Leaders of Change: Neil Ackerman

NEIL ACKERMAN is the Senior Director, Global Supply Chain Advanced Planning and Innovation, for Johnson and Johnson across all segments including Pharmaceuticals, Biomedical Devices and Consumer Products. He is responsible for accelerating supply chain innovation and enablement of advanced planning processes and technologies worldwide. His team is critical in bringing value-based prototyping to life within Johnson and Johnson and beyond.

Prior to this role, Neil held various positions at Amazon.com, including Strategy Head for Fulfillment By Amazon and the General Manager and Inventor of the Amazon Small and Light global program. Neil was the Global Director of Integrated Supply Chain, eCommerce strategy and technology innovation at Mondelez International, one of the world’s largest snack companies with brands such as Oreo, Milka, Cadbury’s and Nabisco. In this role, Neil was recognized in various global publications for inventing and launching a Direct To Consumer Supply Chain Model. He is an expert on eCommerce and supply chain innovations, is published and has given multiple keynotes globally for his work on the eCommerce Flywheel and its impact on supply chain for a long-term competitive advantage.

Neil holds 10 US patents and has been quoted, interviewed and written about in WSJ, Bloomberg, Inc., Forbes, Business Week, CNBC and numerous highly selective international publications. Neil is a winner of numerous leadership awards including the prestigious Amazon.com “Just Do It” Award and was a Distinguished Visitor for the USA Navy in 2016. Currently, Neil sits on the Board of Directors for After School All Stars, a charity providing After School services to 75,000 children across the USA and is an active Board Advisor for multiple start-ups globally including Flexe, the “airbnb of warehousing.” He is a graduate of University of Richmond, UVA and MIT, and he holds a PMP, MBA and MS. Neil travels the world and can share wonderful stories. He lives in the United States with his wife, three children and a goofy dog.

Note: These views solely belong to Neil Ackerman and are not associated with the views or perspectives of Johnson & Johnson.

Why did you choose to pursue eCommerce in your career? I decided to pursue supply chain, and eCommerce is one aspect of the supply chain ecosystem. For the first time in modern history, supply chain is to be a revenue-generating machine and not a cost structure. Businesses continue to show differentiation and a competitive advantage via their Supply Chain, and clearly the Supply Chain focus is driven by revenue conversion opportunities and the consumer demand for faster, better, cheaper, and NOW fulfillment. Those companies that can create an advantage via the Supply Chain will win. We see this today as small brands continue to grow fast online driven by their ability to get in front of consumers online with an easy way for delivery.

What is your biggest strength, and how have you used it for your success in eCommerce? I realize all of my own faults and personality traits that make me peculiar, and as a result, it is fun to make fun of myself. I laugh and have fun,and having fun allows you to strive to make history when everyone doubts change.

What is the weirdest skill or talent to come in handy in your eCommerce experience? When you can code, you can build. I am a dreamer, and when I dream I have no boundaries. Regulations are artificial barriers made to be disrupted. Many peers would tell you that I have a great ability to dream big and the knowledge to make it happen, although I have many failed experiments along the way.

What was your most “valuable” career failure, and why? I do not define failures. They were all experiments. If I knew the outcome, it would not be an experiment. I have failed and succeeded. Both are learning opportunities. My most valuable is my time and investments at Amazon. I had huge highs and low lows. It was amazing and shaped exactly who I am today. I have a big vision for an amazing smart city and have been laughed out of the room more than once. However, it is coming and my passion and smarts says that this will be a major lifestyle disruptor in the next 20 years. The world is ready for change and it is all coming together. We are just in the beginning stages of the possibilities for our children and their children.

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior or habit has most improved your life? In the last five years, I have become fascinated with professional sports and how teams develop pieces of the chessboard to win a championship. It is a fascinating science. I think I would be great at it and my recent algorithmic predictions continue to be pretty good. One thing it can’t measure yet is the wild circumstances that the human condition causes when an individual has the overwhelming drive to win. When that happens, all data is wrong. 

What are you learning right now? I learn each day that I know nothing and I need to read more and study harder. Specifically, I am learning another language. I don’t ever reveal the languages I know.

What are the 1-3 books you’ve gifted the most or that have greatly influenced your life, and why? All books by Malcolm Gladwell. He is a mentor and a friend. I love behavioral economics.

What are the worst recommendations or advice you have heard related to eCommerce? Worst is “Amazon/Alibaba is not beatable.” Everyone and every business eventually is disrupted. It may take decades, but that is how the world turns. Nothing and nobody is invincible.

What advice would you give to a future leader of change about to enter business, or specifically the eCommerce field? Think Big and Be Data Driven. If you want to really want to make history, you need to be bold and use data to create magic that no one expects. It takes lots of experiments and guts. In the end, you will be happy you tried it. Be empathetic and nice. No one wants to work with you if you are not.

What specific, industry-related change do you believe will happen that few others seem to see? That Blockchain is about to change the world related to how people share, buy, communicate and even use social media. In ten years from now, Blockchain and crypto currency will be the norm and the world will never be the same. Major eCommerce players can only be disrupted by a Supply Chain blockchain ecosystem where no one owns the data and it is a total commodity. It is coming. If you remember anything from this discussion, remember that Blockchain and watch its profound impact on the globe in the next 10 years.

What is the last thing you bought online, and why? Raspberry Pi for my son. Teaching him to code and develop his computer science interest.

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Leaders of Change is a weekly interview series featuring select industry pioneers who are driving the evolution of commerce, the consumer and everything in between. If you would like to recommend a Leader of Change for consideration, please reach out to me on LinkedIn.