Speaker 1: Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: This season of Smart Talks with IBM is all about
Speaker 1: new creators, the developers, data scientists, c t o s
Speaker 1: and other visionaries creatively applying technology in business to drive change.
Speaker 1: They use their knowledge and creativity to develop better ways
Speaker 1: of working, no matter the industry. Join hosts from your
Speaker 1: favorite Pushkin Industries podcasts as they use their expertise to
Speaker 1: deepen these conversations, and of course Malcolm Gladwell will guide
Speaker 1: you through the season as your host and provide his
Speaker 1: thoughts and analysis along the way. Look out for new
Speaker 1: episodes of Smart Talks with IBM on the I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts,
Speaker 1: and learn more at IBM dot com slash smart talks. Hello, Hello,
Speaker 1: Welcome to Smart Talks with IBM, a podcast from Pushkin Industries,
Speaker 1: HR Radio and IBM. I'm Malcolm Gabbo. This season, we're
Speaker 1: talking to new creators, the developers, data scientists, c t
Speaker 1: o s and other visionaries who are creatively applying technology
Speaker 1: in business to drive change. Channeling their knowledge and expertise,
Speaker 1: they're developing more creative and effective solutions, no matter the industry.
Speaker 1: Our guest today is Sherry higinich at IBM. She's the
Speaker 1: global leader for Sustainability Services and offering leader for sustainable
Speaker 1: supply chain and circularity, but to her friends, she's better
Speaker 1: known as the supply chain Queen. Sherry's job is to
Speaker 1: help businesses design and build supply chains that are environmentally
Speaker 1: sustainable and socially equitable. She's helped guide strategy for Fortune
Speaker 1: five hundred companies and has won numerous top awards in
Speaker 1: her industry. Sherry has worked with companies like Salesforce and
Speaker 1: Ups to shape thought leadership around supply chain, and she's
Speaker 1: also a major advocate for greater inclusion and diversity in
Speaker 1: her field. On today's show, why sustainability and supply chains
Speaker 1: is good for the planet and for profits, how technology
Speaker 1: can ethically reshape the way consumers source their goods, and
Speaker 1: what the supply chain crisis has revealed about the interdependence
Speaker 1: of our societies. Sherry spoke with Tim Harford, host of
Speaker 1: the Pushkin podcast Cautionary Tales, and longtime columnists at the
Speaker 1: Financial Times, where he writes The Undercover Economist. In addition
Speaker 1: to publishing several books and economics, he's also a BBC
Speaker 1: Broadcaster with his show more or Less. Okay, let's get
Speaker 1: to the interview. Sherry, thanks so much for joining me.
Speaker 1: And I've been looking at your job titles. I've got.
Speaker 1: I've got the official job title IBMS Global Sustainability Services
Speaker 1: Leader and Offering Leader for Sustainable Supply Chain, and I've
Speaker 1: got the unofficial job title, which is Supply Chain Queen,
Speaker 1: which I have to say I like a lot better.
Speaker 1: So what do you actually do well? The title that
Speaker 1: I'm most proud of his mother? Let me just start
Speaker 1: there um, And you know I I am very fortunate
Speaker 1: to wake up every morning and do what I love,
Speaker 1: which is answering a fundamental question. What responsibility do you
Speaker 1: have to others and what impact are you making in
Speaker 1: the world that we share. So in my current role,
Speaker 1: I lead sustainability Services and Alliances globally for IBM Consulting.
Speaker 1: Let's just make the connection for me between sustainability, which
Speaker 1: I think I understand. It's like, you know, doing the
Speaker 1: right thing, looking after the planet, looking after people, and
Speaker 1: supply chains, which I also think I understand. That's the
Speaker 1: thing that goes wrong when I don't get my kettlebells,
Speaker 1: when that ship gets stuck in the sewers canal, and
Speaker 1: everyone's complaining about them at the moment. But how how
Speaker 1: are the two connected. So sustainability and supply chains are
Speaker 1: interconnected in that you have a lot of companies making
Speaker 1: commitments right now around decarbonization. Maybe you've heard of net
Speaker 1: zero journeys or science based target commitments, and when you
Speaker 1: double click that supply chains are actually the conduit to
Speaker 1: realizing a lot of the scope three emission reduction initiatives
Speaker 1: that companies are after right now. So it just just
Speaker 1: explain scope three for me. So scope three emissions or
Speaker 1: emissions that happen outside of your immediate control. So think
Speaker 1: about upstream in sourcing and procarement. Think about when a
Speaker 1: consumer actually uses your product. So, for example, a lot
Speaker 1: of consumer goods, the impacts associated, especially the carbon impacts
Speaker 1: and the water impacts often live after they leave the
Speaker 1: retail establishment or your front doorstep by a car and
Speaker 1: I and I fill it with gas then and I
Speaker 1: drive it around. Then you know, even if the car
Speaker 1: is made incredibly responsibly and the gasoline was was refined
Speaker 1: in the most efficient possible way, you know, I'm still
Speaker 1: bending gas right absolutely, And I think that this is
Speaker 1: the real human emergency that's tucked under a lot of
Speaker 1: the climate change conversation is how are you transforming the
Speaker 1: lives of people, helping them make better decisions. A lot
Speaker 1: of that happens in a supply chain. I think supply
Speaker 1: chains have gotten a lot of attention, maybe for the
Speaker 1: wrong reasons lately, because you you don't have your favorite
Speaker 1: snack or your favorite thing at your fingertips on the shelves,
Speaker 1: and certainly with with the pandemic, how we buy and
Speaker 1: procure goods has changed quite a bit. But supply chains
Speaker 1: that's where leak, it's real. That's where we we see
Speaker 1: things around responsible sourcing and a lot of the social
Speaker 1: inequities that can be addressed using a supply chain, fair
Speaker 1: living wage, making sure that you have a diverse workforce.
Speaker 1: So the cognitive diversity something that I evangelize it I
Speaker 1: be in how are we really shifting the type of
Speaker 1: people who are in the room building solutions to fundamentally
Speaker 1: rethink the world right now? And this is going to
Speaker 1: sound like an ignoble question because you've just expressed these
Speaker 1: noble sentiments, But uh, sustainable supply chains good for business?
Speaker 1: Of course they are so there's always this business case
Speaker 1: for change, and I think there's a pragmatical lens. So
Speaker 1: having come from industry and supply chain for over over
Speaker 1: fifteen years, there's always the lean optimization and what that
Speaker 1: means is things like operational efficiency, looking at materials differently,
Speaker 1: is there more value left? Is there more value on
Speaker 1: the table. So looking at lean and green projects and initiatives,
Speaker 1: A lot of those things have been historically tucked under
Speaker 1: supply chain. But when you say sustainable supply chain, to me,
Speaker 1: it feels very different. It's different because a lot of
Speaker 1: the optimization and efficiency gains, specifically in environmental stewardship, have
Speaker 1: been consequential. They have not been intentional. Yeah, the fact
Speaker 1: that people are thinking about supply chains now I think
Speaker 1: for the wrong reasons as you as you mentioned because
Speaker 1: stuff's gone wrong. Um, I'm sure that's frustrating as a
Speaker 1: supply chain professional and a need to supply chain queen.
Speaker 1: But but I mean, is that is that an opportunity
Speaker 1: because because suddenly people notice that this is important, People
Speaker 1: notice that the society relies on supply chains, the economy
Speaker 1: relies on supply chains. Do you think that over the
Speaker 1: next few years the supply chain sector will look back
Speaker 1: at this moment and say, actually that there is some good. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I mean there's the reality that we will never return
Speaker 1: to where we were before, and that supply chains really
Speaker 1: power the world. They connect communities, they connect you know,
Speaker 1: this super global, hyperlocal frame of mind, and that it
Speaker 1: shows the relationship that businesses can't succeed in societies that
Speaker 1: are failing. I think, um, there's a sense of renewed
Speaker 1: resiliency as well when you you have business operations or
Speaker 1: business as usual, but you you actually can't stop looking
Speaker 1: towards the future. And that for me, at least when
Speaker 1: when I will look back on this in ten years,
Speaker 1: I know that supply chains are right at the forefront
Speaker 1: of creating the type of adaptability to rethink a new world,
Speaker 1: to use sustainability and purpose is really an anchor to
Speaker 1: connect every person across the global network that each of
Speaker 1: us participates in. To the pre COVID consumer, supply chains
Speaker 1: were truly out of sight and out of mind. It
Speaker 1: wasn't until baby formulas started disappearing from the shelves and
Speaker 1: we had to sign up for a six month waiting
Speaker 1: list just to buy a car that we realized how
Speaker 1: much we had taken for Granted, Sherry mentioned earlier, much
Speaker 1: of the environmental and efficiency gains and supply chain have
Speaker 1: been consequential, not intentional. But now that disrupted supply chains
Speaker 1: are more visible than ever, we're forced to ask ourselves
Speaker 1: how can we improve them? How does technology govern the
Speaker 1: modern supply chain? What can businesses and consumers do to
Speaker 1: make supply chains more sustainable and operationally efficient than before?
Speaker 1: Let's listen. I'd also like to talk about computers, because
Speaker 1: I feel computerst I've got to be involved by. This
Speaker 1: is an IBM conversation. You work for IBM, and what
Speaker 1: if computers? What has data? What has digitization got to
Speaker 1: do with supply chains? It's so it's so important because
Speaker 1: digital and supply chain, especially from where I said, it
Speaker 1: makes sustainability visible, actionable, and operational. So we can just
Speaker 1: take some of the supply chain obstacles that have emerged
Speaker 1: in the past two years throughout the pandemic. You know,
Speaker 1: a lot of executives have had to scramble to frankly
Speaker 1: rebalance their supply chain operations. So you think about demand volatility,
Speaker 1: rebalancing workforces, reallocating production lines to other products, especially as
Speaker 1: ppe was manufactured, um all of the policies and procedures
Speaker 1: needed to communicate openly with customers and then also seeking
Speaker 1: alternative modes of transportation, logistics and others. Sir, this is
Speaker 1: data and digital is really at the heart of this.
Speaker 1: If you don't have the right technology, you're not able
Speaker 1: to make smarter, more informed decisions. And a lot of
Speaker 1: this data, frankly, especially in supply chain organizations, it exists
Speaker 1: outside your four walls. And the pandemic is a perfect
Speaker 1: example of the sort of collaboration with technology that's essential
Speaker 1: to not only save lives, but to make better business
Speaker 1: and operational decisions. So I'm trying to picture this, So
Speaker 1: I just imagine I'm a kettle bell. Um. I don't
Speaker 1: know if this is a good example or not, but
Speaker 1: imagine I'm a kettle bell. And I mean partly because
Speaker 1: I got a couple down here and party, because kettle
Speaker 1: bell seemed to be the quintessential thing that everyone was
Speaker 1: trying to get hold of in in the spring of
Speaker 1: and no one, no one could. So um, Okay, So
Speaker 1: so there's a kettle bell. I'm a kettle bell. I've
Speaker 1: just been made in a foundry, just out a hundred
Speaker 1: miles out of shen Jen, and I'm going to have
Speaker 1: to be driven on a truck into the port of Shenngen,
Speaker 1: stuck on a boat across the Pacific, arrive at port
Speaker 1: of Los Angeles, and then be put on a truck.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to go to let's say, Las Vegas,
Speaker 1: because there's somebody in Las Vegas who wants this kettle bell.
Speaker 1: And you know, there's a problem because supply chains are
Speaker 1: all messed up, and we're trying to make this whole
Speaker 1: thing more sustainable, and we're trying to use digital technology
Speaker 1: to just just talk me through how this process could
Speaker 1: work better, how it could be more efficient, how it
Speaker 1: could protect the planet more, how it could reduce volatility,
Speaker 1: what what's going on that might make this kind of
Speaker 1: thing work better. So the first question you ask is
Speaker 1: why are you producing something across the ocean that's landing
Speaker 1: in Las Vegas. And I think they're part of the
Speaker 1: beauty of exponential technology right now, and modernization is that
Speaker 1: we have more information to inform decisions and make better
Speaker 1: decisions than what that means is in your kettle bell instance,
Speaker 1: you think about the footprint of that kettle bell it's
Speaker 1: a very long supply chain and there's a lot that
Speaker 1: can happen. So shorter supply chains are typically happier, they
Speaker 1: have less risk, they have a lower carbon footprint. They
Speaker 1: also have more autonomy and agility, meaning there's a shorter
Speaker 1: distance and there's less disruption that's probable in that shorter
Speaker 1: supply chain. So you know, you you look at how
Speaker 1: are you sourcing. What's that sourcing decision? Is it lowest price? Yeah? Probably,
Speaker 1: but what's the total price? What's the total price of it?
Speaker 1: And that includes a lot of the regulatory pressures around
Speaker 1: lowered carbon emissions and carbon taxation, cross border adjustment tax,
Speaker 1: so on and so forth. Also look at the supply network,
Speaker 1: like are you creating our shortage of materials or goods
Speaker 1: or inventory and other parts of your network as a
Speaker 1: result of fulfilling that cattle bell order from China to
Speaker 1: Las Vegas? Is there a better alternative? Is there a
Speaker 1: decision that's smarter, that's you know, a local or domestic
Speaker 1: decision where you can maybe with an incremental cost, have
Speaker 1: a shorter distance to market to delivery, a lower footprint,
Speaker 1: and you have more control over what happens and a
Speaker 1: lot of those drivers of disruption like demands, supply logistics,
Speaker 1: workforce sustainability. You eliminate that risk by design all the
Speaker 1: way upstream in that very first decision point, where do
Speaker 1: we source, where is it going? And what's the total
Speaker 1: cost of ownership for that cattle bell? And if we
Speaker 1: want these decisions to be made more responsibly, who ultimately
Speaker 1: is making them and what are the what are the
Speaker 1: challenges that we face, what are the obstacles to a
Speaker 1: more sustainable strategy? Is it? Is it cost? Is it ignorance?
Speaker 1: Just a question what's getting in the way. It's such
Speaker 1: a big question, and it's a great question because I
Speaker 1: now I know this is a little provocative, but I
Speaker 1: think that consumers have more power than they than they know.
Speaker 1: They are the demand signal in a supply chain. It
Speaker 1: all starts with what you buy and why you buy it,
Speaker 1: and what I often find gets in the way. And
Speaker 1: you'll have a lot of folks who give you big,
Speaker 1: fancy long answers pontificating. It ultimately comes down to choice.
Speaker 1: It comes down to and again this is a bit
Speaker 1: of a first world answer, but you have the ability
Speaker 1: to choose with your pocket what type of world and
Speaker 1: what type of brand you support. The thing that I
Speaker 1: find most talentien is if you knew and if there
Speaker 1: was a way that a company could convey that level
Speaker 1: of transparency, not everything, not every single data point, but
Speaker 1: just enough to give you context around your purchase, would
Speaker 1: you make a different decision? And that is what sustainability
Speaker 1: and supply chain is in my opinion, that level of
Speaker 1: right level of transparency to help people make better, more informed,
Speaker 1: responsible decisions. And that's also where the divide lies. There's
Speaker 1: so much data. I think, Um, there's no lack of data. Frankly,
Speaker 1: a lot of it is is living in disparate silos.
Speaker 1: And part of the work that I support, um, how
Speaker 1: can you be a great connector across all the different
Speaker 1: touchpoints to not only connect this data aggregated just for
Speaker 1: that first step of visibility, but then the sharing that's
Speaker 1: needed of great use cases the QR code enabled product label,
Speaker 1: so giving the consumer the ability to scan a code
Speaker 1: and see an app relevant sustainability metrics that would enable
Speaker 1: in theory, a better different decision where you could show
Speaker 1: not necessarily what a carbon footprint is or metric tons
Speaker 1: of carbon. Most consumers don't understand that, but in this example, Hey,
Speaker 1: if you buy this product, you're saving forty trees from
Speaker 1: being cut down. You're contributing towards this brand, responsibly sourcing
Speaker 1: a product, and also evangelizing the information in a way
Speaker 1: where you can be part of that journey. There are
Speaker 1: tons of examples where customers want to be a part
Speaker 1: of something much bigger than themselves. Employees as well. So
Speaker 1: I think, you know, we've talked a lot about consumers
Speaker 1: being the demand signal, and that's really where it starts.
Speaker 1: But then I think that this is the power in
Speaker 1: the momentum, the paradigm shift that we're seeing where sustainability
Speaker 1: and supply chain absolutely matter. I love this idea that
Speaker 1: as a consumer, I can just put out my phone
Speaker 1: and scan the QR code and I can get I
Speaker 1: can get as much of as little the data as
Speaker 1: I want. I can get I can get the quick summary,
Speaker 1: or if I'm a real nerd about something, and some
Speaker 1: people are very passionate, they really want the details. I've
Speaker 1: got a friend. Every time we go to a restaurant,
Speaker 1: he's always asking about the supply of the fish. He's
Speaker 1: super interested in sustainable fishing. It's just what's just what
Speaker 1: he does you know, we've all got our interests, So
Speaker 1: I love this idea that that these codes could just
Speaker 1: empower us. It's you know, it's clear that that's a
Speaker 1: possibility now that the risk of digging a little deeper
Speaker 1: into more technical details. You mentioned this problem with data silos.
Speaker 1: To me through exactly how that problem manifests itself and
Speaker 1: what solutions are being explored. So historically, I think when
Speaker 1: you talk about competitive advantage, people have been able to
Speaker 1: operate in a black box, especially with supply chain data.
Speaker 1: A lot of the data around sourcing, logistics, providers, manufacturers,
Speaker 1: all of these things were leveraged together for competitive advantage
Speaker 1: that they didn't want to share this this data the
Speaker 1: strategy across their ecosystem. From what we've seen throughout the pandemic,
Speaker 1: you are probably more profitable, more agile, and successful in
Speaker 1: understanding where you absolutely have to share this data. Um
Speaker 1: this is this is equally true for sustainability data. So
Speaker 1: I think the paradigm shift is now in order two
Speaker 1: decarbonize our world, create the type of meaningful change biodiversity, restoration,
Speaker 1: ocean health, making sure that our forests are healthy. All
Speaker 1: of this requires cooperation now at scale. So when you
Speaker 1: talk about technology. I mentioned before that especially with digital
Speaker 1: and modernization and supply chain, it makes it visible so
Speaker 1: everyone can see a source of the truth. So specifically
Speaker 1: at IBM, we talk a lot about something called an
Speaker 1: intelligent workflow, and this is where you can use technology
Speaker 1: like blockchain, like AI, like twinning, like quantum to bring
Speaker 1: all of these stakeholders upstream and sourcing and procarement all
Speaker 1: the way downstream to the consumer. Even so, take that
Speaker 1: QR code that you scant at the shelf. Consumer can
Speaker 1: look in their at their phone and see the journey
Speaker 1: of that product. They can credibly see where it was sourced.
Speaker 1: There's even the the functionality to thank their farmer. So
Speaker 1: maybe you're scanning a bag of coffee beans where you
Speaker 1: can thank your farmer in act identify the source community.
Speaker 1: When have we ever been able in a source to
Speaker 1: pay intelligent workflow connect the first kilometer of a supply
Speaker 1: chain with the last smile all the way to the
Speaker 1: retail shelf. So I think that these are the types
Speaker 1: of possibilities and opportunities that are enabled with technology, creativity,
Speaker 1: cognitive diversity, and fundamentally rethinking the way that we've done
Speaker 1: things right now. Nine of materials in the world actually
Speaker 1: our circular which means ninety one percent of the goods
Speaker 1: that we use that we consume end up in a
Speaker 1: landfill or are wasted in some way, shape or form,
Speaker 1: and that is absolutely unsustainable. We are on a path
Speaker 1: when we look at our landfills and we look at
Speaker 1: just the management of waste and oceans and waterways. We
Speaker 1: cannot continue to take make and waste or throw away
Speaker 1: goods that we produces. As a species. We're becoming more
Speaker 1: and more aware of the societal ripple effects that result
Speaker 1: from our consumption. Much of Sherry's job is to think
Speaker 1: about how we will live and consume in the future
Speaker 1: and how we can affect change today. There's a human
Speaker 1: element to her work. Timm as Sherry how she collaborates
Speaker 1: with the many humans who are embedded in our supply
Speaker 1: chains to get them on board but changing the status
Speaker 1: quo and what part creativity plays in her work. This
Speaker 1: the whole season of the Smart Talks podcast. It's focused
Speaker 1: on creativity and business. Are you a creative person? Of course?
Speaker 1: You know what's interesting about my career path. I actually
Speaker 1: I started as as an entertainer, as a singer. A
Speaker 1: lot of people don't know that. So I was a
Speaker 1: musician songwriter for many years. Um, but yeah, I I
Speaker 1: there's something about creativity. Um, it's like the human soul
Speaker 1: on fire. And when we think about you know, everything
Speaker 1: that we're living through right now, we need people who
Speaker 1: can be creative and think from different perspectives to redesign
Speaker 1: this world and to redesign business and really steer us
Speaker 1: into a new future. Now now, now, now, you might
Speaker 1: not agree with me, but supply chain and music are
Speaker 1: absolutely connected and they're very similar. And I'll show you why.
Speaker 1: In supply chain, you always start with customer centricity or
Speaker 1: voice of the customer. How are you meeting their their needs,
Speaker 1: their wants, how are you fulfilling the demand. It's no
Speaker 1: different than being on stage and singing or writing a song.
Speaker 1: Think about listening, tempo, cadence and pulse, emoting tone, all
Speaker 1: of those things that orchestration. It's just like music. It's
Speaker 1: just like supply chain. I love it. So, I mean
Speaker 1: you you've conveyed this idea of the creativity and of
Speaker 1: the listening and of the tempo. Can you give me
Speaker 1: a specific example of of a time that you've you've
Speaker 1: helped a client who's come to you and said, look,
Speaker 1: I've got to make the supply chain more sustainable, or
Speaker 1: maybe the client didn't realize that they had to make
Speaker 1: supply chain more sustainable and you convinced them of it,
Speaker 1: but just just talk me through a particular client project
Speaker 1: or client relationship. So, yeah, looking at a transparent supply
Speaker 1: chain in this example, UM, this organization, oh, is a
Speaker 1: bit immature in the space, so looking at how you
Speaker 1: UM encourage healthy snacking. And they wanted to use data differently.
Speaker 1: A lot of the data that they had was very
Speaker 1: much disconnected from the way work gets done. But then
Speaker 1: they also wanted to bring the customer along with them,
Speaker 1: which was a scary proposition because I think one thing
Speaker 1: that came out of that engagement is they weren't as
Speaker 1: mature as some of their competitors. And they said, if
Speaker 1: we voluntarily disclose some of the risks that we know,
Speaker 1: we want to dress but we have to start somewhere
Speaker 1: taking that first honest step, will it harm our brand?
Speaker 1: And it was a really interesting way of looking at
Speaker 1: it because as a consumer who actually buys their products,
Speaker 1: I thought, Wow, they're starting from a place of wanting
Speaker 1: to be honest and wanting to lean in, and we
Speaker 1: have to acknowledge that a lot of brands are on
Speaker 1: this journey and we are going to see things that
Speaker 1: we cannot unsee. Um and very much so. The other
Speaker 1: thing was not knowing how to get started. And in
Speaker 1: order to give people that level of transparency in this
Speaker 1: customer example, they needed the nitty gritty, and the nitty
Speaker 1: gritty was very ditty, and it was a lot of
Speaker 1: assumptions cobbled together, and I actually had to convince them
Speaker 1: that it was a great starting point and and almost
Speaker 1: take them from feeling very vulnerable to feeling very confident.
Speaker 1: And again, um, I saw services in technology and and
Speaker 1: it was it was a great learning moment, frankly, because
Speaker 1: technology doesn't necessarily solve that. Um it's very much you know,
Speaker 1: connecting that human experience. And that is where specifically, in
Speaker 1: this example, the client had a vision for a transparent
Speaker 1: supply chain, but didn't know how to piece together a
Speaker 1: lot of great ideas where they could actually fund their
Speaker 1: transformation over a five year period. Was a billion dollar
Speaker 1: business case, a lot of really cool ideas tucked under it,
Speaker 1: but it was what's the sequence of steps and why
Speaker 1: how do we prioritize resources, funding transforming work. So a
Speaker 1: lot of the work was automated, you know, thinking about
Speaker 1: the future of work and automation, how do you repurpose
Speaker 1: this analysts time for example two more value add time.
Speaker 1: So all of that to say it was a It
Speaker 1: was a great learning experience, um for me and also
Speaker 1: for the brand that I serve, and that we both
Speaker 1: got to learn together and do something that really changed
Speaker 1: everything for them. It sounds studies work really masses to it?
Speaker 1: Does it does? It's why I get up every morning.
Speaker 1: I had this moment where it clicked, and it was
Speaker 1: about seven years ago. I have three kids, So my
Speaker 1: oldest just turned thirteen, and my my oldest shame my
Speaker 1: daughter Aris eight and my youngest is seven. And it
Speaker 1: was when he was born, UM that I just sat
Speaker 1: back and thought, you know, with the climate emergency, Um,
Speaker 1: it was it was right around what am I doing? Like,
Speaker 1: what am I doing to change this? And you start
Speaker 1: to think about, you know, when they're eighteen and God
Speaker 1: knows what the world will look like, then what did
Speaker 1: you do? What was your response? And being in supply
Speaker 1: chain and at the time starting to dabble in sustainability,
Speaker 1: I saw those interconnections, and I saw a way marrying
Speaker 1: supply chain sustainability and technology to really make a difference
Speaker 1: and transforms people's people's lives, and it's good for business
Speaker 1: and good for the planet. And I think it was
Speaker 1: all of that coming together and clicking for me where
Speaker 1: I just said, this is what I'm gonna do. And
Speaker 1: it's just been an incredible feeling and nothing can replicate this.
Speaker 1: My kids are proud of me. UM. I love my team.
Speaker 1: I would choose them even if I wasn't here, I
Speaker 1: would find them in the universe. I always tell them
Speaker 1: so that that's really what it's about for me, is
Speaker 1: is making a better a better world for others, for
Speaker 1: my kids, for their kids, um, And that's what matters most.
Speaker 1: Just tell me, look twenty years into the future, and
Speaker 1: we know the climate isn't going to get any better.
Speaker 1: We know we've got a real problem there and it's
Speaker 1: for the foreseeable future that will get worse even if
Speaker 1: we were able to put some real solutions in place,
Speaker 1: but supply chains themselves in twenty years time, what would
Speaker 1: you hope sustainable supply chains might look like. I definitely
Speaker 1: want community resilience and hyperlocalism to be a driving force
Speaker 1: for supply chain transformation, meaning that so a big brand
Speaker 1: like do you have community permission to open your doors there?
Speaker 1: How do you preserve that community? How do you ensure
Speaker 1: that basic needs are being met? That is so critical
Speaker 1: and important. I mentioned before that businesses can't succeed in
Speaker 1: societies that are failing, and I think that that tie
Speaker 1: between profit with purpose and societal impact it's coming to
Speaker 1: the forefront now. When I think about a supply chain
Speaker 1: in twenty years, you think about community resilience. You think
Speaker 1: about you know, how am I enabling others who have
Speaker 1: been marginalized or traditionally left behind to have access to healthcare,
Speaker 1: to have access to education and upskilling. I think all
Speaker 1: of these things, that's what I would want most And
Speaker 1: in terms of like how work actually gets done and
Speaker 1: how we transform our thinking, it's that we have shorter
Speaker 1: supply chains and that we we think about the impacts holistically.
Speaker 1: The total cost of ownership for a brand, for a phone,
Speaker 1: for a mouse, for a can of sparkling water, what's
Speaker 1: the total costs of this really isn't necessarily price, you know,
Speaker 1: there are other things that go into that, and I
Speaker 1: think that if we really understood the impact that we
Speaker 1: have on the world, how we contribute to climate variation
Speaker 1: and climate change. I I want to believe and hope
Speaker 1: that we would make different decisions. Sher, it's been such
Speaker 1: pleasure talking to you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Tim,
Speaker 1: it's been a pleasure. When we think of supply chains,
Speaker 1: we typically picture cargo ships or far away factory belts,
Speaker 1: maybe a map of the world with a string of
Speaker 1: connected dots running from Shenzen to Las Vegas. But what
Speaker 1: Sherry does so well is highlight the impact these often
Speaker 1: invisible systems have on our daily lives. We all want
Speaker 1: supply chains that are ethical, environmentally responsible, and integrated with
Speaker 1: local communities. It's good for business, good for the planet,
Speaker 1: and good for the consumer. The pandemic gave us a
Speaker 1: chance to begin the paradigm shift in supply chain thinking
Speaker 1: that Cherry talked about. Now there's an opportunity to put
Speaker 1: these ideas into action in our day to day choices,
Speaker 1: in our businesses and in our communities. The next time
Speaker 1: we're at a grocery store and can't find our favorite snack,
Speaker 1: let's take a moment to remember that. On the next
Speaker 1: episode of Smart Talks with IBM how AI powered technology
Speaker 1: can help us combat the human biases that result in
Speaker 1: discriminatory hiring practices. We talked with Angela Hood, founder and
Speaker 1: CEO of This Way Global. Smart Talks with IBM is
Speaker 1: produced by Matt Romano, David jaw, Royston Deserve, and Edith
Speaker 1: Rousselo with Jacob Goldstein. We're edited by Sophie Crane. Our
Speaker 1: engineers are Jason Gambrel, Sarah Brugare and Ben Holliday. Theme
Speaker 1: song by Grandmasco. Special thanks to Carlly Magliore, Andy Kelly,
Speaker 1: Kathy Callaghan and the eight Bar and IBM teams, as
Speaker 1: well as the Pushkin marketing team. Smart Talks with IBM
Speaker 1: is a production of Pushkin Industries and i Heart Media.
Speaker 1: To find more Pushkin podcasts, listen on the i Heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Speaker 1: I'm Malcolm Glaboell. This is a paid advertisement from IBM.