Thunderation Nation

With all the attention future Secretary of the Treasury gets today, we tend to forget the role—and voices—of other patriots who constructed a new country out of rebellion against a King and crown.

Great thinkers conceived the foundation of a democratic republic, the disproportionate representation that prevented big cities from imposing undue pressures on rural America and smaller towns. Then came the balance of powers that gave weight to the three branches of Federal government.

Madison, Monroe, Adams, Washington, Franklin, others too numerous to count. International figures dedicated to the cause. Squabbling, even raucus contention. Arguably the most fluent and persuasiuve, Thomas Jefferson.

A creative genius, Jefferson composed, and edited, and structured the US Constitution. Famously, in Lin-Manuel's breakthrough take on history, he muses, "Sometimes I wonder whey I even bother to bring nthe thunder," as he lets Hamilton know that he doesn't have the votes for higher office.

As one who spends his life in rants, in bringing supply chain management thunder, sometimes I also wonder why.  

The answer is simple: Because it makes a difference; because people need to think about what we do, and why and how. Next comes lightning …

Slim Whitman, Cowboy Copas, And Tom T. Hall

Once upon a simpler time, a local TV radio station attempted to reclaim past glories with a "barn dance"-style of counrty music, al la The Grand Ol' Opry or the WLS Barn Dance, or any number of variants on the theme.

A voice from the dim and misty past, Slim Whitman, was enjoying a renaissance of popularity, and headlined the debut broadcast. It was my pleasure to fly into CMH with Slim, who mostly napped and sampled small bottles of spiritous refreshment and revival.

Far from the legends of the genre, Slim was the consummate professional. He showed up, did his job, and avoided scandal. He broke little new ground; he was himself, at all times.And himself was pretty darn good on most every night.

Based on Slim's srong opening, the next show featured a unique writer and performer, Tom T. Hall. "The Storyteller" created a school and style of country music, and single-handedly wrote a heart-stopping, chart-topping string of hits beginning in 1971 and placing 26 singles in the BMI Top Ten.

The crowd, as we say, went wild.

There was not ever to be a Cowboy Copas show. The Country Gentleman, essentially a honky-tonk singer left over from the '40s, perished in the plane crash that also took Hawkshaw Hawkins and Patsy Cline from us.

But, the model was not a financial hit, anyway, and the concept folded, so there were no shows headlined by has-beens, up-and-comers, wanna-bes, journeymen or masters.

The lessons for supply chain practitioners are these: There's room for shooting stars, game-changers,  innovators, and thought/style leaders; we need them desperately.  There's also room—and a need—for journeymen and journeywomen—capable performers who've mastered their craft and are on top of the game.

Maybe not stars. But capable and reliable performers; we need them desperately, too.

The Mystery Of SCM Integration

Supply Chain Brain, in March, got exercised about the importance of integration in supply chain management. Mon Dieu! It doesn't require the mental prowess of Hercule Poirot and his "little grey cells" to understand that genuine SCM has been defined by integrated approaches for more than thirty years. It has apparently dawned on crack research mavens that global supply chains are complex.

Quick, Agatha, call in Jane Marple; there's a clue hidden amongst the teaspoons! And the subtle conclusion, defying all police logic, is that modern supply chains need to implement an integrated approach to SCM. Maybe Benedict Cumberbatch in his Sherlock role can offer more details.

The keys are not exactly new news, unless it turns out that Kim Jong Un has pioneered the breakthrough concepts involved in integration:

Unified flows of material and information, data and physical goods I end to end processes

• Alignment on singular SC perspectives
• Optimized chain performance (as opposed to sub-optimized siloed functional measures and targets)
• An implemented supporting IT architecture
• Defined objectives
• Operating silo elimination
• Understanding and living with trade-offs

The core ingredient is a call for a "re-shaped" leadership. Breaking news! You do not reshape leadership; you develop and institutionalize it. Reshaped, organizationally, is less useful than GMO foods, and probably harbors genetic defects, as well as an abbreviated life span.

Repeating, leading supply chains have been practicing and perfecting integrated SC management for decades. Those just now figuring out that there's a gap may be doomed to either abject failure or permanent laggard status in a brutally competitive business world.

Bonne chance!