The following transcript was created using a combination of automated and human transcription. Please check the audio version before quoting from the transcript.
Mary Vasile: Hi, everyone. Welcome to 3 Minutes in the Loop, the bite-sized video series where you can stock up on the latest supply chain insights, strategies, and news in the time it takes to get your caffeine fix. I’m your host, Mary Vasile. And this is part two of our special edition in which our guests share the guiding principles that have led to their career success. If you haven’t already seen part one, be sure to go check it out and make sure to follow ToolsGroup to get our upcoming episodes.
- Jennifer Randall: Early in my supply chain software career, I had a really great boss. And he taught me two really simple, but important things that still help me today. The first one is failure to adapt is deadly. On a company and a personal/professional level, he taught me that we always need to be thinking ahead. What’s the market going to need? And asking ourselves, what’s that next big thing that we’re going to do? Continuing to do something just because we’ve always done it this way is not a winning strategy. And number two, to get a project done, start at the end. That means that we need to be sure to identify goals and what success will look like in the end, and then build the tactics to meet them.
- Mike Green: The best piece of advice I received from somebody in business [I worked for him], he would always say, “Answer the bell.” Regardless of what happens, regardless of if you went out the night before, regardless of whether an upcoming meeting was tough, just answer the bell, right? Half the battle is showing up, doing what you’re supposed to do. So that rings true to me. Just answer the bell.
- Bob Bryant: When I went to college, I wanted to be on the radio. I have a great love of music. So the University of Lowell has a radio station that has a pretty big listening audience in the local area, particularly around the news. So I want to get on and do music. They said, “You have to intern for a little bit, then you have to read the news.” No one ever wants to read the news, right? Then I’d get on for 15 minutes and I would read the news. And I was horrible. I did it the first day, right? And then someone said, “Where were you today?” I said, “Oh, I’m on the air on the radio.” And they’re like, “What?”So, the guys tuned in the next day, and then they came back to the dorm and people are like, “Oh, we heard you. We heard you.” They gave me high fives. They’re all laughing, right? And I’m going, “What’s so funny?” They said, “We all listened, we never laughed so hard in our lives. You were horrible.” Don’t go into radio.
- George Fowler: The most important thing that I’ve learned, and this is probably from my dad; it’s show your work. Even in my everyday interactions in supply chain, it’s important because there’s so much change management going on, there’s adoption of things that in many cases are transformational for many companies. It’s important that you show your work, so people understand where you’re coming from in your perspective.
Mary Vasile: Hope you found something useful for your own career path. And if you have your own advice to share, make sure to add it in the comments below. Thank you for watching.
