Driving deeper conversations
In pursuit of supply chain innovation, let’s keep the discussion moving toward a brighter future.
I have started publishing Notes on the Substack app, which are short posts that share ideas and create conversations with readers and authors. Notes are only available on the Substack app, so if you read my newsletter as an email delivered to your inbox, I invite you to learn more about Substack and join me there. Substack offers many other features, including sending private direct messages (DMs) to any writer or author, and public group discussions on hot topics hosted by authors (Chats). I will launch a podcast on Substack, reading what I write aloud, adding commentary, and perhaps, interviews. My overall goal is to offer more content, engage with readers, and build community, all in the pursuit of innovating a supply chain worthy of our times.
Help us grow! Share this edition with anyone who might find inspiration in bold ideas and conversations with a community of innovators.
Feeding innovation
Innovating the supply chain goes beyond adopting technology, automating processes, and reducing costs. We are living in epic times as artificial intelligence and shifting generational values transform how we live and work. Distributors are reimagining their role—not just as the last mile of a product's journey, but as change-makers thinking far beyond merely adding value to fulfilling a supplier's objectives. At least, they should be.
My new Substack Notes are food for the supply chain's soul—ideas offered as nutrients to help germinate a human-centered supply chain on a mission to help workers and communities thrive. Every Note is grounded in conversations with people working in the real world and virtual conversations listened to on podcasts and fireside chats, primarily gathered from forums outside distribution and the supply chain. I share what I learn, explain what it might mean, and invite conversations.
Here's one example, my most recent Substack Note:
HUMANIZING WORK WITH AI
Today, the supply chain enables jobs by delivering products to workers. But could the supply chain reinvent work by providing AI-enabled services?
The easiest path is to use AI to automate tasks, lowering costs by eliminating human work. But what if AI could instead enhance what humans accomplish?
Productivity: Achieve MORE
Creativity: Generate NEW ideas
Purpose: Add MEANING
Who in the supply chain ecosystem—including educators, development organizations, distributors, manufacturers, professional and trade associations, and unions—will step up to make this happen? What incentives are needed?
My thoughts are inspired by this conversation between Daron Acemoglu and Tristan Harris on the podcast Your Undivided Attention:
I encourage you to listen to the podcast. The guest, Daron Acemoglu, is an Institute Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Acemoglu shares invaluable insights from his research and writing, explaining why technology benefits do not accrue immediately to workers and what can be done to leverage technology for the benefit of the most people possible. For me, Acemoglu offers a frame for human-centered supply chain innovations and a path forward.
I have published four other notes, and others are coming at a rapid pace whenever I find an insightful conversation:
Outworking AI. A human-centered supply chain will develop business models to do what AI cannot do. Read and comment here.
Radical Collaboration. A community initiative to help students prepare for local industries and jobs in space, cyber, defense, and tech. Comment here.
Rethinking Branches. Transforming branches as a place where people can live, learn, and work. Read and comment. Read here.
Real Jobs for Real People. Generation Z is becoming the "toolbelt generation," opting for jobs in the trades in the pursuit of meaning and wealth. Here.
A Way Forward
Please join me on the Substack app, and share your comments there for all to read, or if you prefer, in a private DM. If you are already on Substack, I would be excited to learn about the other authors you follow. I am open to your feedback, and I need your help!
I am on a mission, and writing on Substack is my method. If you would like to know more about my work, please click here for my interview on the Driven podcast, The Impact of Writing & Innovation, hosted by Karthik Chidambaram, Founder and CEO of DCKAP.
As always, please feel free to leave comments below or reach out at mark.dancer@n4bi.com.