Creating an agile culture allows for employee growth, company advancements, and the ability to keep pace in today’s rapidly changing supply chain. In our most recent episode with Galen Smith, Digital Supply Chain Transformation Leader at IBM, our guest weighed in on the importance of creating a space for all contributions to be welcomed and how that mindset has shaped IBM. Learn more about Smith below!
How did you first get involved with the Center for Supply Chain Research?
My first involvement was to present Blockchain in one of their Leader Forum’s – it was raised as a new technology of interest and I had spent the past year implementing a blockchain in IBM and could talk to it from the practitioner perspective, not a consulting or IT view.
If you could go back five to 10 years, what professional advice would you give your younger self?
Always keep learning and growing your skills! Especially in the technical areas, new technologies, data scientist, programming – whatever the graduates/ new hires are getting in their education, you need to be learning it also to stay up with the times.
What are your favorite industry publications or resources to learn?
- Publications from Gartner, CSCMP (Council of Supply Chain Mgt Professionals), Supply Chain Management Review.
- Resources: Universities – working with students and learning from them (high school/college with STEM, Colleges with student projects), and with professors on their research and insights.
- Conferences – (virtual and in-person) where you can share your experiences and learn from other companies
What is something about the supply chain industry that has surprised you lately?
The resiliency of the people who run the supply chains – with all we’ve been through in the world, global markets and shortages, the employees never give up. They take on every challenge and work it through. Even with the exponential number of disruptions, they maintained their resiliency, their ability to respond, to be creative, to fight and overcome, and to use innovation to develop new ways to excel because it’s the new ways that will keep you ahead of the disruptions.
What role do you see design thinking and agility playing in the future of supply chain?
They are fundamental core competencies – because of how they build the people to grow and learn and become more every day. You must learn new things, you must change, you must be innovative and creative and try things and learn and try more things. Agile and Design Thinking build the attitudes and mentality that supports a growth mindset.