyber Week,apparently.
Ted Stank (02:40):
The whole time week is dedicated to it.
I'm not going to offend ourmarketing partners, but really?
I mean we used to just look atBlack Friday sales, but now the
sales are extending beyond BlackFriday and Cyber Monday is
becoming Cyber Week.
But that is the interestingtrend is that online sales
continue to increase as apercentage of overall sales at a
(03:03):
faster pace than overall sales.
Tom Goldsby (03:04):
That's right.
I think in-store was up, maybeonly a little more than a point.
It was just barely online.
Ted Stank (03:10):
I'd last saw 7%.
Tom Goldsby (03:13):
And Cyber Monday was up 6% year over year.
Cyber Week was up over 5%.
So a lot of stuff, butobviously there was a lot of
inventory.
It seems like our supply chainsthus far have held up pretty
well.
Inventory is moving, and theysay that if you were to take the
deflationary factor into effect(and that's probably through
(03:34):
some aggressive pricediscounting that's going on
right now) that the sales wouldbe up even more than what
they're reporting.
Ted Stank (03:40):
Yeah, inventory levels have stabilized.
Seems like we've cleared outthe bullwhip effect inventory
that we had last year.
Tom Goldsby (03:47):
Things are kind of you know more and more whether
we're talking about inventories,we're talking about warehousing
, we're talking abouttransportation.
There's a lot more acceptancethat maybe we are where we were
pre-pandemic, even up a bit,obviously bit.
Ted Stank (04:00):
But this notion of kind of settling down, even
though I know transportation.
I mean I have long felt likeCOVID just gave us such huge
shocks that the system just wentcrazy.
It's going to take some timefor that system to stabilize and
even out.
Tom Goldsby (04:13):
Yeah, but spenders keep spending.
Credit card balances did exceeda trillion dollars, which is a
record in my notes.
I said but who cares?
Ted Stank (04:23):
Consumer confidence is up.
Tom Goldsby (04:24):
Yeah, you know, I've learned to stop paying so
much attention to consumersentiment, because I tend to
believe what people do more thanwhat they say.
But even the consumer sentimentindex ticked up a little bit.
Ted Stank (04:37):
Q3 adjusted GDP was 5.2%.
Oh, huge.
Yeah, I mean we're expecting1.2% in quarter four and maybe
also slow down in the firstcouple quarters of 2024, but the
"soft landing seems to havebeen saved.
I hate to say that because thensomething will happen.
Tom Goldsby (04:59):
Don't jinx it, Stank.
Maybe some of that optimism isattributed to cheaper gas.
Gas prices are at the lowestlevel since 2021.
Ted Stank (05:08):
Food prices are coming down as well.
The fact I was just readingabout core inflation is at 2%.
We're kicking it up to 3.7% ishousing.
But the Fed is making somenoises like they're pretty
comfortable with where we are.
I have read some bankinginstitutions saying that we
(05:29):
could expect perhaps three tofour interest rate cuts in 2024.
Tom Goldsby (05:34):
Cuts, huh, wow, and that maybe helps explain why
the general stock market's beenpretty healthy and showing more
positive days than negative.
Ted Stank (05:42):
Yeah, what I've read is inflation cooling, demand,
staying relatively healthy.
Labor market, which we shouldprobably talk about, seems to
have stabilized as well.
The jobs report was prettyhealthy in November, but that
also took into account 47,000jobs of UAW and Hollywood
writers and actors coming backto work, so it wasn't 199,000
(06:06):
seems like a lot and exceededthe 190 that economists were
expecting, but also almost50,000 of that where people are
returning to work.
Tom Goldsby (06:13):
Yeah, fair enough.
Well, it is the season ofgiving, but it's also the season
of returning, and I did want totalk about a little news item
that came across my inbox.
The folks at Pitney Bowes do agreat job with this box poll to
get these pulse reads on lastmile logistics and also consumer
returns, and they issued areport late last week on returns
(06:35):
fraud and it was prettyalarming, frankly.
Of course, we're looking atconsumer returns here and some
of the research we're doing withour advanced supply chain
collaborative.
But with regard to fraud, it'spervasive.
We knew that.
But just how pervasive and thegeneral attitudes toward fraud,
I think were what was mostalarming in this report.
(06:57):
If you look generationally hey,I'm going to call you out as a
boomer you all are okay.
You all are okay withfraudulent returns, 10% of the
time, or 10% of the population.
We move on to my generation,Gen X.
It goes up to darn near 20%.
Ted Stank (07:15):
I've always thought you all were smart.
Tom Goldsby (07:19):
Well then you look at the subsequent generations,
Gen Z, millennials.
And about a third of Gen Zyears and millennials thought
that return fraud was acceptable.
What do you think of that?
Ted Stank (07:32):
I don't think I can say on the podcast what I think
about that.
Frankly, that really frightensme, because what does that say
about our mors and ethics?
And I guess what it says iswhat you read in the papers and
see on TV about our politics,our government, our business
leader.
I mean so much.
I think it's always been us.
Maybe what it says is thatboomers are lying.
Tom Goldsby (07:55):
Again I say don't believe what they say, believe
what they do.
But with regard to the report,it spoke of policy abuse, which
is bracketing behavior, which Ithink is pretty common, abusing
the returns policies that are soliberal.
But meanwhile, when we talkabout fraud, it's reporting that
an item wasn't delivered whenin fact it was and seeking a
(08:16):
replacement.
It's also reporting returningan empty box or that you know a
box full of rocks or what haveyou, and seeking the refund.
We are seeing that a lot morecompanies today are issuing the
instant refund.
Just hey, just keep it.
But it wouldn't do anythingabout these returns.
Yeah, in certain circumstances,right.
So maybe more about that.
Hey, just one little touchpoint on that.
(08:37):
They did say if you perform aquick inspection upon the drop
off, just a little check on theconsumer, that would curb that
behavior quite a bit.
Ted Stank (08:47):
So no time.
I know you worked a lot inreturns management and clearly
it's an area that we need to getso much better on.
Tom Goldsby (08:53):
Yeah Well, I think our sophistication is just so
low.
We're such a level ofimmaturity.
So to the extent we can advancethat, hey.
Just a couple more areas totouch on before we move on to
our guests.
You and I pay attention to boththe Logistics Manager Index and
Purchasing Manager Index.
Both of those were down a bitsub 50, which is indicating
contraction rather than growth.
(09:15):
But the folks with the LMI werekeen to point out that even
though LMI was about 47, I think, oh, actually it's just 49.4
down from 56.
It's a big drop.
It is a big drop.
They said, hey, we think thingsare kind of leveling off.
They actually indicated a lotof optimism moving into 2024 on
that.
Ted Stank (09:35):
Last thing I'd like to bring up, and then I really
do want to move on to labor andcareers and talent.
One of the big things and froma supply chain world current
event is what's happening withthe Panama Canal.
Tom Goldsby (09:46):
It's a drill.
Ted Stank (09:47):
Yeah, you know you would send me this note that I
thought was super interestingFor every drop of a foot in the
lake level and for the canalthat supports, the canals
requires keep me right on this350 less ton of equivalent units
of a container ship that can gothrough.
Tom Goldsby (10:05):
You got to make the load a lot and it's down six
feet, which is 2,100 TEUs.
Ted Stank (10:10):
And what there, some ships are doing?
Well, actually, we're seeing anincrease in the Asia to US east
coast trade going through theSuez.
Those that are going throughthe Panama Canal are actually
offloading that number ofcontainers on the Pacific side
and railing it across and thenpicking up when they get through
the other side, which obviouslyadds handling, adds cost time,
(10:30):
et cetera.
Tom Goldsby (10:31):
Right.
As I understand, the rates areheading up through the canal and
then also the longer lead time,so there's a lot of hell to pay
.
Ted Stank (10:39):
It's really impacting bulk shipping because they're
the lowest priority movingthrough the canal.
Several of them have beentalking about going around.
One of them actually hastransit in the Straits of
Magellan.
Tom Goldsby (10:49):
And this is peak season, right for South American
, Central American transit.
So, yeah, very impactful.
Hey, one more data point andwe'll move on.
It's maybe related to the laborissue in the November jobs
report.
You already touched on thatquite a bit, so I think that
maybe we can go ahead and moveon to our guests.
What do you think?
Ted Stank (11:06):
Yeah, one of the things from the big economy
standpoint and then let's bringour guests into this is that it
seems like labor supply anddemand seems to be stabilizing
as well.
Job quits are down, which meanspeople are staying with their
companies, and if you stay withyour company, that means
hopefully the companies haveinvested, both from a salary
standpoint and a developmentstandpoint.
(11:27):
So as we talk development,let's introduce you to our
guests.
We have, as Tom mentioned, ourexecutive MBA program in global
supply chain is currently oncampus with us in their fourth
residency period and theyactually graduate on Friday.
I think y'all are going tograduate on Friday.
Tom Goldsby (11:48):
Should we be so presumptuous?
Yeah, I think I mean.
What fits of strength andcourage do we have in store
these next couple of days?
Ted Stank (11:53):
Not too much.
Ok, all right, it's pretty muchall over about the shouting.
But three great students in ourprogram for those not familiar
with the program, generallyspeaking, students in our
program are at the directorabove level from our corporate
partners.
They've generally been outworking 15 plus years, so
they're pretty sophisticatedfolks who have been in industry
(12:15):
and they dedicate one year oftheir lives pretty much to this
program.
Tom Goldsby (12:19):
It follows the calendar year and I remember
teaching in this program back inearly January when you all
started, and I don't know if itfeels like that was a long time
ago or just yesterday.
Ted Stank (12:29):
So let's introduce them first and then we'll get
their inputs on this.
We've got with us PatriciaCovington, executive director of
global integrated aftermarketwith Cummins, Rebecca Perreault,
director of global capabilitiesand compliance with a large CPG
company, and Hans von Steiger,director of clinical supply
chain management with Pfizer.
Welcome everybody.
Thanks for taking the time tobe with us.
(12:49):
We had to get them out of class.
We got hall passes for them.
Tom Goldsby (12:53):
We got to get them back right after this.
Ted Stank (12:55):
Let's start off, and I do want to feel like how have
you felt about this journey?
I would love to take videos ofpeople in the first week of
class in January.
The body language is amazing.
Y'all are not sure who else isin class with.
You've got legs crossed, armscrossed, like I'm not sure what
I'm in for.
And by December they've been ontwo international residency
(13:17):
periods together, spent a lot oftime together, and they're all
pretty good friends and theygive each other a hard time.
They're just so much morerelaxed.
Maybe that's because they knowthey're getting all this time
back.
So let's start off with askingeach of you how you got into
supply chain management as acareer.
Did you have an educationalbackground in supply chain
management?
Hans, want to start us off?
Hans von Steiger (13:38):
Sure.
So I came into our organization, Pfizer, that is doing contract
manufacturing, and this waswhen Pfizer was dipping its toe
into contract manufacturing, theR&D space.
We then transitioned to anend-end supply chain within
clinical supplies, and being theperson who was managing the
(13:59):
contract and outsourcingcomponent of it was a natural
fit.
They actually brought me intosupply chain, versus me deciding
on it.
Ted Stank (14:07):
Ok, you were drafted, I was drafted.
Tom Goldsby (14:10):
OK, found you, as it did so many of us.
Ted Stank (14:13):
Rebecca.
Rebecca Perreault (14:14):
I came to supply chain accidentally.
I did not have an educationalbackground for it.
I had a master's degree inmedieval history, which is great
.
But I took a position in myhometown that was for a
Halloween costume company madeof e-commerce and they had just
decided to start doing their ownprivate label manufacturing of
(14:35):
their own brands, and they hadno idea how to do that.
So I was brought in as somebodywho could learn fast and
capable to just figure out whatthat meant.
I didn't know for those threeyears that what I was doing was
called supply chain.
But in reality I had a windowinto every single step of the
supply chain, from curament tocompliance, to manufacturing, to
shipping, to logistics, tofreight forwarding, the whole
(14:57):
chain up and down.
Ted Stank (14:58):
And that happens so much with small to medium-sized
enterprises.
I always feel like we workpredominantly with large, giant
multinational corporations, butI always think that a lot of the
stuff that we do to havegreater impact at the small to
medium-sized companies.
I have a friend that owns arelatively small refrigeration
company, and I was literallyhaving beers with him last
(15:21):
Christmas and his shippingmanager came in.
I was talking to her about whatshe does, and I'm like you are
not a shipping manager, you arean end-to-end supply chain
manager, you are an entiresupply chain.
Which she then went back to himand said you need to change my
title and give me more money.
Patricia, how about you?
Patricia Covington (15:38):
See, I think this is one other thing Rebecca
and I have in common.
I too was an accident, but thebest one that probably ever
happened.
I got my undergrad inaccounting, but I was curious
enough and my company started upour largest distribution center
in the town I was living in,and I took the job as a
materials planner and there werethings that needed to be
(16:00):
improved that I fell in lovewith.
So my curiosity, my passion, mylike for data, my love for data
even at the time Not big data,but it was about connecting the
dots.
And the more I could figure outhow to connect the dots, the
more I fell in love withplanning, and then logistics,
and then it just continued to goon and on and on.
(16:22):
So there are so many elementsof supply chain that that's what
has really caused me to stayput in there.
Ted Stank (16:30):
And y'all are not alone, by the way.
I have had very little formaleducational background in supply
chain or logistics, nothing atthe undergraduate or master's
level, and although I was anengineer, and then even my PhD
is in marketing and distributionfrom University of Georgia and
frankly the coursework was waymore marketing than it was
distribution.
(16:50):
I kind of learned that workingwith my advisor and who really
was a logistics professor.
So you're not alone.
Tom Goldsby (16:58):
Supply chain is something that finds us, and we
all love it and that presumablyultimately brought you to this
program.
Can you talk a little bit aboutwhat brought you to this
program and maybe some of thegrowth that you've experienced
over the course of the past 12months?
Hans von Steiger (17:13):
Sure, so I was actually here trying to recruit
people for supply chain Okay.
I was participating in thespeed networking.
Speed networking.
Great experience, I couldn'trecommend it strongly enough.
There were some breakoutsessions.
One of the breakout sessionswas describing what things
(17:33):
looked like in the program andlatched onto it and thought that
would be great.
Looked into it a little moreand here I am.
Ted Stank (17:39):
Great, that's a great story.
Rebecca Perreault (17:43):
What brought me to the program is that the
company that I work for has aformal sort of nomination
process that they go through.
Some three people from ourcompany go each year, and so
they pick from the top 5% oftalent in the company within
supply chain and then that goesthrough a vetting process, and
so I was selected for the year,and it was something that I had
said that I was interested in,maybe six months prior to being
(18:06):
told that I had been selected.
So I didn't know about it atfirst and then, once I did, I
said that it's something I wouldlike to pursue.
I like to continue as a student.
It feeds me and I need mentalstimulation and mental challenge
and I need to keep growing,otherwise I could become very
complacent.
I don't want that.
So I was very interested and Iwas very happy when I was
(18:27):
selected and I'm really gladthat I did that.
Ad (18:30):
Great.
Patricia Covington (18:31):
For me, we recruited from the university.
Since it's in Knoxville foryears and, like Hans, I've had
several opportunities to getgood talent from here.
So as we think about continuousimprovement, it's not just in
our process, it's also in thepeople, and so, as a leader in
the organization, identifyingwhere you still want to have
(18:51):
opportunities to grow and learnand develop, it just made sense
that the areas that I wanted tolead in better and grow and
develop my leadership.
We just thought it's a trustedprogram, we're partners with the
program, it makes sense and sojust really super happy to have
had that automatic and legacyconnection.
Ted Stank (19:11):
And we've got a pipeline of folks in your
organization as well who havecome through the program, so
that's always a great way to doit.
So to kind of get back to Tom'squestion, thinking about where
you were in January and whereyou are today again.
We graduate this Friday,December 15th, so it's been
(19:34):
almost a full year.
I'd like to get really deeplyinto how your perspectives on
the career have changed, how youthink you'll be different this
come in January, other than nothaving to do a full time job and
a full time MBA as well.
Patricia Covington (19:47):
I'll start by saying I'll go even before
starting the program.
In the course of the pandemic,I was in the thick of logistics
and it was, to say the least,chaotic as it was for a lot of
people.
And then, after joining theprogram, really getting to
understand and benchmark withprivate and public organizations
(20:08):
that were experiencing theexact same things that I was
experiencing.
So, having that added networkof what I now consider to be
family as we share and thinkabout ideas, just that
opportunity to have someoneoutside of my organization to be
peer, you know, to have thatpeer mentoring and peer coaching
(20:29):
and benchmarking opportunitywith it just informal
benchmarking really, really hasadded a tremendous amount of
that.
Ted Stank (20:36):
Yeah, and that is consistent over the years.
In fact, I'm a partner toseveral WhatsApp chains of
different classes and it'samazing how they all stay in
touch with each other over theyears.
Hans von Steiger (20:49):
When I came into this program, one of the
things I anticipated was, youknow, because this happened in
my undergrad I came out lookingat things differently, problem
thought solving different,approaching problems differently
, but you're not sure how thatwas going to net out at the end
of it, and I think I find myselfnow, at the end of the program,
in a space where I'm notanticipated that I have a better
(21:11):
appreciation for how to assessculture in a different
organization where we'reregimented and approach about
how to make that assessment andhow to drive changes in that
culture to optimize how we dobusiness.
And that was the piece of itthat I knew there would be these
tools coming out, but didn'tknow what they would look like
exactly, and that's kind of anexample of you know where I
ended up.
Ted Stank (21:31):
Yeah that's a great comment you and I talked a
little bit on Friday about.
I want to get into some of theleadership issues that you learn
Again.
For those who don't know theExecutive MBA and Global Supply
Chain Program we have to telleverybody in January this is not
master of science and supplychain management.
It's not a deep dive into everyfunctional area of the supply
chain.
It is designed to take folkswith a pretty good knowledge
(21:54):
base in supply chain already andto integrate you so that your
level set across functions but,more importantly, to give you
those leadership and financialskills to move into senior
leadership positions.
Rebecca, what's your take onthis?
Rebecca Perreault (22:08):
So for me I think there's been.
I thank you for everyone, right,but for me I think it's a blend
of what I was saying theprofessional and personal thing,
so, when I think back to myself, in January, I first of all was
anxious to keep up witheveryone that I met and anxious
to make certain that I wasrepresenting our team well, our
(22:31):
company well and myself well.
And so I just came out of theposition of if you want to call
it out, the lack of belief inmyself, right, and that's been
something that has plagued meand I eroded and chipped away
at, right, bit by bit for myentire career.
And now, when I think of myself, now when I think of,
(22:52):
professionally, what this hasdone for me, what this has done
for me is it has made me more.
I'm more robust.
Here I think the network thatwe have established has been the
greatest benefit, without anydisrespect meant to the
coursework or the pieces thatwe've learned right.
The network has given me such adifferent perspective and such
wonderful relationships and theability to tap into different
(23:14):
aspects of those relationships.
But the biggest piece for me,my biggest takeaway, is that I'm
leaving the year far moreconvinced of my own capability
and my own competence.
So I actually have no ideawhat's entirely going to come
next, but I'm 100%, perfectlycomfortable with whatever that
(23:35):
reality is, because I know thatI'll be able to handle it and
I'll be able to deliver it.
Ted Stank (23:40):
In that sense, yeah, never underestimate the impact
of that cohort effect, theimportance of the network that
you build.
You've got people from acrossthe supply chain, from all
different companies.
Patricia, you call them family,right?
You can call up any one ofthose people you know.
You get a new initiative thrownto you and, like most of us,
you have no clue how you'regoing to go about it.
(24:00):
But you say, yeah, I got it,boss, and you walk out and now
you have this group ofprofessionals that you can call
and say Hans, I know that you'veworked in this area.
Can you give me some cluesabout how I should attack that?
And that goes with our facultyas well.
But we're not naive.
I mean, a big part of a programlike this is you bring super
talented people together and youkeep them in a kind of a
(24:21):
crucible.
For a year we could probablyjust lock you in a room for the
RP and you get a lot out of it.
We just have to give you alittle structure.
Tom Goldsby (24:29):
I think also there's that international
travel element too, whichprovides some great
opportunities to get out of the,you know, rocky tops, a great
place to learn and engage.
But meanwhile traveling theworld brings some great
experiences to camaraderie right.
Hans von Steiger (24:42):
To expand upon that a little bit.
I mean, I think each one of ushere came with you know kind of
some expertise in splotching ishuge and you have expertise in a
small portion of it and byworking closely with some of the
other people in the class, Iwas able to gain a much better
understanding of pieces ofsplotching I honestly don't
touch.
I want planning and logistics,customer- facing side, the
(25:05):
warehousing, distribution, pick,pack, ship, inventory control
systems.
That wasn't my fit, but Iunderstand what their challenges
are, how they approach that.
It's been a huge learningexperience.
Ted Stank (25:16):
One of our old lead faculty who was really
instrumental in creating thisprogram guy by the name of Tom
Mentzer, sadly passed away.
Geez, it's almost 14 years agonow.
We literally were sitting onhis dock out at Lake Loudoun and
we're creating this program,and program we said we wanted a
program that sat somewherebetween a senior leadership
(25:37):
executive MBA and an MS insupply chain, so that we were
giving you the skills that comeout of a senior leadership or
strategic leadership MBA, butalso built upon that end to end
supply chain knowledge.
So, Hans, you're making TomMentzer smile down on us right
now.
Let's get a little bit moreinto the elements of the course.
We created all thesedeliverables that you've had to
(25:59):
do throughout the year andthey're designed to be.
Tom, you're a lean guy.
What is it?
Tom Goldsby (26:07):
That would be, "Genchi genbutsu.
" Go to where the work is done.
Ted Stank (26:11):
So I mean, a lot of our assignments are designed to,
"hey, here's a concept, we'regoing to talk to you a little
bit about the concept, but nowyou have an assignment to go
back to your organization and goand see how it works.
I was telling Tom that I have aNavy background in the
submarine force.
To qualify as an officer of thedeck in the submarine, you
literally have to go from oneend of the sub to the other,
(26:31):
identifying different systems,blindfold it, because you might
have to do that if power goesout.
And this seems to me like whatwe've created is a similar thing
.
Go and get your hands on allthese different parts of the
organization that you like.
Hans, that you said you knowyour area really well.
Can you comment on, on, likethe OAP in general, which is
(26:52):
might want to define an OAP,yeah, the organizational action
project, which is a project thateach student has to scope and
identify and then work throughthe course of the year?
Patricia Covington (27:02):
I'll start by saying it was a good match
for me.
My organizational action planwas actually my job, like that
was what I've been charged to do, and so integration is never
easy.
One of the biggest benefits thatI selfishly got from it is that
I essentially and I wasfortunate enough to have Ted as
my advisor I use him as aconsultant.
We talked about how often areyou meeting with your OAP
(27:24):
advisor, and we were on everyother week, and it was because I
wanted to be able to sort ofsay here's what's going on,
here's what we're thinking, whatdo you think, and it was just a
tremendous benefit.
So having the programstructured such that it is
intended to help you whetherit's solving a problem or
building a strategy in yourexisting day-to-day
(27:45):
responsibility, that is one ofthe most valuable pieces for me.
Rebecca Perreault (27:48):
I would agree with that.
My OAP is also directly relatedto what I'm doing all day,
every day.
And part of that is the choicethat you make, right?
That's just to teach yourchoice.
If I can't actually do full-timework plus a full-time EMBA, how
do I somehow find ways tosynchronize that together, right
?
So my OAP was a project that Iwas going to be working on here
anyway, but what I would say thecourse gave to me was a lot
(28:14):
more official tools to actuallygauge the success at each
milestone, which was lacking,and so I think I really
appreciated that part of it andI also appreciated the way that
there was, just in general, justa lot more structured to the
things that you just learn andknow instinctively in supply
chain.
(28:34):
But to try and articulate thatoutside of the brand, you need
some sort of framework, and Ithink those pieces I took away
the most.
Hans von Steiger (28:43):
Yeah, so my OAP was a supply chain
integration for acquiredcompanies, and so that's one of
my roles at Pfizer.
And to learn more about howothers have experienced that, I
set up interviews with somepeople inside of Pfizer and
outside of Pfizer, and anybodywho's been through a corporate
integration or an emergencyknows it's a very emotional time
.
So one of the things I thinkthat surprised me the most was,
(29:06):
during the interviews, theopenness and honesty and almost
a part of feel to it, as peopletold me things that I was
surprised that they would evendivulge, but it gave me a window
into what people are feeling asall this is happening to them.
What you need to address firstto make sure that they're
focused on what you need them tofocus on Because, quite
(29:29):
honestly, if you don't know ifyou have a job, you don't know
who your boss is going to be,you really don't care that much
about which process gets adopted.
You don't have people'sattention.
That's true across everybody Ispoke to.
How prioritize where you focusyour efforts?
Tom Goldsby (29:44):
The OAPs, I think, are such a fascinating part of
this program and it's a greatway for us as faculty to learn
as well.
I think we got to call that out.
I learned from every, every OAPwhich I have the opportunity to
mentor and and even justobserve.
Now we try to assert thatthere's guaranteed payback on
the program with the OAP, ofteninside of the year in which
(30:07):
you're in the program.
Did we get there?
Are we close?
Patricia Covington (30:11):
We did, yeah , fantastic.
Tom Goldsby (30:14):
All right, all right, so we can keep making
that assertion, Ted, I guess.
Ted Stank (30:18):
Yeah, and you all mentioned how each of you chose
something related to your job,and that is really what it's
supposed to be, because of whereyou are in your careers and the
nature of this program.
It's not like you quit your joband come here, for, you know, a
full-time MBA, and so, to takeadvantage of that synergy, we
want you to be able to choose aproject that helps you further
something you're doing at yourwork anyway.
(30:38):
I'm going to throw somethingelse at you that I've heard
other classes say is a valuethey've taken away from it
Because of your time constraints.
This is what others have said.
Because of their timeconstraints, being in the
program and being gone forperiods of time, they had to
push more things to their teams,and it gave them lessons in
(30:59):
delegation and also gave them anappreciation for some of the
things that their team memberscould do that they hadn't
appreciated before.
Did y'all find anything likethat?
Patricia Covington (31:09):
I did.
I would say, you know, youthink, going into the program,
you think, okay, I may be ableto check in every now and then
there was no check-in timeespecially on the international
RPs, no check-in time.
It sort of forced me not just tohave confidence in my team— I
always do— but to trust and makeand know that it was going to
(31:29):
be, that I was not going to bemissed.
Yeah, and that was just a goodsignal for me.
I was back to work and, allhands on deck, everything was
coming and that was really.
It was really good.
So even more of a reason tocontinue to focus on that
delegation.
Rebecca Perreault (31:44):
I would say delegation is something that I
actually think I've done quitewell in my career.
So people development, andleadership development, and my
team feeling empowered issomething I'm super passionate
about.
Something that I getfulfillment from whatever role,
and then that's my key role.
So I'm not trying to say oh,I'm great, but I'm just saying
it wasn't a big shift for methere.
But the lesson I learnedactually is that my leadership.
(32:09):
So not my team they had noissues, they didn't miss me,
they didn't handle everythingfine, but my leadership
struggled when I would be out.
Ted Stank (32:17):
Interesting.
Rebecca Perreault (32:18):
Because of the way that they lean on me,
and so I needed to balance thatbetter throughout the year.
Hans von Steiger (32:24):
For me it was slightly different and I had to
manage my own internal guiltabout you know.
I felt like I'm leaving theseguys for ten or twelve days or
whatever.
Ted Stank (32:35):
And we work hard in the international art piece, but
we have a lot of fun in them aswell.
Hans von Steiger (32:40):
But at the same time you're maybe doing
very valuable things in thoseten days, but you're not with
the team.
Ted Stank (32:44):
You're not back with the team.
Hans von Steiger (32:46):
You're not necessarily.
At least, I personally feltlike, oh, that's time I'm not
there for them.
But you know, somebody, said tome, "the most important thing
you can tell me is that youdon't need me here.
" And I was like, yeah, you know, you're right.
It's that you know you feelempowered now and I trust you.
Ted Stank (33:05):
Right.
Hans von Steiger (33:06):
And they actually appreciated that.
Ted Stank (33:08):
Yeah.
Patricia Covington (33:09):
You know, Hans, one thing that makes me
think about is visibility.
That, in my absence, it gave myteam more visibility to others
than new leaders, because theyhad to engage with them.
So that's another added valuethat you know may help suppress
the guilt factor.
Ted Stank (33:27):
By the way.
Rebecca Perreault (33:27):
This happened on my team too, yeah.
Ted Stank (33:29):
Because of some of these things, we find that a
pretty significant amount of ourgraduates get promoted within
the next year or two.
Because of the recognition ofthe different person that you
are coming back.
Tom Goldsby (33:42):
We don't necessarily guarantee that.
No, we don't guarantee that.
That's the weakness to you.
Stop just a little shorter,although, if you want to come
back and work with us we have ahistory of that too.
Ted Stank (33:49):
You all just had Andrea Sordi with you and Thomas
Deakins.
Let's put a bow on this byasking them a final question.
Well, you have a final question, not for you.
Oh is that just for me?
Okay, and Rebecca, you answeredthis a bit already, and perhaps
Hans and Patricia you have aswell.
But I'm going to put you aformal question: how will you
(34:09):
use what you've learned movingforward?
How will you be a differentleader than you were a year ago?
Rebecca Perreault (34:17):
I will speak up more, and not just in any
sort of confrontational way,also in the ways where I am
softer than other leaders.
And I will not hide that, theway that I have in my career.
I'm not ashamed of that.
I'm not ashamed of the style ofleadership that I bring to the
table.
So how I will be a differentleader is I will give you a
(34:40):
voice to what's already in me.
Ted Stank (34:43):
That's awesome.
Patricia Covington (34:45):
I'm not too different.
As we went through the courseof the year, there were moments
where I would, in the course ofmy OAP, sort of tell to you
here's what I think needs tohappen, here's what, and it
wouldn't be too far off.
It wouldn't be too far off andthere would be tools again to
Rebecca's point that help youframe it up, and so having more
(35:06):
of a voice, but also havingaccess to tools and different
thought processes to help othersalong the journey.
Hans von Steiger (35:14):
Okay, and I'd like to add to that because
we've got tools pieces critical,so I'm not going to be a
different leader.
I evolved over a 12-monthperiod.
I am a different leader.
Right, and one of therealizations I had is we started
to be taught these differenttools just how effective they
could be, and now it'seye-opening.
Part of that was yeah, well, weonly got a glimpse of the tools
(35:36):
that are out there, and thatthere are additional tools out
there.
Here's how you find them.
Here's how you build upon whatyou've gotten and kind of put
the whole puzzle together.
So that's really how things aregoing to look different, and
you rely on things that othersdevelop versus things that I
have.
Ad (35:52):
Yeah, I think.
Ted Stank (35:53):
I've read this.
I don't think anyone told mepersonally.
If they did, I can't rememberwho it was, and I think I've
read it one time that the markof an educated person isn't what
you carry around in your head,it's knowing where to go to get
the answers.
Tom Goldsby (36:05):
And we hope that you'll look back to Rocky Top
from time to time as well.
Don't forget about us here.
Ted Stank (36:09):
I'll tell you what you all have warmed this old
educator's heart, becauseeverything that you have said
about what you've got out of theprogram is what in my fondest
dreams is what I would likestudents to say they get out of
our program.
And I'll tell you what.
Graduation, particularly thegraduation celebration Thursday
night, is very bittersweet,because we've gotten to know you
all over a and year, and we saygoodbye.
(36:30):
You're going to look at eachother Thursday night and go,
"hey, we're not getting togethernext quarter for 10 days like
we have for the last year.
Tom Goldsby (36:37):
And it's like oh wow.
Ted Stank (36:39):
Yeah, it's going to happen.
You've got plans.
You've got plans, all right.
Well, hey, Patricia, Rebecca,Hans, thank you so much for
joining us during this time.
It's been really great.
It's great to have you with us.
It's great to have thoseperspectives out.
Tom Goldsby (36:52):
And in this season of growth and reflection, Ted, I
do want to direct a finalquestion to you.
A New Year's resolution (36:58):
you have one for us.
What's your area of growth andopportunity?
Ted Stank (37:04):
Yeah, I do have one and, Hans, you're with Pfizer,
so there's no disrespect toPfizer.
There have been great partnersof ours and great partners of
mine personally in life becauseof what we've had.
ut my resolution is that in theyear 2024, I don't want to ever
step foot in a hospital.
Tom Goldsby (37:20):
Less health care, which is a big buzz folks.
Ted Stank (37:24):
These folks.
I joined you all like four daysafter I had hip surgery.
I was so wiped out after thatday that we spent a few sessions
online.
It was like, oh well the spiritof moving along.
Tom Goldsby (37:34):
My resolution is to maybe sign up for a 5K and
actually toe the line.
Ted Stank (37:38):
Yeah, People that don't know Tom Goldsby.
Tom Goldsby not too long agofinished second in his age class
in the Boston Marathon and hassince had two partial knee
surgeries.
So his goal is to get back outon the road.
Tom Goldsby (37:52):
So, yeah, I'm half bionic now, so I shouldn't
expect even better things ahead.
But hey, let's go ahead andclose out on that positive note.
And again, thank you very muchto our guests today.
Very enlightening conversationand I guess this is so long for
2023.
Wish everyone a wonderfulholiday season, a safe,
enjoyable close to 2023 andbetter things in 24.
(38:14):
We look forward to engagingwith you.
As always, you can reach us atGSCI at utkedu.
Introduction (38:22):
Thanks for tuning in to Tennessee on Supply Chain
Management.
If you enjoyed the episode,subscribe today on your favorite
listening platform to get allof our episodes as soon as they
drop, and don't forget to take amoment to leave us a rating.
Have any questions, thoughts orfeedback?
We'd love to hear from ourlisteners.
Email us at GSCI at utk.
edu.
Join us next time as wecontinue pulling back the
(38:45):
curtain on the world of SupplyChain, educating and
entertaining you along the way.
Until then, listeners.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!