Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference

Logistics have always been important. No doubt of it. (My first slide is a quote from General Omar Bradley, commander of U.S. forces on D-day: “Amateurs talk about strategy. Professionals talk about logistics.” Incidentally, the 70th anniversary of D-Day is just two weeks away.) But, if possible, the role of the logistics—supply chain—exec is becoming more important. By an order of magnitude. In the “Age of the Internet of Everything” and “Social Business” … everything truly is connected to everything else. And concocting and managing and harvesting maximum value from this ubiquitous web/moving target is arguably Corporate Job ONE.

Hence, I am at once excited and cowed by the opportunity to speak at Gartner’s 10th annual supply chain bosses’ get-together. (Among other things, the conference includes the announcement of Gartner’s “2013 Supply Chain Top 25.”)

You’ll find my slides here—in long and short form. We are also including a paper that seems particularly apropos, “Systems Have Their Place: Second Place.” It acknowledges, with 10 supporting case studies—the centrality of excellent systems, but also the necessity for a supportive culture to be in place if their yield is in any way to be maximized.

Gartner PPT Final
Gartner PPT Long
Systems SECOND PDF