Rewards. Hard won.

Some of you will go to work for Apple or Cisco or P&G and their supply chain teams will be respected for the amazing work they do. Some will not.

Most will work somewhere where supply chain is a a "necessary evil" or "gets in the way". While being hated is no fun, there is reward in winning people over, one hard fought success at a time. There is a reason people love the underdog.

If you're in the battle to bring hearts and minds over to supply chain processes, the most important thing to do is shut up. Listen to what people want from you. Understand their timelines. Understand what they need and what they expect from you. Then deliver. Deliver hard. Exceed their expectations.  At the end of the day, supply chain jobs are customer service jobs and knowing your stakeholders and getting them more than they asked for is the key to winning them over.

How? Communicate. Communicate your strategy and update them at every step. Communicate what role you need the stakeholder to play and what role you will play. If you're the bad cop, let them know they can be the good cop. If you are going to get sidetracked, don't hold that back. Let them know that and how to get back on schedule.

Supply chain is rough. There are no hard and fast rules that get you the power that a legal or accounting department have. The slog is having to win people over. The reward is winning those people over.

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