PROFILES SUPPLY CHAIN CONVERSATIONS

 

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EPISODE 2 CATHERINE COOPER ON CHANGE MANAGEMENT, INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS, AND DEFINING SUCCESS

 

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Welcome to Episode 2 of Profiles, a podcast centered around supply chain conversations hosted by Brian Glick, founder and CEO of Chain.io.

Our guest this week is Catherine Cooper. Educated as an engineer, Catherine has dedicated her career to the logistics industry with the last 18 years in top leadership positions (CIO of a $1 Billion global logistics service provider and president of two successful consulting firms). She founded World Connections in 2006 where she works with senior executives from Fortune 500 companies, private equity firms, and global logistics service providers who partner with Catherine to develop innovative solutions at the intersection of technology and people. Recent clients include QVC, Coca-Cola Enterprises, and Gap Inc.

Catherine's articles on leadership, project management, technical trends, and change management are published in these industry journals: Inbound Logistics, Food Logistics, IIE Solutions, Operations and Fulfillment, and Distribution Management. 

  

The real definition of success to the wife of the climber and the children of the dad who’s climbing is getting down the mountain and coming down alive…

 

 Listen in as Brian and Catherine discuss:

• How Catherine got into the supply chain business and why she decided to stay
• The evolution of change management in regards to people vs. technology
• Tips for how to keep change management in scope
• Why Catherine founded her business, World Connections
• What Catherine wishes she had known at the beginning of her career that she’s learned since
• The challenges that folks who are new to the supply chain industry face today
• Best practice for handling employee mistakes, especially in light of how costly supply chain mistakes can be
• The balance between A.I. tech and human involvement in supply chain processes
• Upcoming challenges that logistics practitioners need to be aware of
• Whether best practices for brand messaging should also be applied to internal communications regarding change management and project implementation
• The importance of leaders to openly communicate risk so that it is shared by more than just the person in charge

  

You need to help your team understand the difference between no evidence of risk, and that that is not evidence of no risk. Try to explain to them that these are the things that are out there, do we all agree we’re going forward with this level of uncertainty? Do we all agree this is a risk? And I think getting people to share the risk with you will certainly help you in your career because it becomes a thing where you’re the leader of the discussion but not the sole owner of all the problems.

  

Links and resources mentioned in the show:

• World Connections
• “When the Chain Breaks”, an article from The Economist

 

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