The Indispensible Supply Chain Leader

This is an excerpt of the original article. It was written for the September-October 2010 edition of Supply Chain Management Review. The full article is available to current subscribers.

September-October 2010

You’re the Top!” In addition to being a great Cole Porter song, it’s a sentiment all of us would like to hear both in our personal and professional lives. Let’s take the professional perspective here. Looking at things from a supply chain perspective in particular, just how do you get to be considered “the top”? You’re the Top!” In addition to being a great Cole Porter song, it’s a sentiment all of us would like to hear both in our personal and professional lives. Let’s take the professional perspective here. Looking at things from a supply chain perspective in particular, just how do you get to be considered “the top”?

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Many individuals in the organization touch core supply chain (SC) processes—from new product development to order fulfillment. These include R&D professionals, engineers, sales and marketing personnel as well as those managers who have line responsibility for the essential SC activities of planning, sourcing, making, and delivering. All of these managers are involved in defining and delivering the SC value proposition. But only a select few can be described as “indispensible” to that proposition—the indispensible supply chain manager. Indispensability is not defined by functional position or job description. Rather, it emerges from a certain mindset and skill set, as we explore in this article.

Our research into leading companies around the world led us to this conclusion: the indispensible supply chain manager is an agent for positive change who possesses these four characteristics:

1. A cross-functionalist. This individual not only understands the key supply chain functions, but can serve as the “hub” that keeps them rolling in synch.
2. A choreographer. He or she can see the big picture while understanding where individual pieces fit into the pattern.
3. A coach. The indispensible manager teaches, mentors, and motivates others to contribute as part of a team.
4. A champion. Establishes credibility throughout all levels of the organization, thereby enabling the individual to be an effective catalyst for supply chain change. 

Few managers possess this combination of attitudes and skills… So why should we worry about this resource deficiency—in this case, the scarcity of indispensible supply chain managers?  The answer is simple: without people with the right skills and attitude, winning SC strategies will neither be envisioned nor executed. Jim Collins emphasizes the role of people with the right skills in his best seller, Good to Great. He underscored that the transformation from good to great requires Level-5 leadership (vision, humility, and determination) as well as having “the right people on the bus.”  Experience shows that the supply chain transformation—going from company vs. company to supply chain vs. supply chain competition—is highly dependent on getting people with the right attributes onto that SC bus. Perhaps even more important is finding people who can drive the bus: the indispensible managers.

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