Redefining Talent For The New World of Work

This is an excerpt of the original article. It was written for the July-August 2018 edition of Supply Chain Management Review. The full article is available to current subscribers.

July-August 2018

At Supply Chain Management Review, we’ve been writing about the talent crisis in our profession since at least 2012 when our MIT contributors were publishing a column on talent strategies. Last winter, the topic touched home when I picked up my local newspaper one Saturday morning. One of the lead stories was about two initiatives launched by C&S Wholesale Grocers with two local academic institutions: Keene State College and Franklin Pierce University.

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Exponential change is at our doorstep. The World Economic Forum states that we are on the brink of experiencing a Fourth Industrial Revolution. Some predict that we will undergo changes in multiple aspects of our lives in the next five years on a scale comparable to what we experienced in the previous 50 years.

There are good reasons to for supply chain managers to pay attention to these changes. According to research by McKinsey, companies with more agile supply-chain practices had service levels that were seven percentage points higher, and inventory levels that were 23 days lower, than their less agile peers did. One of the key findings reflected the importance of workforce agility and labor flexibility in achieving these results.

We’re already beginning to see the early signs of the unprecedented velocity, scope and impact of these changes on the workplace. In all likelihood, in just a few short years, the talent landscape will look completely different for all functions within a company. While the specifics may vary by industry, no organization is immune to some of the major shifts that are already underway.

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