High-Ferocity Supply Chains

No, I did not mean to say "high-velocity suply chains".  Not all high-ferocity operations are high-verlocity.  And, not all chains contain the throughput potential that those which churn out half a million, or more, pieces daily accepot as "normal".

We've had a raging debate recently about the relative importance of passion versus discipline in succdssful supply chains.  My own view has been that passion without discipline has the potential to be nothing more than a perpetual fire drill, and that discipline without passion can deliver only goodness, with greatness remaining out of reach.  In either case, competence is a core requirement.  Either or both discipline and passion without competence carries the seeds of failure - imminent collapse.

Going a step farther, ferocity in the supply chain means a combination of passion and discipline, leavened with competence, taken to an intensity level that drones and placeholders do not begin to comprehend.  The truly fierce supply chain leader embodieds these, and often carries them over into personal life.

Whether a marathon, a triathlon, a round of golf, a good weekend walk, or supply chain planning and execution on the job, the fierce leader has an objective, a stretch goal, and a super-secret ultimate measure of success.  Not reaching the super-secret target explains mood swings, depression, and heightened intensity levels for the next round of whatever.

That does not mean that the fierce leader is also ferocious, but does provide a window into the future.  Fierce leaders build fierce organizations; fierce organizations make for fierce competitors; fierce competitors win.  And, their supply chain partners win along with them.

The downside?  Fierce people make the complacent uncomfortable.  Maybe that's not really a downside; maybe we need more fierceness and less complacency.

High-Ferocity Supply Chains

No, I did not mean to say "high-velocity suply chains".  Not all high-ferocity operations are high-verlocity.  And, not all chains contain the throughput potential that those which churn out half a million, or more, pieces daily accept as "normal".

We've had a raging debate recently about the relative importance of passion versus discipline in successful supply chains.  My own view has been that passion without discipline has the potential to be nothing more than a perpetual fire drill, and that discipline without passion can deliver only goodness, with greatness remaining out of reach.  In either case, competence is a core requirement.  Either or both discipline and passion without competence carries the seeds of failure - imminent collapse.

Going a step farther, ferocity in the supply chain means a combination of passion and discipline, leavened with competence, taken to an intensity level that drones and placeholders do not begin to comprehend.  The truly fierce supply chain leader embodies these, and often carries them over into personal life.

Whether a marathon, a triathlon, a round of golf, a good weekend walk, or supply chain planning and execution on the job, the fierce leader has an objective, a stretch goal, and a super-secret ultimate measure of success.  Not reaching the super-secret target explains mood swings, depression, and heightened intensity levels for the next round of whatever.

That does not mean that the fierce leader is also ferocious, but does provide a window into the future.  Fierce leaders build fierce organizations; fierce organizations make for fierce competitors; fierce competitors win.  And, their supply chain partners win along with them.

The downside?  Fierce people make the complacent uncomfortable.  Maybe that's not really a downside; maybe we need more fierceness and less complacency.

Just South of Heaven

Regular readers might remember that I sometimes relate music and musicians to supply chain developments.  I also am fascinated - and easily distracted - by the antics of industry leaders and followers.

Today's feature band is Just South of Heaven.  ThIs sorta alternative, sorta Americana, sorta country, sorta their own assemblage of artists is knockin' 'em out in various suburban Chicago venues.  Is that the right place for this band to flourish?  I honestly don't know, but generally subscribe to the quaint notion that flowers bloom where they are planted.

Are they the next Lady Antebellum, or Milk Carton Kids, or Flatt & Scruggs?  I don't know that, either, and won't until they find and show the world their collective voice.  They start with a dynamite lead female vocalist, which can't hurt.

The point is that, while they may not be leaders today, they don't have to remain followers forever.  The same is true in our workaday world.  We pretty much take for granted that someone's Top 25 list is etched in stone, that its members will always be at the top of the heap, that followers need to get used to the perspective of not being the lead dog on a sled bound for Iditerod.

Wait!  We know that's not necessarily so.  And, maybe JSOH holds the seeds of greatness that will make people forget whomever is the hottest ticket in town this year.  And, in the supply chain, maybe a perennial follower will come up with a new vision, a new paradigm, and take its place on that Top 25 list.

Two keys to opening that door: never say never, and work like a dog to make tomorrow soon.  In music, in supply chain management, in life.

"Kiss Me, You Fool," She Commanded

Passion is a wonderful emotion that permetes our personal and professional lives.  It may inflame more than inform, but it does elevate intensity in many dimensions.  From fantasies in films to commitments to customer care, passion makes a palpable difference.

The discussion fora have been burning up the ether over the past few days with point/counterpoint discussions about the value and relevance of passion in supply chain management.  My take is, as usual, borderline simple-minded: what's not to be passionate about in this magnificent profession, with a storied past, a powerful present, and an unlimited future?

Some have argued, perhaps a bit against the value of passion, for the greater value of order and discipline - a mastery of basic blocking and tackling in our daily work.  Some of these arguments may be raising false choices, based on incomplete premises.

Before we get to passion, it is a given that competence must have been achieved.  Picasso, who was passionate in several facets of life, mastered the traditional skills of painting, and was hailed as a young genius.  At that point, he became free to -  so to speak - color outside the lines, let passion dictate the form of his expression, and impose new visions on the world of fine art.

In another appication, as we talk about the criticality of trust in new supply chain relationships, competence is one of the attributes required to earn trust.  Good intentions, enthusiasm, passion without purpose - none of those are worth much without competence.

So, our choice is not to assess the trade-offs between passion versus competence and disciplined execution in a supply chain management professional.  Our choice lies in whether to settle, or not, for less than both.

My own view is that competence and consistency alone can deliver good outcomes, but are unlikely to yield great leaps forward.  It is the secret ingredient of passion that builds from a foundation of capability to create new visions, to uncover inspiring leadership, to energize organizations and people, and to so delight customers that the merely good are left in the dust by the great, who have a way of continuing to get even better. 

Not to mention that passion is way more fun than getting up ad going to work just because, as the commercial says, "it's time to make the doughnuts."

The Slippery Slope From Polite To Politically Correct

Of course, I cringe when someone says something cruel, insensitive, or painful.  But, we seem to be having a hard time calling a spade a shovel in this era of treading lightly.

Last week, I began frothing at the mouth and shaking uncontrollably when our local newspaper editorially took on the utter folly of how this nation educates the planet's best and brightest, then makes it impossible for them to stay in the US and contribute to our technological and economic growth.  The brightest lights are in the STEM curricula, and we ought to be handing them H1-B visas as birthday presents.  They also permeate upper reaches of advanced degrees in supply chain management - and the industry desperately needs their quantitative talents.

In my supportive letter to the Editor, I perhaps became a trifle too barbed with certain assessments, and the paper, fearing who knows what retribution, edited, actually bowdlerized, much of the language.  What went unseen by a dwindling readership were my contentions that: our country's Congress understood only that STEM might be that part of a cherry used to pick one out of a drink; the current (and past) Administrations couldn't lead lemmings off a cliff; and certain leaders might never have lifted anything heavier than a roach clip in their lives.

A further contention was that the legislation and regulation surrounding the issue was a pandering sham, in which both political parties could claim that they had acted boldly in protecting American jobs for American workers.  While they were  busy in an orgy of self-congratulation, no one seemed to notice that the jobs that we prevent international students from obtaining have virtually no US applicants, their attention having been devoted to xBox and similar amusements.

The prospect for international students returning to their home countries to create centers of technology excellence - and jobs - while helping our global competitors beat our brains out in world-wide marketplaces is depressing enough.  But, casting out talent we can use - and need - is driving us to a reality in which we are neither able to pick agricultural products nor perform quantum mechanics.

No amount of faux job protection, and no amount of a subtle and economically deadly form of racism should leave us feeling good, or searching for polite and gentle words to express hard truths.

To give you another dose of cold shivers, consider that this gang of our leaders, whether charging from behind or marching at the head of the parade, is who we seem to be expecting to magically create the vision and come up with the cash, to rebuild our supply chain infrastructure.  We may be facing the back end of the horse, here, and there's only one thing, and one word, for what comes out of that end.

It's Spring, and birds are on the wing, and I'd love to be wrong about this, but this spade is looking like a shovel, and not a ready one, at that.