November Monthy Hustle

Hi everyone, and welcome to the Monthly Hustle! A newsletter all about - well, the hustle!

I realized I’ve been having conversations with so many of you guys all over the place – on LinkedIn, Clubhouse, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, even TikTok – not to mention on the LTSC podcast, on Blended and Thoughts and Coffee. I’ve been learning a lot, observing trends, discovering what’s hot (and what’s not!), and so I wanted one definitive place to share it all with you. The Monthly Hustle will be my single source of Sarah truth!

So, where do I start?

Well, since we’ve now (shocking as it may seem!) entered Q4, I wanted to look back on the year so far.

LTSC turned 3

Earlier in the year, Let’s Talk Supply Chain celebrated its third birthday. I faced some tough times in the early days – and of course, the last 18 months have been no walk in the park for any of us! – and so it was a truly special achievement for me to establish and grow our incredible supply chain community.

The last three years have been filled with opportunities and conversations I could’ve only dreamed of. I’ve made some amazing connections and met some incredible people that have changed my life for the better.

And our three-year anniversary also brought with it our 200th episode, where I got together with some of my favorite supply chainers to share stories and take a trip down memory lane – it was emotional!

It’s safe to say that I can’t wait for many more years to come!

AsiaPac launch

How else do you celebrate a big milestone? By launching into a new continent, of course!

I’d been daydreaming about the possibility of taking LTSC global for quite a while, but when I met Jonathan Kempe everything fell into place. He’s CEO and founder of his own business, Verifai; he has over 20 years of industry experiences; and he’s an all-round amazing person, so I was thrilled to welcome him to the LTSC family. Jonathan and I plotted and planned for a quite a while and were finally able to announce the launch of Let's Talk Supply Chain AsiaPac in the summer.

So that’s North America and AsiaPac covered, where shall we head next?

Teaching sustainability

You know sustainability is a passion of mine. That's why I created a LinkedIn Learning Course all about the impact of the supply chain on the environment! It's called the Fundamentals of Sustainable Supply Chains.

People are loving it! You can check out my new course on sustainability here.

Brand New Shows

I always knew supply chain was complex (is that an understatement?!) but the more time I’ve spent, over the last couple of years, interviewing a variety of different businesses and speaking to supply chain professionals, the more I’ve come to realize just how nuanced and fast-moving all of the varying stands really are. And so one show was just no longer enough!

This year, I’ve launched several new shows to allow us the space and freedom to really dive deeper.

LOGTECH Live, with Eric Johnson. Eric is Senior Editor of Technology at the Journal Of Commerce, so it's a real honor to collaborate with him – if something's going down in supply chain, he's the first to know! So I’m really proud that he’s sharing all of his insider knowledge with us. Brought to you by Chain.io, on the first Friday of every month at 10am EST, Eric is joined by a special guest to break down key industry trends and insights.

Purpose, Planet, and Profit, with Topl. Lately, it can feel like nothing good is happening around us. Especially in supply chain. Well, it doesn't have to be that bad – sometimes we just need a little purpose! Every third Wednesday at 12pm EST, Kim Raath or Chris Georgen will be sharing stories and advice for businesses looking to find that essential balance between what’s good for the planet, and what’s good for your profit.

Comin’ In Hot, with Abby Baird. The industry is always changing, so what’s in store for the next generation of supply chain professionals? Supply chain management student, Abby, is bringing her passion and enthusiasm for the future of supply chain every fourth Thursday at 12.30m EST.

And if this isn’t enough, we’ll be filling up your calendar with even more new shows launching 2022.

– stay tuned!

Celebrating diversity

It wasn’t just Let’s Talk Supply Chain that had a birthday this year. Blended, my incredible podcast all about diversity, equity and inclusion, turned one!

When I first started thinking about founding a DEI podcast, I really wasn’t sure how it would be received. It took a little while to build my confidence, I had some conversations with a few wonderful people who encouraged me to go for it – and wow, am I glad I did. You guys have embraced the show even more than I could have imagined.

I’ve hosted some incredible guests and I can’t even describe how much of an honor it’s been that they’ve opened up, and shared their stories with us – in a lot of cases they’ve been really sensitive, personal topics and yet they’ve thrown themselves into it with authenticity and humor so that, as a group, we’ve been able to start to break down stigma and create a safe space for people to ask questions, learn, grow and work through their own belief systems and experiences. We’ve tackled some huge topics – social inequality, racism, sexism, trans rights – and we don’t plan on stopping now!

And just last month, after nearly two years in the making, I was finally able to announce another piece in the DEI puzzle: The Salute to Diversity Honor 2022.

This honor has been developed to recognize the efforts of transport and logistics supply chain companies and organizations who are driving real and strategic change within diversity, equity, and inclusion. Nominations are now OPEN and any business within the industry – including ocean carriers, ports and terminals, cargo shippers, trucking firms, and rail and logistics providers – is welcome.

This is a huge step forward for our industry, in terms of proactively driving diversity and inclusion, so

I encourage as many of you as possible to get involved in helping to shape the future of supply chain.

There’s no doubt that it’s been a tough year for supply chain and the people working in it. But, through all of the experiences I’ve had so far this year, I’ve learned that we are an incredible community. We’re passionate, resilient, dedicated to driving change – just look at some of the amazingly supportive collaborations and commitments to innovation and diversity that I’ve just talked about. I don’t think any of these would have even been possible just a few years ago. So let’s keep our heads up, and keep going.

Let me know your thoughts, or even better, get involved. Subscribe for more! And remember, you’re just a click away.

Sarah x