Advice to the Young Supply Chainers

To start this off, I'm going to open with terrible advice. Marry young. 

Supply chain provides a number of opportunities: careers in a rising field, the ability to define your own path, never doing the same day twice. While that's great, it also bores the living hell out of everyone else. Unless you want to spend your next 20 years explaining to dates what you do, just get it over with. There will be plenty of people to bore - just find one who understands.

Engineers, accountants and economists have cachet in their titles. We do not. I've glazed over more eyes than Krispy Kreme has donuts explaining what I do. When Russell Hammond dove from the roof in "Almost Famous", he yelled "I am a golden god" and not "I am a procurement manager". For this and many other reasons, Cameron Crowe is considered a genius. 

I guess the advice here is to come up with a decent elevator pitch. "I purchase everything the cable company puts in your house" or "I ensure shipments arrive on time" beats "I do logistics". Someday "I am a supply chain manager" will mean something. Until then, prepare yourself for blank stares. Or get some interesting hobbies.