In 2001, Jim Collins published the book ‘Good to Great.’ He was supported by a team that  invested 10.5 ‘people years’ over the course of 5 calendar years to figure out what allows some good companies to become great companies.

Their research revealed key findings about leadership, use of technology, building a team, company culture, and vision.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner re-reads ‘Good to Great’ in light of 2025 business conditions:

• Reviewing some of the key points from the book as an introduction or a refresher
• Considering how they apply to work, leadership, and success in 2025
• Sharing a renewed sense of energy and promise at the start of a new year

Links:

• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

Many of the supply chain news stories we covered in 2024 look ready to carry right over - or even rise to the top - as we start a new year.

Some of these stories are likely to re-emerge with the incoming Trump Administration, while others are ready for a change in direction thanks to geopolitics. Supply chain professionals that already have an eye out for breaking news will be best positioned to respond as needed.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner highlights five 2024 news stories that are likely to remain topical in the new year:

• The global distance traveled by raw materials and finished products compared to their value
• Red Sea tensions and the need for ocean freight to find a new (safer) path to travel
• The EV trucking mandate rolled out by the EPA under the Biden Administration
• De minimis shipping provisions that have created a ‘maximus’ problem
• An as yet unresolved organized labor contract governing operations at East and Gulf Coast ports

Links:

• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

This year on Art of Supply, we welcomed a fantastic group of guests. Each interview episode creates two kinds of challenges: asking questions worthy of the guest’s expertise and capturing a conversation that lives up to audience expectations.

Looking back on the interviews we ran in 2024, there are a few key messages that stand out, as individual points of view and what they collectively offer supply chain professionals as we move into 2025.

Don’t ever make a decision solely on short term cost.

Victor Suarez: Former Lead Vaccine Program Manager for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine in Operation Warp Speed at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Founder and Principal Growth Partner, Blu Zone Bioscience & Supply Chain Solutions, LLC 

Make sure you understand the underlying economics of any strategy you plan to implement.

Thomas Goldsby: Dee and Jimmy Haslam Chair of Logistics at the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Co-Executive Director of their Global Supply Chain Institute

Knowing how to be an effective problem solver - even in difficult circumstances. 

Ashley Hubka: Senior Vice President and General Manager at Walmart Business

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner shares excerpts of the three interviews and comments on how they connect.

Links:

• Victor Suarez on LinkedIn
• Sending a Powerful Message About America’s Pharmaceutical Independence
• Thomas Goldsby on LinkedIn
• Supply Chains as Business in Action
• Ashley Hubka on LinkedIn
• Creating a B2C to B to C Improvement Cycle at Walmart Business
• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

“I think if you could summarize what the trend is going to be in the future - It's going to be volatile. That's the trend.” - Tim Richardson, Founder and CEO of Iter Consulting

In order to be influential with the C-suite, someone must have experience and expertise in a given subject. They must do detailed technical work and analysis to prepare their strategy recommendations and to be ready to answer questions. 

They must have a strong grasp of their domain, no matter how complex it is - but they have to be able to communicate all of that simply. Otherwise, the desired support may be withheld, and the desired outcomes may never be realized.

In this week’s episode of Art of Supply, Kelly Barner welcomes Tim Richardson to the podcast. Tim is the Founder and CEO of Iter Consulting, a global team of experts with supply chain and manufacturing experience helping companies transform their operations - and their results as well.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Tim and Kelly discuss:

• The power of effective supply chain modeling
• How supply chain leaders can position for economic and ecologic success
• Forward looking trends that all business should be prepared to address

Links:

• Tim Richardson on LinkedIn
• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

“Polling is a science of estimation, and science has a way of periodically humbling the scientist. So, I’m humbled, yet always willing to learn from unexpected findings.”  - J. Ann Selzer, President and Owner, Selzer & Company   

Data and analysis are at the heart of nearly everything attempted in modern business. And while human skill is critical in the process of converting data into insight, human nature may ultimately determine whether the effort can be successful.

This episode is about ‘herding,’ a polling practice that combines analytical rigor and human nature in a fascinating way.

But this episode is not about politics. It is a story about data and how humans anticipate the others will respond to the data they present, and how that becomes a self-driven feedback loop that is put into practice before the data is ever shared.

No one wants to be an outlier. No one wants to be wrong. But if someone isn’t wrong, no one can be right.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barners dives into the practice of herding among pollsters and what it tells us about our relationship with data:

• The statistical truths that hold, regardless of how complex an analytical project is
• The challenges pollsters face, and how they inevitably end up affecting analytical results - for better or worse
• How all of this intersects with human nature - in polling and in business

Links:

• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

“The reason I like listening is I think, ‘If I'd have been CPO there or in other organizations, what would I have done to try and prevent that? And what red flags would I have held up? And what can we learn from that so that it doesn't happen again?’” - Alex Jennings, CEO and co-founder of The Alchemie Network

We all consume content for different reasons–education, entertainment, or otherwise. There are always lessons to be learned from one company or supply chain that can be applied in another.

To discuss these stories - and the process of capturing them on the Art of Supply podcast - Kelly Barner was invited to speak in a live session hosted by The Alchemie Network, an organization that promotes collaborative learning around ESG and sustainability for procurement.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Alex and Kelly reminisce on past episodes to cover:

• How companies are coming up on social mandates and using malicious compliance to find loopholes and avoid them
• The role that legal statutes make in driving sustainability efforts worldwide
• The careful line businesses have to walk when considering taking government funding

Links:

• Alex Jennings on LinkedIn
• The Alchemie Network
• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

When we cover a news story on Art of Supply, we stick with it, even when it seems to have gone cold.

In late August, we got an update on the case of the 53 migrants who lost their lives as a result of illegal attempted smuggling over the Mexico border back in 2022.

On June 27th, 2022, an abandoned tractor trailer was found near Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. The truck had mechanical problems and it had been abandoned by its driver. A local worker heard cries of distress and opened the trailer door. What he found would go on to be declared the deadliest example of migrant smuggling in U.S. history. 

In this bonus update episode, Kelly Barner shares the latest on the arrests, indictments, and specific charges associated with those allegedly involved in this crime.

Links:

• Heavy Traffic and Human Trafficking at the U.S. Border 
• The Problem of DOT Number "Cloning"​
• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

When something goes wrong in the supply chain, it is never good news. It always leads to disruption, often costs a lot of money, and sometimes people get hurt - or worse.

In July of 2024, the USDA suspended production at a Boar’s Head processing plant in Jarratt, Virginia. A listeria outbreak, the worst such outbreak in over a decade, had started in the plant. The facility has been closed indefinitely, leading to over 500 layoffs of union employees, but that wasn’t the worst of the fallout.

Before the outbreak was over, over 7 million pounds of meat were recalled, 59 people were hospitalized, and 10 people lost their lives.

How could production have gone so wrong, especially in such a heavily inspected industry? Unfortunately, as the details emerged, it became clear that this was an easily preventable situation allowed to happen by multiple layers of mismanagement.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers:

• The details behind the outbreak: Where did it start and how did it spread?
• An odd family squabble that may or may not have contributed to the problem but which certainly didn’t help
• Problems associated with inspections: How were they conducted and why did they fail to protect consumers?
• And what we can expect to happen next

Links:

• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

“Humans are so much more effective in processing something visually than, let's say, a table or two pieces of text next to each other. If you see it on a map, you can say, okay, this line goes like this, the other goes like this. I can make the connection in my head very easily that, okay, this is what changes. And it also makes it very easy to sort of have an opinion on it, because it clicks in your head quite easily.” - Ruud van Dijk, Commercial Director, Routescanner

We routinely talk about the complexity of global supply chains - here on Art of Supply and in the wider business community. Moving our focus from talk to action requires one key thing: data. But even with good data, these are highly complex decisions. They are often made without certainty, on a compressed time frame, and with a lot of money on the line. 

Setting up human beings for successful decision making under those circumstances requires more than data. The data needs to be standardized and presented in a way that matches how people process information and compare the likely outcome of multiple scenarios.

In this episode of Art of Supply, Kelly Barner welcomes Ruud van Dijk. Ruud is the Commercial Director at Routescanner, a platform designed to improve transparency in container shipping and help companies optimize routes while lowering CO2 emissions and costs.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly and Ruud discuss:

• How data needs to be presented in an accessible format for decision makers to put it into practice
• The change effort associated with moving from a suboptimal but familiar approach to one that is far more effective
• Empowering supply chain teams to lead cross functional conversations about operationally minimizing both costs and environmental impact

Links:

• Ruud van Dijk on LinkedIn
• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

The United States Postal Service occupies a unique spot in the supply chain. 

On the one hand, it is a federal agency, tasked with delivering mail to every home, business, and P.O. box 6 (and sometimes 7) days per week. On the other hand, it does not “generally” receive taxpayer funding; it must meet its mission by selling postage and services.

Thanks to this middle space between the worlds of public service and private industry, transformation is a massive challenge - even when successfully driving financial and operational change is a matter of long term survival.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers the current status of Delivering for America, the USPS’s 10-year transformational plan:

• The complexity of the U.S. post office’s operational and financial status quo
• The multiple roles that package volume will play in determining USPS success
• The slowdowns and questions that have plagued that transformation

Links:

• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement