Empathy is Not a Soft Skill
Art of Supply
“The first casualty of war is truth—the second is empathy. Empathy has to call for backup. The backup is in the form of radical empathy.” -Lou Agosta, Assistant Professor of Medical Education at Ross Medical University at Saint Anthony Hospital We have a difficult six months ahead of us. A contentious presidential election looms in the U.S., the world continues to be war-torn, and companies find themselves mired in social topics that threaten to win over one half of consumers or stakeholders while alienating the other half. Could consciously practiced empathy make the difference between...
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The Surging Problem of AI Energy Consumption
Art of Supply
On April 9th, Rene Haas, CEO of Arm Holdings, a British semiconductor and software design company came out and made a statement about data center energy consumption that most people would find shocking. He said, “by the end of the decade, AI data centers could consume as much as 20% to 25% of U.S. power requirements. Today that’s probably 4% or less.” Everyone wants to talk about AI, but this reality is something we don’t discuss nearly enough. AI may be the greatest unrecognized threat to the environment today, because AI is an energy hog. Example: It requires nearly 10 times as much...
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Replacing Good Intentions with Good Outcomes at Whistl
Art of Supply
“We know what matters to our employees, and we know what matters to our customers, and we know where the leadership view is. That alignment means that you make progress more easily because you’re focused on stuff that matters and that people care about.” - Gareth Hughes is the Business Services and ESG Director for Whistl If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, as they say, what is the road to sustainability paved with? Put another way - if the road you are journeying down is lined with little more than good intentions, how can you be sure you’re traveling in the right...
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Examining the Practicality of the EV Truck Mandate
Art of Supply
Heavy-duty trucks include tractor-trailers, ambulances, garbage trucks, and school buses. All of these are now on an official timeline for reduced emissions, in alignment with a new Federal mandate. Manufacturers of heavy-duty vehicles must reduce their overall emissions by mandated percentages according to model year, starting with their 2028 models and extending through 2032. When the rules were released on March 29th, we heard the usual responses from the usual cast of characters. Environmental advocacy groups love it, and trucking industry associations say it is ridiculous. But will...
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Playing the “China Card” in U.S. Ports
Art of Supply
80 percent of all ship-to-shore (S2S) cranes at ports in the United States - and 75 percent of all S2S cranes in the world - are made by just one company: ZPMC. Short for Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Limited, ZPMC is a Chinese state-owned manufacturing and engineering firm. It was founded in 1992 and quickly grew to become the largest S2S crane manufacturer in the world. U.S.-China relations have been on shaky footing in recent times, making concerns about these cranes, and the critical role they play in major ports, a top priority in both the private and public sectors. In...
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Net Zero in New York? JBS Accused of Greenwashing
Art of Supply
On February 28, 2024, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued JBS, the largest meat company in the world, for civil fraud. James is accusing the company of ‘greenwashing’ or making statements to sound more environmentally friendly than they truly are. In 2021, JBS made a commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2040. James says this statement is “unsubstantiated” and “unachievable” without reducing production, and that their marketing campaigns “in effect, provide environmentally conscious consumers with a ‘license’ to eat beef.” What earned JBS the...
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Even with +1, China is still #1
Art of Supply
“China’s supply chain has gone through significant, transformative changes in the last five years. For executives or engineers, designers or buyers, who have not been here since before COVID, they’re going to see a completely different China.” - Jeffrey Goldstein, Founder & President of Onward Global It is impossible to discuss global supply chains without being hyper aware of the role of China. Whether it is their access to critical raw materials, specialization in certain production processes, or labor advantages, relocating supply chains to other parts of the world is harder...
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What You Don’t Know Can Hertz You
Art of Supply
In October of 2021, Hertz announced that they would purchase 100,000 Tesla Model 3’s for their rental fleet, followed by 175,000 from GM, and 65,000 from Polestar. The move was supposed to help them overcome shortages of conventional cars, lend the recently ex-bankrupt company a ‘cool factor,’ and lean on the sustainability trend to drive revenue. Instead, it backfired. On April 1, 2024, Hertz will get their fifth CEO in four years. How could this strategy, one that seemed to be in alignment with corporate and consumer sentiment, go so wrong? In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast,...
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Treasure Hunting with TJX
Art of Supply
The global off-price apparel and home fashion market is estimated to be worth $900 Billion. While retailers like Macy’s and Bed Bath & Beyond faltered or fell over the last few years, the chains owned by TJX - notably TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Home Goods - have thrived. TJX has seized the opportunity to snatch up excess brand name inventory and sell it at a discount over the last few years, but their growth is not a COVID-related fluke. The foundation for their success was laid decades ago, and continues thanks to investments in talented buyers, strong supplier relationships, and company...
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Three Strikes for the New Baseball Uniform
Art of Supply
In early February, news hit that there was a problem with the new Major League Baseball uniforms. Redesigned by Nike and made by Fanatics, the new uniforms were unveiled with tremendous fanfare. They were designed to be more comfortable, cooler, and better at moisture wicking. Unfortunately, one man’s breathable is another man’s translucent. Pictures started to appear on social media that revealed far more than anyone would want. The LEAST of the players’ concerns was that tucked in jerseys were visible through the pants. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner...
info_outlineThe last two years have brought us many news stories about labor unions throwing their weight around.
First there was the fear that the railway workers unions would stop freight in the lead up to Christmas, then we watched as the Teamsters negotiated with Yellow and UPS, managing to avoid a strike in both cases, the United Auto Workers union is now actively on strike, and Kaiser Permanente’s workers have a tentative deal on the table for ratification by their members in the largest healthcare labor movement in history.
So why did the writers union strike take so long to resolve and why is the screen actors guild still on strike?
The Hollywood labor strikes are a classic multi-party negotiation. In these scenarios, it is much harder for each party to get what they want, anticipate the other party’s motivations and objectives, or try to outmaneuver them.
In this week’s Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner draws negotiations lessons from news stories about the Hollywood strikes:
- Who the parties in this negotiation are, whether they are officially at the negotiating table or pulling the strings from backstage
- Why the changing economics of the entertainment industry are raising the stakes for everyone involved
- How to recognize the dynamics of a multi-party negotiation are currently complicating matters for the studios and actors’ guild
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