Friday musings: Old wisdoms for SCM

Growing scientific evidence highlights benefits of walking, for physical and mental wellbeing. Reflecting my personal experiences, walks disconnecting from daily hassle are highly recommended. On my latest one an idea for Friday post popped up. Think old wisdoms, proverbs, how those fit into SCM universe. No clue where idea came from, power of the walks, I guess. There are always lot of birds along my route, so perhaps “Early Bird Gets the Worm” had something to do with it. Anyway, let’s give it a try.

Speaking of early birds, my thinking is going towards first mover advantage, taking initiative and getting the ‘boring’ things done out of the way. Monday mornings are not my strongest moments, and I have found those to be excellent for cleaning the clutter from to do list and mailbox. First mover position can be a blessing or curse, but there are always valuable lessons to be picked up.

In SCM context my favorite is “There Is No Such Thing as Free Lunch’. This is to understand the trade-offs for your decisions. If you ever think there is none, stop and rethink, you are missing something for sure. Steering a supply chain is continuous balancing act between service level, quality and costs. Having insight how much your lunch costs is vital for success.

In close second place I have combination of “Mr. Murphy Is Alive and Kicking (painfully)” and “Only Certainty in Life Is Death and Taxes”. What can go wrong will go wrong is good to keep in mind. Also, I still haven’t met a person who can ‘forecast’ correctly next week’s lottery numbers. Thus, future incidents depend on probabilities, there is no certainty, none. These have profound implications to planning processes. In my mind key being how you derive value out of actions. Stop finetuning details in plans which will really make no difference, pay attention to critical timelines, customer behavior, supply crunches, as well with potential outliers. And always have plan B and C ready.

Next, “Grass Is Greener on Other Side of Fence’, right? This has wide variety to discuss. Today my thinking went in the direction of “Great Today Beats Perfect Tomorrow Hands Down" or “Catch in the Bag Is Better Than 10 on the Branch”. In SCM we are accustomed to chasing perfection. For me this is a paradox, as yes, we must chase it, but we can’t achieve it. Why, 2 main reasons. First, perfection is very expensive, payback at top end of curve diminishes very fast, find something else than squeezing last drops of water out of stone. Secondly, it takes a long time to reach perfection. In modern world only constant is change, so if by accident you land in status you in past defined as ‘perfect’, odds are high environment has already moved on and in worst case you play serious catch up.

Thinking from sustainability perspective, “What Goes Around Comes Around” echo nicely with circular economy. Linear, one-time usage to waste dump approach, is environmentally very taxing and losing competitiveness. This also resonates with doing invincible basic back-end stuff right. Excellence in master data, any process steering parameters has huge payback. The best companies know this.

There are so many others, few to sum up. A Finnish one (poorly translated) “Forest Echoes as It Is Shouted At”, watch your behavior. Two great ones from my past, “Fat Man Always Wins Dieting Competition”, understand to whom credit is due to and “Repetition Does Not Ruin the Prayer”, golden rule for change management. For “Old Dog Does Not Learn New Tricks”, as self-reflection let’s put a positive spin. We, senior practitioners, have lived through few hype cycles, chased too many shiny objects, and hopefully understand that asking questions on real value of latest hot idea is important. Naturally need to watch symptoms for change resistance, to which we never fall in, right?

As last one for the weekend, favorite from my previous CEO: “Do Not Misunderstand Kindness as a Weakness”. World today is trending towards tough macho type leadership which as any style has pros and cons. With this it is important to remember power of kindness, humility, and containing your ego. It does not prevent executing difficult decisions, acting tough as a steel, determined to succeed in business, quite opposite actually. When you do right things with right intentions, with right mindset, you will find people respect and follow your leadership.

Any proverbs guiding your SCM actions? Be kind, deliver your promises and enjoy the ride. Have a fantastic weekend!