To Share & Succeed

"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be." -?Rosalynn Carter

Good Sunday afternoon all and welcome to this edition (No. 64) of "With That Said" (WTS), a LinkedIn newsletter powered by your friends here at Supply Chain Now . Before we dive into today's edition, we'd like to ask a simple favor: if you enjoy WTS each week, we'd love for you to share with your network OR share with a friend. Our SCN team has thoroughly enjoyed all the comments & feedback that we've received since publishing the first edition. Thank you and keep it all coming!

Now, let's get into interesting news from around the global business world:

• Economic woes can be found around the globe, including China, where the economy expanded 5.2% in 2023, which was the slowest rate of growth in decades. Gain more insights into the Chinese economy here via SEMAFOR .
• Violence across the Red Sea continues to impact ocean shipping. As published in The Wall Street Journal : "average worldwide costs of shipping a 40-foot container rose 23% in the week through Jan. 18 to $3,777." See the full story here.
• While over 1 million electric vehicles were sold in the U.S. in 2023, the rate of sales growth has dropped dramatically from its peak of 90% YOY growth in summer 2023. With gas rates dropping back down, more and more consumers appear to be opting for hybrid vehicles. Automotive companies are acting on these shifting trends. For example, Ford Motor Company recently cut the production of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. Read more here via The Associated Press .
• "There's always more to go," when it comes to digital transformation says 美国银行 Chair and CEO Brian Moynihan. The bank spent some $3.8B on new technologies in 2023; and they'll spend as least that much in 2024. One of the objectives of all that spending, you might ask? Clean data, orderly data, and "getting the data in the right place". Check out more here via CIO Dive .
• One expert from 雀巢 breaks out his crystal ball for what trends to expect in the Food & Beverage space in 2024. Mike Van Houten essentially says expect a lot more new products; expect brands to continue to bring more heat & spice to meet demands; and he says companies will continue to invest in solutions that will eliminate omnichannel friction. Check out the full read here via Retail Brew .
• On the local front, our founder & CEO Scott Luton shared an important milestone that the SCN team surpassed in 2023, as we invested heavily (with both dollars & plenty of elbow grease) in our "Do Good" mission. Learn more here. And we invite you to join our efforts in 2024 to take it to the next level. Deeds, not words!

MAKING STUFF MEANS MAKING BETS: Supply chain leaders gamble by placing bets that create waste across multiple functions. From Tim Krug and our friends at Noodle.ai, learn how to powerfully tilt the odds in your favor for much bigger gains: https://noodle.ai/

In case you missed it, check out some of these points-of-view and perspectives from around global business:

• In the latest edition of The FinTech Prose, Theodora Lau shares a variety of intriguing data & perspective from the venture & startup world, including this statistic: according to Crunchbase data, Black founders in the U.S. raised less than 0.5% of all the $136B venture dollars allocated in 2023. Learn more here.
• Bob Carver is one of the Top Cybersecurity Voices on LinkedIn. In a recent message, Bob says "companies that replace people with AI will get left behind." Learn the rest of the story here.
• Have you invested in a formal leadership development plan for your career journey? According to Crystal Y. Davis, MBA,ACC, CLSSBB : "A Leadership Development Plan is a dynamic document that should evolve with your changing needs and goals. Regularly revisit and update your plan to ensure it remains relevant and aligned with your leadership aspirations." Learn some of the key steps here.
• A humorous story of technology imitating humans was shared by Aaron Lax in recent days. Evidently, a shipping company's AI chatbot resorted to cursing and criticizing its "employer". Check out the full story here.
• In the last couple of months, our SCN team has launched a popular featured series with our friends at Noodle.ai . The overall series is entitled "Making Better Supply Chain Bets With the Power of Probabilities". Check out this brief video that speaks to the thought leadership behind the series here via YouTube.

Check out a few of our upcoming LIVE sessions, as well as a few of our recent podcast releases, featuring guests such as Ami Daniel with Windward and Christelle Delenclos with 马士基 . See below:

#shipping #freight #supplychain #logistics #manufacturing #leadership #AI