Creating a Global Supply Chain Career in the Beverage World – with Jenny Harrison

[00:00:00] Mike Ogle: Welcome to the Supply Chain Careers podcast, the only podcast for job seekers, professionals, and students who are focused on career enhancing conversations and insights across all aspects of the supply chain discipline. This podcast is made possible by SCM Talent Group, the industry leading supply chain executive search firm.

Visit SCM Talent [email protected]. In this episode of the Supply Chain Careers podcast, we speak with Jenny Harrison, most recently, director of Sales in Beverage manufacturing at Niagara Bottling. Jenny has extensive experience across a variety of companies such as Arthur Anderson Finlay’s, and over 20 years at Coca-Cola.

As many have discovered in this industry, supply chain found her as it wasn’t an intentional path until she started working with suppliers and customers and logistics and manufacturing. [00:01:00] Jenny tells us the differences between working in publicly and privately held companies, plus the differences between working in national and international supply chains.

Jenny shares her thoughts about the key skills to become a business leader, to deal with ambiguity, to exercise technical curiosity, and to build a base of family and a support network. Jenny closes with how to continuously pursue professional development, the current and upcoming challenges in supply chain, and the best advice she has to share on careers in supply chain.

I’m your podcast

[00:01:32] Rodney Apple: co-host Rodney Apple, and I’m your podcast co-host Chris Gaffney.

Jenny, welcome to the Supply Chain Careers podcast. Thanks for coming on the show today.

[00:01:45] Jenny Harrison: Thanks for having me.

[00:01:47] Rodney Apple: So we would love to hear how you got started. Go back to the beginning. What sparked that interest to pursue a career in supply chain management?

[00:01:55] Jenny Harrison: Yeah. When I was thinking about how it all began, I have to admit [00:02:00] that supply chain was not an intentional path for me.

When I was in college at Georgetown, my major was actually in foreign service. And a lot of my classmates ended up going on to pursue investment banking or law, or even the Peace Corps, apart from the obvious of going into the government. And for me, I think in my early career, my first job out of college was actually in Arthur Anderson in their business systems consulting group and.

It exposed me to how to work with a client, and I was there for about 18 months and implementing a financial solution, financial software package as it works. So for me, I think that probably laid the foundation for process and project management. Now, at that time, keep in mind, I still had no idea what supply chain was, but then I found myself at the Coca-Cola [00:03:00] company and for the first five years.

I had the chance to start off in customer service and really experience what it means to work with different customers in a food service context. So I was at a call center, I did frontline team management, and then over time, in those early years, it actually moved me into other areas of operations, and that’s where I started to learn more about disciplines, including manufacturing and distribution.

1. Where I ended up really getting a firm foundation was actually in program management, and so for the next several years, including a brief stint working with a supplier, I really started to understand, okay, there’s these multiple areas that stitch together into what people today, of course know well as supply chain.

Back then, I would tell you that supply chain was not a common word. Manufacturing or logistics was certainly, I think [00:04:00] more of the commonly associated, but even for me in those early years, I think for the extent of how I started to experience and see supply chain, I was in the periphery of it. I was managing projects, I was helping launch things into restaurants and with customers where I had to understand how the different pieces.

Could come together from the beginning to ultimately how it gets experienced in an outlet.

[00:04:26] Rodney Apple: Yeah, I think most people supply chain sort of finds them versus the other way around. Although obviously it’s a lot more common today as we’ve seen the expansion of supply chain degree programs and universities compared to back in our time when there was only a handful.

So definitely

[00:04:43] Chris Gaffney: Jenny, you and I obviously worked together at Koch in a traditional kinda large. Publicly traded company, but you’ve also worked for privately held businesses, family owned businesses. You’ve worked in consulting and seen lots of different environments [00:05:00] besides your time, you know, out there and about how did the dynamics and culture differ between these environments, particularly from a supply chain perspective?

[00:05:11] Jenny Harrison: Yeah, Chris, I would tell you I grew up in Coca-Cola, so I would certainly say that my benchmark was experiencing supply chain in a publicly treated company. And in that context, I think that a lot of what I learned as the reference point was around how decisions get made, how investing in capabilities are driven.

And to no surprise, there’s a lot more rigor and there’s a lot more planning involved. So even though publicly trained companies like Koch are often looking at quarterly earnings and how performance reports out to Wall Street, there is still a view into, okay, what’s the next three years? What’s the next five years going to look like?

I would say in [00:06:00] contrast, when I can even reflect back to that early stage that I spent in consulting, much more time bound to no surprise. And so in that area, a lot of the focus is on short-term results. In many cases, the deliverables are quantified in months time rather than years time. And I think if anything, you’ve got stakeholders more so than shareholders.

Now the other end of the spectrum, and I’ve now had the benefit of working at two privately held family owned companies, even on the private sector. I would say that it definitely runs the spectrum. I spent five years at Finley’s, which is part of a larger conglomerate known as Wire and Finley’s was founded in 1750.

It’s a UK faith company. It hearkens to the era of the British Empire. It’s a tea and coffee company put simply, and it’s a B2B supplier globally [00:07:00] to beverage brand owners and retailers. With that kind of history, I would say that I got to experience what it means to really think about the long game and how looking at building capabilities in supply chain, how making investments.

Are really more so driven by what is the multi-year outlook. And so it was quite a contrast, especially since that was the company I moved to after over 20 years at the Coca-Cola Company. Contrast that with where I sit today, I work for Niagara Bottling and it is a second generation family owned business founded in 1963.

So compared to Finley’s, it’s quite young and if anything it’s quite entrepreneurial. I. So once again, I would say that the way I’ve started to see and experience the way decisions get made and the appetite for investment is actually faster for me, especially having [00:08:00] experienced supply chain in those different contexts.

It really has for shined a spotlight on what’s really important for any given company in terms of their strategy and their growth imperative. And what is the governing voice for how those decisions can be made? Big companies, to no surprise, takes a little bit longer. There’s a little bit more due diligence and certainly more scrutiny, I would say privately held.

I had the same experience, but the time horizon was often different, and especially from a supply chain lens and especially in recent years. I, I think that there’s probably to no surprise, pros and cons to each.

[00:08:39] Rodney Apple: Yeah, Jenny, that’s, I think it’s a. It’s fascinating the dynamics between those different ownership models.

Is there any guidance that you have for our audience, especially those that might be embarking on a career in supply chain, just what they should be thinking about. You mentioned pros and cons, and there’s definitely pros and cons on each scenario. Is there anything you’d like to speak to [00:09:00] there, like guidance wise, like what you can expect to see?

At publicly held corporations versus privately held just from that career perspective?

[00:09:08] Jenny Harrison: Yeah. There’s a reason I stayed at one company for over 20 years, and I would say that a big benefit of a publicly traded company is that there is the structure, there is the rigor, and more time than not there is the focus on people in a very public way.

So for me, I really had the benefit of a lot of training and development early on in my career, especially at Coca-Cola, and it really enabled me a lot of latitude to try out different roles, move around in the company. It really, quite frankly, wasn’t until about 10 years in that I finally. Turned off the autopilot switch and I said, okay, I can finally start to chart my course.

And being in a big company, I would say, gives you that latitude. In contrast, when I [00:10:00] landed at Finlay’s and being in a privately held company, there was one shareholder, and the decision-making didn’t necessarily have the same sense of, I would say, process and visibility. By design. And I think for me, I, I learned to be good with that because if anything, it gave me the ability to really put forward my ambition, here’s what the supply chain ought to look like for this business.

And because it was a smaller company as well, it gave me more latitude. I had a seat at the decision making table. And so I think that for those reasons, and even now where I sit today at Niagara, it’s almost a refreshing contrast. Because if you can certainly make a business case for what you feel is important, if you can put forward what is the potential needs, whether it be for investing in people or investing in technology or capability, [00:11:00] that path to getting an answer can often be much faster either way.

I think if you’re earlier in your career, you can’t go wrong. And if anything, it’s more a matter of where, like for me personally, I saw the cultural fit. I think that I’m certainly one that seeks out change and variety. So in that sense, I don’t think it was deliberate per se, that I said, I think next I’ll go to a private company.

It’s really that, that right mix of culture, people and anything, what the company is about, that ultimately guides me.

[00:11:34] Rodney Apple: Wonderful. That’s great guidance. Switching gears a little bit. You’ve spent some time working abroad. I’d love to hear your perspective, going back to comparing and contrasting what it’s like to manage these large dynamic supply chains within the United States versus from abroad.

[00:11:51] Jenny Harrison: Yeah, so just to give a bit of context, when I worked in the US for, I would say even now, the majority of my career, it was [00:12:00] certainly more in. Operationally oriented roles much closer to the end customer, much more in the here and now of supply chain. The roles that I had a chance to pursue overseas were twofold, and actually I would say that they were more strategic and they were even a bit more upstream.

When you think about it in a supply chain context. I had the opportunity to go overseas to Asia. I lived and worked in Shanghai, China for three years, and that actually was with my family along for the adventure. And in that context a lot of the time and learning that I gained in terms of supply chain was actually working with suppliers.

And it was more so understanding when you have, in my case, the industry of relying on. Ingredients and sourcing materials that come from different countries. When I found in the US, I just knew it in [00:13:00] concept, but when I ended up in the region and China and specifically I had the chance to actually go visit a supplier, I had the chance to spend time to really understand their business, and I think that lent itself to really gaining a wider perspective.

Uh, just the end to end. And I think that it really highlighted for me the times that I’ve had very US-centric roles. It was much more of the, let’s call it the sharp end of the sphere in terms of getting ultimately that last mile through. Whereas I think, at least in my first tour in China, it really gave me a sense of perspective, a sense of, okay.

Before it even lands stateside, there’s a lot of things that have to happen in whichever supplier or region you have to rely on. And a lot of that has to do with how well you can plan, how well you can think about your sourcing strategy, and [00:14:00] ultimately how do you get those goods from one place to another, or as it were, from one continent to another.

And again, for me, when I was in China, and it was actually not in a supply chain role, it was actually in an r and d role. And so even more, it gave me a window into understanding as ideas get created and certainly in the world of food and beverage, working with partners in marketing, how does that translate to the tangible?

And so for me it was especially exciting having the benefit of. Being in one country and even more connecting the dots and understanding how to build and drive a team that was in one geography, locale, and let’s face it culture and how to work that in with a marketing team that was halfway around the world who we’re looking after brand strategies and how to grow categories all over the world.

And so I think that was certainly for me, [00:15:00] a bit of a shin. Now, having said that, when I had the chance to take my second overseas role, it was quite intentional, and this is where I reconciled. Supply chain is where I can really bring my best. And so for that, when I joined Finley’s, I had the benefit of five years of working with not only the head office in London and then ultimately moving to London, but.

Connecting multiple manufacturing sites that are situated in countries like Kenya and Argentina and Sri Lanka. And as you might imagine, just trying to build a supply chain capability, which depends perhaps on similar technology if you think about the nuts and bolts of manufacturing or even logistics.

But when you layer in the people element, I think for me. That was perhaps really what gets me [00:16:00] still excited about how you then work with the people behind those different nodes in your supply chain.

[00:16:07] Rodney Apple: Fascinating.

[00:16:11] Mike Ogle: During this short break, we recognize that this podcast is made possible by SCM Talent Group, the industry leading supply chain executive search firm. Visit SCM talent [email protected].

[00:16:28] Chris Gaffney: Jenny, so many supply chain professionals aspire for that international assignment, and clearly it’s gotten more difficult to achieve. And what advice would you give to supply chain professionals considering an international assignment? And obviously I’d love to hear the benefits. You’ve talked about some of those, but in terms of how to go about it and any things that, when you’ve probably talked to other people, what do you caution them about?

How do you coach them? Sure.

[00:16:55] Jenny Harrison: As I mentioned earlier, I had the benefit of starting off my career [00:17:00] in a large company where movement is certainly supported, if not fostered. And I will say it was hard, especially starting off in a US business unit when I did have the ability to start even just within my own company, talking with individuals who sat in the corporate function or who had gone overseas.

It. It was a matter of not so much who I knew, but who knew me. And so there is an element I would certainly emphasize, which has to do with seeking out mentors, seeking out those who have pursued similar paths to understand how they were able to pursue and secure whatever role it might be that launched them.

Oversee. For me, I would say that I had to be very deliberate. The kind of experiences I wanted when I was in my last role in the US before going overseas, it was actually in a supply [00:18:00] chain capacity, but my manager at the time, she recognized that I had the ability, and perhaps more so because of some of the past cross-functional experiences I had.

To be able to step a little bit outside of my normal identity as a supply chain leader. And so for that, I think, as I already mentioned, my first overseas assignment was in an r and d capacity. Now, why was I considered for that? I think it had a lot to do with skills that aren’t always technical skills.

So what I mean by that is. In the first 10 years or so of my career, I focused a lot on building those hard and fast functional technical skills, whether it’s project management or supplier management, problem solving, the things that come with that. But the critical element that I was able to start demonstrating before I, I landed, my first role overseas was actually around how do I build teams?

How do I recognize what’s needed [00:19:00] based on current capabilities and what’s needed in the future? And I think in that sense, it really lent itself to other opportunities I would not have thought of. I, I think at its core, and this is especially important, I think, for anyone who’s thinking about taking that leap, it’s twofold.

One is being comfortable in ambiguity. Oftentimes when looking at opportunities, and this doesn’t necessarily have to be restricted to looking internationally, there has to be some element of knowing that the answers aren’t always going to be apparent, and especially in the context of company structures.

Let’s just say that I’ve been through enough organizational restructures to appreciate that sometimes. I just had to embrace it for what it was and keep my mind open to what could be possible coming out of those restructures. The other thing I would say, and this will certainly carry through getting you to that point of being able to [00:20:00] make a move, but then landing yourself somewhere outside the US is exercising your curiosity muscle.

And I think what I mean by that is. There’s so much to learn and discover, and while it’s critical to perform in your role, and it’s critical to establish what are your strengths and what can you bring to any opportunity, it’s also critical, I think, to continue to ask the questions and especially in a supply chain context.

And even for me, since my first role overseas was an RB. How do I exercise my technical curiosity, especially in areas where I’m not the expert and if anything where I had to rely more so on the teams that I found myself leading. And I think for that it helped and lent itself to, like I said, really trying to expand beyond what I might’ve assumed to be my norms working in the US and almost.

Recognizing that I needed to often pause [00:21:00] and ask a question here and there, just because my assumptions aren’t necessarily what’s going to be the basis for how my team worked, or especially in a supplier context, how they might be operating. And then the last piece I would say, and for me personally, it’s making sure that family and the support network are strongly in place.

I think it was actually a former colleague of mine at Koch who had already forged this path. Again, someone that I sought out ahead of time who said, make sure to build your lifeline back home, and I now can appreciate what he meant by that. I had the benefit when I started in my first international role to be in a company large enough where there was a sense of where does this assignment begin and end, and what might be the pathway back to the us.

Sometimes that’s just important, even if it’s just for peace of mind. And I think that helped me, especially with my second move [00:22:00] where I didn’t necessarily have that same safety net, but I at least knew enough about how I could remain curious and how I could continue to seek out those mentors who could guide me to give me the assurance that something would work out.

And again, that ties back to what I said about being comfortable and ambiguity.

[00:22:20] Rodney Apple: So Jenny, I would love to hear thinking about leadership, how these roles working in different functions, supply chain and marketing, innovation r and d working internationally, how, how would those impact your leadership style?

[00:22:34] Jenny Harrison: Yeah, Rodney, I would say, and I think I mentioned it earlier about. 10 years into my career was really when I finally raised my head, looked around and thought, okay, I’ve been moved again, but I really have the chance to figure out where do I wanna move next? And really to help chart that. And I’m reminded, and these probably been only two or three times in my career where a mentor [00:23:00] or manager has sat down with me to ask the question, what do you want to do next?

More importantly, the follow on question was, how can I help you? Jenny and Chris, I will tell you, you were one of those individuals and if anything, earlier in my career, I didn’t have an answer. I really struggled to answer that because I feel like I was still trying to chart a path. Now how does that, or how has that influenced me as a leader?

I think that when I finally. Took that autopilot mode off, and I decided to really be more deliberate about the next move and the next move after that. I started to recognize, and certainly I didn’t coin this, but there’s this notion of being a T-shaped leader, and I think it was in an era where for me, it was quite common for me to move roles every two or [00:24:00] three years.

They weren’t following a linear path. And I think if anything, because of my motivations from early on in my career to get overseas, to go global, as I used to call it, I seized the chance to do and experience roles and other functions. So that’s the breadth of a T, that’s the the horizontal span. And for me, I would say.

I had already had a bit of depth the vertical of that T in certain disciplines of supply chain planning specifically. And then the where I think it intersected was when I did have the chance to work in r and d and even in my last role at Koch Marketing Innovation. And that certainly stretched my breath.

And if anything, it also taught me sometimes. It’s good to, to feel a little bit uncomfortable and certainly recognize where you can push your comfort zone. And at the same time, I think it also taught me [00:25:00] that I often need to remind myself of where I have my strength, where I have that depth in my tea.

And I think that when I left Koch, it was actually for me, the first time I was extremely intentional and said, I wanna go back into supply chain. So as a leader, what I think that has meant is at least in recent years. And actually an another advisor that I still stay in touch with, he was actually closely connected to the role I had when I was in London.

He told me when I was able to get a role where I was reporting to the managing director, CEO, for all intents and purposes, he said, congratulations, Jenny. You have now advanced from being the leader of a function to a leader in the business. And that really stuck with me because I realized that even though my title might have been head of global supply chain or supply chain director for the company, I recognized that I [00:26:00] could draw back on that TI could draw back on my understanding and experiences of working across.

Even more so once I had gained that seed at the table for making decisions, I could look at my peer group, whether it was the finance director or the manufacturing director, or the quality head, and I could relate to every single aspect of that role, but as much so in how it could make me a stronger supply chain leader so that I had both the depth I needed, but as much so the breadth to connect across the business.

[00:26:32] Chris Gaffney: I always like to point out my aha moments in a podcast. And Jenny, I think that’s clearly one. I’m a big fan of the T Shake leader, but I also think, and you’ve evidenced this in your career, a lot of agility. You’ve moved and been successful, and in one of our other episodes we talked about confidence and how do you build and maintain confidence, and part of that is always having that retrospective, I’ve done this, I’ve proven this, I can draw on that again.

And so I’m really [00:27:00] glad you brought that up. I’d like to go current role. So now you’re at N Viagra and you are in the middle of a very large relationship and leading a very large relationship with Koch from the contract manufacturing side, and I know you probably chuckle at some points and maybe shake your head at others.

What are the biggest differences between being inside Koch versus supporting them as the strategic partner?

[00:27:26] Jenny Harrison: Yeah, and Chris, it was perhaps not coincidental that the opportunity that presented itself for me to go to Niagara was largely attributed to a lot of the mentors and individuals who had certainly made a big impact to my career in the past.

I’ll start off with this, and this is again, a belief that I certainly learned to embrace when I was at my previous company, Finlay’s, and that is. Seeing ourselves and their customers see us and for the less than [00:28:00] one year that I’ve now been in Niagara, I think that having had the benefit of sitting in the shoes of the customer and for as long as I have, has actually given me the added advantage of not only understanding what my customer wants, but also anticipating how to help them.

And I think that’s incredibly important because even in my previous company, I would tell you that I also have the benefit to shift from being the customer to being the supplier of that customer. And I think that I’ve concluded that the unlock can come from figuring out how to make work easier for my customer.

Along the way, ideally to make work easier for my own company and my own teams. And I think that for me, what I’ve now realized as the biggest difference sitting on both sides is recognizing [00:29:00] where and when I need to advocate for my customer, but also where and when I need to advocate for my own company.

And that’s tough. It’s tough when I can appreciate and even empathize with what opportunities, and let’s face it, oftentimes challenges a customer can face. But for me, having been in those shoes, I think it gives me an acute sense of how can I then rally and mobilize my own team, my own cross-functional partners to help address an opportunity or as it were, help solve a problem.

And I think that quite fittingly, it’s also where my past meets my present and supply chain. Let’s face it, any discipline, any company and career is driven and built by relationships. And for me, landing in this role, I think what felt especially comfortable was the [00:30:00] fact that a lot of the customer stakeholders who I’d call on directly.

Our individuals who I worked with, individuals who I actually, let’s call it, grew up with in my early career at Koch. And I think that there is this longevity that comes in the supply chain industry for those of us who get that bug in them to say, ah, this is where I can thrive and this is where I can contribute best.

People may not stay at the same company for years and years, but. Oftentimes they stay within the ecosystem, let’s call it. And so it’s been really, I don’t know, for lack of a better word, heartwarming to find myself in a, a lot of interactions now where I can rely not only on those experiences I mentioned and even the perspective that I can say I’ve gained by having walked the shoes or even walked another disciplines on Jeff supply chain.

But at the end of the day, it’s about the relationships, and I think that having the [00:31:00] immediate credibility going into a role because there are people who once again know you and know who you are, and even more important what you’ve been able to do and bring to any situation. I think for me, that’s certainly been very reassuring, but also very reaffirming.

I think that I haven’t moved around as much as a lot of folks may do these days in their careers. But I can’t say I’ve moved around enough. I’ve certainly been around the block that, and it’s nothing to shy away from to say I’ve stayed at one place for over 21 years, but that one place gave me the benefit of working across many areas in the US and then even more so having once again that overseas experience.

And so all of that, I think I can bring into that mix of how do I really now. Help drive growth for not only my company, but obviously for my customer.

[00:31:53] Chris Gaffney: Love it.

[00:31:57] Mike Ogle: During this short break, we recognize that this [00:32:00] podcast is made possible by SCM Talent Group, the industry leading supply chain executive search firm.

Visit SCM Talent [email protected].

[00:32:13] Rodney Apple: Jenny, you’ve touched on this a little bit, but would love to hear your thoughts on professional development. How have you approached this throughout your career so you can continuously grow and advance?

[00:32:26] Jenny Harrison: Yeah, Rodney, I had, uh, the benefit of a couple of points in my career where I could look back and reflect, and I feel like that’s incredibly important.

And if anything, I feel like it’s helped make me a stronger leader. I think in the realm of professional development, I could divide it into thirds, my early career, my midpoint in the career, and certainly the here and now. So in my early career, I think what, what is quite common, I followed a path of. Let me get training, let me get on the job experience and [00:33:00] even a certification here or there, but more than I would say was shaped by the benefit once again, of being at a bigger company where there was a very well established curriculum, if you will, of learning and development.

And I think for me, I certainly seize that every moment, every opportunity I could get. I had the benefit of good managers and leaders who made sure that I had a clear development plan. I had a clear view every year of how to tackle what I’m learning on the job, but as importantly, what I might be able to do to supplement that.

So for me, I think that’s quite, I don’t know, textbook where I started to realize and really broaden my view of professional development was really in that midpoint of my career and. This is where another former colleague coined the term Building your personal board of directors. And that is something that truly stuck with me, especially when I found myself being subject to [00:34:00] restructuring job changes that were outside of my control.

1. It was in those instances that I realized having a trusted core group of individuals, and keep in mind, they weren’t all individuals who I knew from a work context. This included my best friend from college. This included my husband, it included those who know me and could at least help talk me through what I was looking to do or what I was looking to develop.

Of course, at this stage in my career, I would certainly say that was closely coupled with having some strong mentors, individuals who I could seek out directly, and especially I had the double benefit in some cases where it was also my direct manager and in those experiences where I wasn’t in a supply chain role, but rather reporting into RD or reporting into marketing.

I had the benefit and the wisdom of added perspective from individuals [00:35:00] who saw me outside of what I ultimately be pursuing as a more disciplined and direct path in supply chain. And I think all of that is to say the personal relationships matter. And I, I did have the benefit of a really strong leadership program that I went through that really helped shape my thinking as a leader.

But ultimately, I would say still anchors back. To having that board of directors and being very specific and selective about the mentors I sought out. Fast forward to now the stage I find myself in my career. I certainly haven’t eased up on making sure I maintain the connections and contacts. I had the benefit when I reentered supply chain with Finley’s.

This was again after my brief pods and dabble in r and d and marketing. I realized I had a lot of catching up to do beyond the people relationships. I actually sought out industry expertise and was fortunate enough [00:36:00] to have some of that come through with a research and advisory group known as Gartner, and a lot of people, the supply chain, I think, work with Gartner.

For me, I think that was an accelerator. It was a recognition of how can I really build quickly? Retrain my muscle around supply chain strategy around specific things I knew I was gonna be charged to do. More important. As I look ahead, I think that professional development will come in the form of what do I wanna do next in my career, let’s call it my 3.0 is 2.0.

Where I sit now is really anchoring on a role where ironically, I’m actually not in supply chain, but yet I have. The majority of my work surrounding every aspect of supply chain, and in the next iteration, my excitement will come from how do I do this perhaps in a board capacity? How can I do this in a construct where I can ultimately advise or maybe even teach and give back?[00:37:00]

I think the one thing I would add and close with in this question is that. I’m very visual and not everybody is, but for me and for those who know me, I’m big on writing. And if anything, I’m a prolific note taker. I have notebooks, smile notebooks that I have carried with me. And actually I think this one’s only the third one in my entire career.

But this chronicles the interactions I have, the conversations I seek, even when I entertain the occasional recruiter call, I note it down, I write it down. So when I have occasions, even such as this podcast where I have the chance to answer some thought provoking questions, I went back to my notebook and I had the chance to really see and follow threads of how my thinking and ultimately my professional development have evolved over time.

[00:37:54] Chris Gaffney: I, I love it. Having your own point of view I think is so important, [00:38:00] and I think putting that down on paper. Is a huge lesson for folks. So Jenny, I think I’m thrilled you called that one out. You’ve lived in supply chains for a long time and I think we can all agree that the last five years have offered more curve balls to us, and as you say, out of our control with a global trade environment, whether it be trade flow, whether it be industrial policy, I am curious if you reflect from early to mid to now, how are you seeing external risks?

Tangibly impact supply chain strategies, obviously in the world, in in food and beverage and CPG manufacturing.

[00:38:37] Jenny Harrison: Yeah, Chris, I had the, the benefit and ultimately at the beginning, the misfortune of landing in London about two, three months before the pandemic hit. And so I had effectively returned to supply chain with shaping global strategy for my company, and then the whole world shut down for a period of time.[00:39:00]

For me, whether it’s here and now or in the last several years, I think that the external risks haven’t been dramatically different. If anything, I think one thing the pandemic taught me was really to make sure that, again, it’s important to think holistic and at the time of crisis. This was where I realized, especially in the context of supply chain strategy, it is imperative to work closely with your cross-functional partners within your own company.

In my case, it was also imperative to work across the regions when there’s unknown risk and uncertainty. How that manifests in what part of the world can look very different from how it manifests in another. And for me, I think that it highlighted the need to stay very closely connected. And ultimately, that also ultimately involves how do you work even closer with your trading partners.[00:40:00]

And whether it’s your customers or your suppliers. I think speaking in general terms, it certainly meant for me that it was so critical to really make sure that I had a good pulse on what is happening at the global level, but even more so at the regional and local levels. Especially in roles and in companies that are so dependent on what’s happening globally and certainly multinational businesses and food and beverage for sure.

I think that. Having the notion of a risk register was something that helped guide me and my leadership team through the pandemic. And it’s perhaps not always a common thought, and I’ll have to credit our general KE at the time, the one that’s driving the view into to risk and mitigating factors, but it really forced the [00:41:00] discipline of making sure that there is a robust.

Business continuity plan, that there was a view into what’s any and every possible thing that could happen, and what would you need to do in that instance. And so whether it was the pandemic then, or even now in times of uncertainty with tariff changes and certainly trading partners, I think that. For me has remained a key lesson that I took away, especially now that we have to look even more closely at how companies have to source and draw materials, especially in food and beverage and in the world of agricultural commodities.

Tariffs aside, who can control Mother Nature. Who can control when there’s a drought that’s happening in one part of the world that will ultimately have a downstream impact on commodity pricing and the materials, whether it be for ingredients or for packaging, for instance, that go [00:42:00] into that finished product that you can buy on your local store shelf in the grocery store.

So I think all of this is to say that it’s probably a little bit for me too early to tell how the current economy and the current political climate are going to translate. One thing is for certain remaining very close to my customer and remaining even closer to our suppliers is gonna be critical.

’cause those are where the insights come from. I can still keep up my daily habit of reading the news and consulting with industry and trade groups, but I think in the end it’s important to think about your own. Again, I’ll use the word ecosystem for what those different elements you rely on say of the business.

We’ll need to continue to focus on and certainly react to

[00:42:48] Rodney Apple: Jenny. Love to get your perspectives on. You’ve been on, call it the brand or OEM side of the house for quite some time with Coca-Cola Company and now a large contract manufacturer, [00:43:00] solution or service provider. How does that, are there any impacts that you feel being on one side or another as it relates to just hiring and attracting and retaining talent?

[00:43:10] Jenny Harrison: Yeah, I think that in our industry, movement is a given, and I think that can often be a good thing. One perspective that I think I’ve gained in working on the front end, or what I’ll call the consumer facing side of food and beverage has meant that thinking ultimately about the person that’s gonna have a glass or a bottle and hand to drink is ultimately the end goal.

No matter how close or how far upstream you are from that, and that’s perhaps what I would call the consumer mindset and consumer centricity. When when I moved to the supply side of things first as a supplier and now as the contract manufacturer, it made me realize, especially when thinking about [00:44:00] hiring and recruiting for talent.

There are still, especially in supply chain, just fundamental underlying technical skills that any given role will require. But if that to that mindset that I often am curious to tease out with any potential candidate, and I’ll go back to what I said earlier about exercising that curiosity muscle. When I have the opportunity to look at filling a role or ultimately help support recruiting new talent, I almost wanna know how that individual thinks.

What are the questions that he or she wants to ask? And there better be questions for starters, I think that from uh, a CPG context, that’s imperative. I haven’t seen as much of that orientation when moving into the world of B2B. I think the reason for that is that the orientation becomes more customer centric, and so a customer mindset and a customer focus can often translate [00:45:00] to a difference in maybe honing in more so on traditional disciplines from a supply chain context around customer service and solution and delivery.

I think more than anything though, Rodney, I have also realized that location matters. Certainly in the last five years, I would say the workforce has probably completely upended with how to think about where to find and recruit talent when a company is situated in large cities. And for me, that has been working in cities like Atlanta and Shanghai and London.

There’s no shortage of talent in those locations. And I think if anything, the instances where I had to help in roles that weren’t based in large cities. You almost now have to get more creative to think about what is going to attract a candidate that you want. But more than anything, I think that even critical today is gonna be retaining that talent, and especially when mobility is [00:46:00] far more common, and the notion of gaining a few years experience at one place and then moving on.

To another company, not just another role in the company. Certainly reminds me that in the hunt for strong talent, it’s gonna be as important, if not even more so to really make sure that once you have the candidate that you desire and that person has to decided to take the role. I can say this now, what am I gonna do to help make sure that individual wants to stay in the role, ultimately grow in the role?

Uh, and if I’m doing my job as a manager and leader, making sure I have that person ready to move on to his or her next opportunity, I. So I think for that reason there’s probably less differences. But in the end, and certainly for what I’ve now seen that has made the different company experiences I’ve had work, it’s not losing sight of that customer and consumer mindset because both will be [00:47:00] equally important, but just in, in different contexts.

I think you navigate your career

[00:47:05] Chris Gaffney: well. Said. Jenny, last one for me, and I can think back to leaders who we both worked for and in some cases I was like, man, I’d love to do that one day. And some days I was like, man, I’m glad I don’t have that job. Now you’re in the seat, right? And you get to, to get the best of that in the other, as you look forward to those who are gonna be leading out and we can say out whatever, 3, 5, 10 years or whatever.

And you think about that, what are the tops on your list for both opportunities and challenges for folks who will be running the show at some point down the road?

[00:47:39] Jenny Harrison: Yeah, it’s interesting ’cause I think today I’d probably be remiss if I didn’t comment on leveraging technology and even more so leveraging ai.

I personally feel we’re still in early days of this, especially in supply chain. I think that, uh, if anything, I have my own two children as a barometer for what I think will be ahead for them. They’re both in [00:48:00] college, right? But they also grew up as what I would call digital natives. For them it’s intuitive how they use their devices, how they.

Take advantage of the ways in which they can harness and learn in a supply chain context. I think that to no surprise, technology has now really accelerated in such a way that. For leaders like me who grew up learning how to use spreadsheets and old fashioned tool, that in the end are perhaps maybe still a default for some, but have been overtaken by whizzbang ERP systems and advanced technology solutions.

The opportunities are right, and whether you’re in your early or mid-career or even later in career, admittedly, I have to say I’m at. It’s still important, important to keep I think, an aspect sharp, and that’s perhaps just the general opportunity. But I will say there’s a challenge to that and this is something that I have now observed, especially as [00:49:00] I find myself straddling multiple generations in the workplace.

There, there seems to be, for me, a need at some level to return to the basics. And what I mean by that is how to build relationships in a more humanistic way. I think in today’s way of working, the emails are rapid fire. I get text messages and pings on my team’s window. If I’m lucky, I might have a call where people turn their cameras on and I actually get to see someone two dimensional.

But how often is that really buffered by the occasion to be able to talk face to face with someone? To hit pods because the email exchange has gone rapid fire and I step away for 10 minutes and all of a sudden I see the back and forth between a handful of people and the whole notion of just picking up the phone and calling someone.

I think for me, and especially as I even see it [00:50:00] with my own kids, it’s gonna be important to at moments, just recognize that the technology can get you so far, so fast. In the end, it’s still gonna be as important to take a pause and make sure that you understand the full context of a situation. And certainly in supply chain when there are escalations, when there are things that haven’t gone right.

Having that intuition to know when to reach out to that customer or that supplier and just try to understand what’s happening to me, I think that’s gonna be important to remember. I. Because it’s quite easy to let the default of technology take over, but without that human touch, I think that’s where that notion of making work easier for someone else is gonna go away.

[00:50:49] Rodney Apple: Jenny, this has been fabulous. We appreciate you sharing your perspectives today. Last question I have is just, is there any one piece of advice you’d like to offer for our audience in particular, those that [00:51:00] are starting out on a career in supply chain?

[00:51:03] Jenny Harrison: I think as I look back on my career, Rodney, it certainly wasn’t delivered as I started to say supply chain just happened into, so I think put simply, I would certainly throughout the challenge for anyone who’s starting off in their career in supply chain, to build your tee, build that leadership tee, and in a supply chain context, think about the breadth that can be gained from experiences in different parts of supply chain.

Those component parts, proverbial plan, buy, make, move, deliver. What areas are, are you more curious to explore and experience? And for some they might land in one of those vertical pillars and decide, hey, this is where I am going to thrive. This is where I get my energy, so let me go deep and not T. At the same time, I would certainly say there’s always that value and.

Popping up, sticking your head out and looking across the [00:52:00] horizon, whether that’s within a supply chain construct or as the case were with me looking beyond supply chain, the gravitational poll, I’ll call it, of coming back to supply chain, I think has always been there, but having, having the benefit of the breadth of experience and the breadth of perspective.

That I gained in those other disciplines of business are ultimately what I think have made me as a leader. I think with that building your T, building that curiosity muscle are the things that I will reiterate.

[00:52:33] Rodney Apple: Wonderful. I. Jenny, we appreciate you coming on the Supply Chain Careers podcast today. Thanks for sharing your unique career journey and all of the nuggets of wisdom and advice with our audience.

[00:52:44] Jenny Harrison: Thank you, Rodney. Thank you, Chris, and it was great speaking with you both.

[00:52:52] Mike Ogle: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Supply Chain Careers podcast. Be sure to listen to other episodes and sign up to [00:53:00] be notified when future episodes are released as we continue to interview industry leading supply chain experts. This podcast is made possible by SCM Talent Group, the industry leading supply chain executive search firm.

Visit SCM Talent [email protected].