Forward-thinking strategies, tactics drive success

At first glance it might seem that the role of Responsibility is self-evident — that the Responsible Transformational Supply Chain Leader simply "takes responsibility" for transforming the supply chain.

Not even close.

Just as the individual operational components of the supply chain have become more sophisticated and complicated in recent years, so too have the requirements for leadership. It is no longer enough to "be in charge" and to assign accountability for all the supply chain’s function. More — much more — is required of tomorrow’s leaders.

In order to develop an understanding of what is required of the transformational leader, let’s begin our journey to the future with a few key definitions:

Futurist: Futurists have probably been with us since the dawn of time. People have always been drawn to those who they feel can predict the future. In the field of literature, probably the first and best-known futurist was the famous French author Jules Verne, whose 1865 novel "From the Earth to the Moon" amazingly had his explorers blasting off from a base in Florida — the same place that all of the Apollo missions originated.

In the mid-1940s companies like RAND and SRI began long-range planning — first for the military and then for private industry. After World War II the futurist industry blossomed, and today there are several groups of consultants and others who are engaged by organizations to chart the future.

Futurists could be broken down into two further categories.

Visionaries: Visionaries are people who can see the future, but do not possess the skills necessary to see their visions through to completion. In American history there is no better example of this than Gen. Billy Mitchell, who is often dubbed "The Father of American Air Power." He rose to prominence in World War I and at its end was in command of all American air units in Europe. As early as 1906 (remember, the Wright Brothers’ first flight was in 1903), Mitchell predicted that future military conflict would be decided in the air, as opposed to the ground or sea.

Mitchell became the youngest American general at age 32, and in 1924-25 published a 324-page report predicting a future war with Japan and the attack on Pearl Harbor.

But Mitchell’s report fell — not on deaf ears, but rather on offended ears. Even though he was dashing, handsome and outspoken, even though he was the son of a United States senator, and even though he was able to prove his theories in several test scenarios — including the sinking of a captured German battleship, not only was he unable to bring his vision to fruition — he was, in fact, court-martialed for his efforts. He resigned from the military (after being found guilty of subordination) in 1926 and died in 1936.

But he was later exonerated and honored. In fact, a statue of him graces the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum, and Milwaukee’s airport is named after him.

Transformational Leaders: A step beyond the person who can see the future accurately is that person who can put his or her vision on his shoulders and carry it with him to the promised land, such as Apple’s Steve Jobs. Today, most everyone knows who Steve Jobs is, and they know of his innovations — The Apple II, the Macintosh, the Mac, iMac, iPod and iPhone, but how many people know that he picked up the key element of the modern PC — the Graphic User Interface (GUI) from Xerox? Xerox, in fact, pioneered several elements of modern computing — networking of computers, the Ethernet, the GUI and the mouse.

But Xerox did not possess the vision or interest to take the innovations to market. Then one day Steve Jobs walked into their offices, saw GUI and began designing the future. In truth, Jobs’ vision is Apple’s raison-d’etre. His buddy Steve Wozniak built the first PC in his garage, but it was Jobs who saw what could be done with it; the same was true for virtually every other product Apple developed. Someone else built them, but Jobs saw them in their implemented state in the future. And he took them there.

The proof of Jobs’ transformational leadership capabilities was never more visible than during the years that he was absent from the company. Apple languished and nearly failed. His return took Apple to heights of success that no one but Jobs could have imagined.

That being said, what might a Transformational Supply Chain Leader look like? What tool kit would he or she need to get the job done? What personal skills?

Let’s take a quick graphic look at the characteristics of the current supply chain environment (Now) and what the characteristics of the transformed model (Then) might hold. The following table contains some elements one might expect to see in the future:

Without going into too much detail on the individual elements of the table, it becomes immediately evident that the future model is far more complicated and involves far more interactions than the historical ones. It is no longer possible for one leader to pick up the saber of a fallen comrade and continue the charge toward the enemy on the other side of the battlefield. The advent of rapid fire rifles and machine guns made those tactics antiquated in war, just as the ever complicating social, political, economic and medical science environment have antiquated traditional delivery models for healthcare delivery.

The Transformational Leader (TL) must:

1. Understand the vision totally and be able to adapt it to changing circumstances. Since this person will be called upon to take people where they not only have never been before, but may not even want to go, the leader must be a person who has been subjected to "disruptive exercises" — things which are not part of the norm, but can happen without notice. The TL must be trained for life, not just for getting today’s orders processed on time.

2. Look at leadership as a sacred responsibility. The TL will know that the organization’s mission (the care of its patients) has been entrusted to him or her. He or she will know that his or her individual talents are needed to help get the organization to its goal, the needs of the many (the organization) will always outweigh the needs of the few — or the one. A desire for personal aggrandizement has no place in the makeup of the TL. A selfless style must supplant a self-centered one. Therefore, it is entirely possible that a truly exceptional leader may be overlooked by his or her peers in the larger context, but will always be known and held dear by his or her organization.

3. Understand that leadership is continuum-focused as opposed to episodically-focused. While, "things" will always happen (and must be dealt with), those "things" only draw the TL’s attention for as long as it takes to mitigate them and return to the path as proscribed in the overall plan.

4. Understand that leadership is collaborative and not heroic. Who were the United States’ most important generals in World War II? Many people would answer Douglas MacArthur and George Patton because of both men’s dash and daring. But the correct answer would be Dwight D. Eisenhower and George Marshall because they had the daunting task of bringing together a coalition of rogues, eccentrics, vainglorious self-promoting hotheads and ne’er-do-wells and getting the job done. For many traditional supply chain leaders, collaboration is a missing or developing skill — one which must be learned and implemented up, down and across the chain of command. The TL will learn that many of his or her subordinates possess skills that make them preferred or even superior to him or her in certain circumstances, and he or she will support, promote and recognize that often and publicly.

5. Know when to hold ‘em, fold ‘em or just say "no." The TL will have the responsibility for taking what has been described as "an awesome state of energy" and morphing that into a controlled state of change. He or she will have to do this within a set of norms, boundaries, policies and procedures that are often proscribes from outside and above. Since the TL is the "Keeper of the Flame" there will be times when he or she will need to shoulder responsibility for bending or even breaking rules to keep the mission and vision aligned. Staff must be shielded from harm while doing their work. Resources must be acquired and money spent — sometimes quickly and without time to go through the often arduous and bureaucratic iterations present in many organizations. In short, the TL must be ready to ask for forgiveness in lieu of permission. The TL must be willing to turn hardcore, if necessary, to keep things moving forward.