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Hey, hey.

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be.

Scott Lewton with you here on supply chain now.

Folks, we have another outstanding show.

I'll tell you, we've had a string of hits here.

Appreciate all y'all's participation and input.

Today's show, we're diving into the skills gap, which has been felt throughout the global business.

Right.

It's probably since beginning of time, but it's gotten a lot more acute in recent years and certainly in global supply chain.

So it brings a bunch of questions to my mind, at least.

Maybe yours, too.

What specific aspects to the skills gap are holding back supply chain organizations the most?

What areas have supply chain leaders identified as the biggest needs for team development and advancement?

And better yet, how should supply chain procurement leaders address these skill gaps in a sustainable way that not only fuels the business forward, but while also providing professional development opportunities that the workforce loves and they value tremendously?

All of this, a lot more as I'm joined by a couple of business leaders making things happen in their organizations and out in industry.

So stay tuned for a great show.

Okay, let's get to work.

I want to welcome in our featured guests here today, starting with Sam Pemberton, group CEO with Skill Dynamics, and Kevin Takier, manager, portfolio strategy and analytics with Delta Airlines supply chain Management center of Excellence.

All right.

Hey, Sam, how you doing today?

I am fantastically well.

Hey, Scott.

Hey, Kevin.

How you doing?

Great to see.

And, Kevin, how are you doing?

I'm doing great.

Thanks, Scott.

Man, both y'all look like a million dollars, or should I say a billion dollars with inflation.

We're getting.

We're getting that wrangle, though.

We're getting that wrangled.

But it's great to have y'all here today.

We got a great conversation teed up before we get into that fun warm up question here.

And I'm gonna start with you, Sam, because, Sam, you are passionate about all things football, soccer, depending on where you are in the world, one of the world's most popular sports, if not the most popular.

You've been to six FIFA World Cups, but you're also passionate about giving back or giving forward into the game and coaching teams.

So, Sam, we could be here for a couple hours, but what's one of your favorite soccer or football memories?

There's so many.

I'm an England fan, and I'm also a Manchester United fan.

So both a lot of joy and a lot of heartache.

And especially heartache.

I've seen England lose too many times.

But strangely, the one moment would be Archie Gemmell's goal against Holland in the 1970s for Scotland.

So strangely.

And I call my younger son, I actually nicknamed him Gemmel.

His real name's Archie.

So there you go.

There's a little thug.

I love it when you were like one year old when he struck that goal.

Is that right, Sam?

Yeah, pretty young.

I've seen it many times on YouTube, though I can't admit to remembering it live.

Special memory.

And, gosh, going to the games.

I am so jealous.

Sam, we're going to have to connect at one of those FIFA tournaments soon.

And you thankfully have brought Kevin to the conversation as well.

Now, Kevin is a fellow Atlanton, born and raised, though I think in the DC area.

And Kevin is also a big sports fan, a former tennis pro.

But we're gonna talk about baseball.

Cause you're a big time Dodgers fan.

What's one of your favorite Dodgers memories?

Gary?

Kevin, huge Dodgers fan.

Definitely have to follow the family and the history of the franchise there.

Favorite memory.

I did get a chance to go to the 2020 World Series, which we won.

It was an abbreviated season because of the pandemic, so it was a very tough ticket to acquire.

So it was really, really weird, kind of awe inspiring to see, you know, not a full stadium, capacity constraints.

The World Series is just an amazing experience.

And see it in a very special, weird time was definitely the next level.

I'm with you, Kevin.

I'm with you.

Both of you all had shared some outstanding sports experiences.

I would just add, and I try to teach my three kids this, when your team wins a World Series or any kind of championship, you got to savor it.

Unless you're maybe a Dodgers fan or maybe an Alabama football fan or whatever.

The.

The football team, Sam, that wins all the time.

My teams don't.

They don't come along all the time.

And it makes the course, the tougher years make the winning years all that more special.

So anyway, Sam, Kevin, great to have y'all both here today, folks, we got a lot to get into.

Kevin and Sam and I want to start with this context.

We don't get enough context in this fast moving world.

And Kevin, if you will, to start with you, tell us briefly, if you would, about your background and what you do at Delta Airlines.

Yep.

So I joined Delta in 2018.

At that time joining supply chain management, we were at a time where we really needed to move to a embrace kind of new technologies at hand.

Right at the transformation from a sourcing, pure sourcing organization fragmented, very common in our industry to strategic sourcing, to portfolio management, to category management.

And the fundamentals behind that transformation are advanced analytics, portfolio strategy, category management, category strategy, less focus on say, pure sourcing and kind of the day to day, it's easy to get really bogged down in those day to day pure sourcing, pure negotiation fundamentals.

Those still have to be part of the future.

But the real value add comes from that additional layer.

And that additional layer required rigor.

Lots of rigor, lots of discipline, and plenty of passion, dedication.

I'm sure Kevin love that.

Sam, now that we've gotten kind of a better understanding of what Kevin has been doing in industry.

Right.

Sam, tell us a little more about your background and what skill dynamics does.

Probably the interesting bit is what skill does.

But I've been in the learning space for a while.

I was CEO of company called Impera.

We provided tech to schools and colleges around the world.

I was CEO of learning people and we help people fast track their careers through training.

So, you know, and I've been in other industries as well, but always in tech.

And I think the reason I joined skill was because we really are making a difference.

So we focused entirely on training.

Certainly when I joined in procurement and supply chain only, they're the only two things we've subsequently made an acquisition and we now do trade compliance training as well, which dovetails nicely for our customers.

But the whole kind of raising Dutch is to make sure we're driving best practice in supply chain procurement.

And now trade compliance.

Well, it sounds like you have spent most of your career passionately helping others advance and helping organizations perform and continue to increase that performance and optimize that performance.

I love it, Sam.

And gosh, all the CEO roles you have held, man, you've had a tough journey.

Lots of tough decisions have been made, I'm sure.

But great to have you here and congrats on all the success and innovation that skill dynamics is driving.

And folks, we're going to talk a lot today.

It's going to be a data driven discussion.

If you all remember, if you all tuned in to a couple recent shows, me and Corinne versa, we have really talked a lot about dealing in facts and not feelings.

And you're going to hear a lot of data driven perspectives here today.

So now that we know a little more about Kevin and Sam.

Sam, I want to set the table a bit.

We were talking just a second ago about how data driven this conversation is going to be, and those are some of my favorites.

Tell us about some intriguing data related to our topic here today.

Sam.

Well, every year we as a company do a great deal of research and we publish a skills report, or the skills report, which is targeted just a procurement and supply chain.

It's pretty well regarded, I believe, and we've just got all of the data together.

We're in the process of publishing that, and we'll possibly talk about that again in a moment.

But we've got a lot of data that I've been working with my team to kind of look at and assess and work out what that means for us.

We've also got some data from our friends at Gartner who have supplied some really interesting data as well.

And I know Kevin and I go along to that.

Their trade shows, their symposium, so we've shared a bit of that before.

So lots and lots of data.

I totally agree with your point, by the way.

Fact is really important.

Obviously, gut feel is always important in business as well.

You've got to chase down the facts and find out what's really going on, especially when things are as fast moving as they are right now.

Well said.

Well said.

And let's see, speaking of Gartner, 47% of chief supply chain officers plan to increase investment in training programs to reskill supply chain teams.

I think that was one factoid, one to put out there, Sam.

And let's see, 20% of supply chain employees cite lack of development as a top reason why they lead their employer.

Man, that should get your attention.

And then thirdly, and then, Sam, I welcome your comments.

Maybe after I laid us out here, a direct reduction in talent attrition.

5% of a direct reduction in talent attrition can be achieved by investing in upskilling initiatives to make sure employees feel valued and ready and in position to deliver the optimized supply chain performance that companies demand.

So, 47 25, your quick comment there, Sam, on those opening factoids.

First of all, they dont surprise me.

When Gardner first shared those, it was absolutely no surprise.

I think if you step back from things and the hubbub of daily life in the supply chain and procurement world, things are so fast paced and talent is at short supply.

We understand how important the people are within the supply chain, and we saw that during the COVID years.

But a 5% reduction in churn attrition of employees is huge.

That's someone who's trained, who knows the system.

So it doesn't surprise me that almost half of supply chain officers are looking to, to increase how they go about training their teams.

Invest in those teams, invest in your people providing those advancement opportunities.

Excellent opening salvo there.

I want to switch to gears a little bit though, Kevin, because I want you to, if you would comment on what you see as some of the biggest challenges that supply chain leaders are dealing with right now, and what problems do you see continuing to recur, whether it's your team, your functional area, or out in industry?

Your thoughts there?

Kevin yeah.

Some of the issues, some of the main issues that we were looking at did stem as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic rate.

We kind of outsized impact on the airline industry just by nature.

So we had a lot of attrition to that point.

We were forced, put into a business spot where we had to offer early retirements and we early voluntary separations, which created more attrition than that percent, actually 70%.

The procurement professionals at Delta weren't in their spots five years ago.

When you look at that stat, it just shows how much of a need we have for the skills gap.

The median age of the professional went down inevitably as part of the hiring process, post Covid.

Sam, how about you?

When you think of the biggest challenges, Kevin mentioned a couple there, especially those that are recurring because those are the ones that keep biting us and biting us and biting us.

Your thoughts here?

Sam yeah, so I think three of them are ESG and all that that has going on with it.

That's such an important area.

Geopolitical is another area.

And then general governance around the business is changing as laws change, especially in the EU and United States.

So those are three really important ones.

But I think another area that's putting staff and teams under increasing pressure that we're seeing is a constant drive to reduce cost to, you know, to actually lower cost to businesses, even though obviously inflation's gone the exact opposite way and commodity prices have risen dramatically and so on.

And that's something that's come out in the skills report.

There was two things there.

There was cost was one.

That's a real battle because, of course, suppliers just like us, we have suppliers, we want to get more for less just as our customers want to get more for less.

And then the second one is skill shortages.

So that's something that we're talking about today.

So that came out loud and clear in the report that those lack of key skills are really important.

What's interesting, and I think we'll come to it is you know what skills are maybe missing now compared to over time.

We've been monitoring that as well.

Yeah, good stuff there.

And we are going to get into some of those specific skill sets.

Kevin, and especially Sam, back to what you were touched on a minute ago.

What CEO's are prioritizing kind of was one of the things you touched on.

Bain and company recent research, I think it released this week or last week identified CEO's around the globe, some of their top priorities right now, AI, growth, inflation and that geopolitical uncertainty.

Would you touch on a couple of those?

Another survey of 3000 us based CEO's shows that organizational resilience is still a top concern.

Sam, back to Gartner.

Gartner research showed that many CSCOs are concerned about their team's ability to successfully navigate just the next twelve months.

The time is now and we can have data come out of our ears.

The time is now to invest in your teams so they can find more success, which is fulfilling and by extension that powers organizations forward.

But a quick follow up question for go back Kevin.

Sam, for you, just how crucial we're establishing the call to action here.

We're establishing not on our feelings, based on facts, how crucial it is to train your team with necessary skills to better handle the challenges that we know about.

But then those curveballs that are coming our way already that still in our blind spot.

How crucial is it?

Sam, it's simply critical.

Losing well trained people is so, so detrimental to a business.

I think it's amazing.

Delta Airlines, the story there that Kevin's just 70% new people.

We're proud to work with Kevin and his teams to upskill people.

But I think it's just something that's so, so important.

It's not just because of churn though of people.

It's not just retention issues.

It's also because the world around us is changing massively.

You just mentioned AI then that in itself.

If you look back over the last few years in supply chain, the way that AI has been embraced is incredible.

Parts of my degree was in AI and computer science and I thought there was a lot of hype in the supply chain a few years ago at the shows.

I've been staggered at the change and how that's been embraced.

But the problem is if you have the systems and processes all developing, but the people not catching up or keeping up or being ahead, you're in for a real fight.

And that kind of hybrid economy of physical staff and digital staff is something that will become more and more important, which is why we've invested so heavily in our AI training.

That's right.

And technical skill sets are near the top of the priority list in terms of what organizations are looking for.

Hey, Kevin, before I keep going a little further, do you want to comment on any.

I know we've covered a lot of ground since last time we worked in.

Any quick comment from you on what Sam is sharing?

Well, thinking about Delta Airlines, one of our biggest promises is investing in our people.

We're consistently ranked as one of the top places to work.

Why?

Right.

I.

We invest in our people, we take care of our people, and then they in turn take care of our customers.

So part of that investment has to be in professional development.

It has to be in helping folks address their skills gap, helping them get those internal promotions, the corporate promise to giving them resources.

That's something we take very seriously.

We really put our money where our.

Mouth is there, Kevin.

I love it.

And as I share pre show, I'm a big, we're a big delta fan here and we see it.

You know, an investment is the right word because you got organizations out there, Sam and Kevin, that all of us aware of, that talk a great game, but it's that action.

It's that action.

Dedicated investment into the people and those organizations set themselves apart for sure.

So, Sam, as we get more into this skills report and all the research your team put into it, any specific competencies that supply chain and procurement leaders are looking for in an ideal team?

Your thoughts here, Sam?

Yes.

So one of the things that sticks out is that conversing with people is still really, really, really important in this ultra digital world.

The soft skills that are critical to business remain.

That's one of the kind of core findings.

About 62% of procurement leaders cited interpersonal skills as the most important area and 75% supply chain executives.

But the crucial bit here is that these are not just wishy washy, very vague soft skills.

These are soft skills that are home towards what we do in supply chain and in particular, sort of in relation to what I've just said, 46% have said procurement strategy and contract management negotiation at 45%, and 44% say financial management.

That's for procurement, supply chain quality and process improvement.

Giving you a lot of stats here, Scott.

So keep up quality and process improvement, 72% said so that's quality and process improvement.

Just reflect on that in a second.

Transport and logistics still high, 64% and digital analytical skills, 54%.

So why would quality and process improvement be so high?

Well, I think it's all to do with striving to best practice.

Right?

We can't just take for granted that a company will improve.

We'll get better and in deep, well beat competition.

So by having that always learning, constant learning, this kind of fire and forget type approach where you get a certification, then forget about training for the rest of your life, just doesn't work.

I really passionately believe that.

That's not to say, by the way, that education isn't important.

Education is vitally important as well.

But training is different to education.

And the constant need to train and keep abreast of what's happening in best practice is absolutely the word I used before.

Critical and keep the data points coming.

Sam, you're talking my language.

Probably talking Kevin's language is my hunch too.

Also, I love the beginning.

Your response, interpersonal skills was 62% of procurement leaders want more interpersonal skills for their team, 75% for supply chain executives.

And what that makes me think, and Kevin, I'm coming to you next.

But what that makes me think of, even in this technology age and how important technology is for global business, certainly global supply chain, the people still are the lifeblood and the communication between the people, we got to be able to do that effectively and build rapport and problem solve.

Celebrate the good days, but get through the bad days.

But Kevin, that's what one of the things that stood out for me when you heard all of that, what sticks out to you on this data and what you're seeing out in industry.

Yeah, it's definitely good to see.

Sam mentioned that those core skills are still important.

Right.

Where the conversation these days tends to quickly jump into AI and genai tools, they are a crucial part of the future, and they are worth talking about and exploring.

But the conversation almost has to be steered, where is the investment in those tools worth it and where is it not?

There are still some places where we do need those skills that built up the negotiation prowess and that built up our skills prowess in the past, right before we had this shift in the last five years.

So I think Sam's numbers are kind of timely in that sense, right.

That when we're interviewing new hires in the Gen Z, Geno Fassoon.

Right.

We still seek those skills.

The glass half full version is those AI skills and the digital skills are better, but we still need the whole package.

Gotta have the whole package.

That's right.

And you know what, with the investments, especially leading companies are making, we can offer well rounded professional development opportunities to our team.

And that is so important, that opens up all sorts of opportunities.

I'll circle back to you here, Sam, because one of the cool things that we, opportunities we have here, because y'all been doing this for a few years now, is to take the findings that your team is seeing in 2024 and stack it up against what you found in the 2022 version of the report.

What are your observations there, Sam?

Again, it's really interesting because this will be bought alive in the skill report.

But the previous three areas that were most important last time for the supply chain were supply planning, supply chain strategy, supply chain analytics.

So just to go back to what's now for supply chain, given it's supply chain now, what's now the most important?

Quality and process improvement, transportation and logistics, digital and analytic skills.

I find that fascinating because I think it comes back to some of the things that we've said are sort of more kind of global issues, ESG, geopolitical and the governance pieces.

Some of those things come, come from that, I think.

But also the digital analytics, analytical skills.

I think that just points the fact that people understand how important the specific skills needed in supply chain are.

And we are very, very proud to help with all of these things, including those that were bought out in 2022.

But we're now very much on top of those areas and putting more and more into people's learning plans around the latest skill sets that are at most demand.

You know, I cannot wait to get my hands on the full latest report because I think just what you're sharing already is fascinating, especially for someone that really wants to dive into the numbers, really across the globe of the ongoing, critical part of the ongoing talent dilemma.

Right.

A holistic approach to managing talent and development is a key part of that.

One interesting tidbit here, because I noticed that negotiation wasn't on the 2022 priorities, but it did hit the radar on 2024, where teams want more skill sets there.

And I believe that sometimes negotiation is a lost art and can oftentimes be misunderstood.

And just in my experience, the negotiating parties, they don't ask enough questions and they make way too many assumptions.

And if you don't know what the other party, what's important to them, how in the world can you successfully negotiate and do an effective give and take?

But that's just, just my commentary there.

All right, so, Kevin, shifting gears here.

Again, the fast moving conversation, a lot to get into as you break out your crystal ball.

And also put on your shades because the future is bright.

Right.

I'm really optimistic about the future, especially with organizations doing what you and Delta are doing and investing in our workforce.

But how should companies be preparing their teams for the future?

Your thoughts there, Kevin?

I think you have to take an extra layer to really equip your workforce with the tools they need to succeed.

There's so many available online, it's tough to pick and choose these days, right?

In the day of Coursera and YouTube and a lot of colleges going open source with classes, it's hard to pick and choose what is the most relevant, what is the most productive, what is the most useful for your career advancement.

So you really have to look into where you can advise your workforce on where they should focus, what the company goals are, and how they can best align.

Yes.

Excellent point, Kevin and Sam, coming to you.

I want to get your thoughts in general about where should folks, organizations prepare the teams for the future.

But one of the things that Kevin mentioned brought a thought to my mind is, you know, take all of this data that you are offering and plenty of other sources, but how important it is to inventory what your particular team or organization needs.

Right.

All resources are constrained or at least finite.

We got to focus those in the right areas that will make the biggest mark for where you're looking to take the organization.

But, Sam, your thoughts in general, you.

Know, training is a necessary evil.

I have to do a bunch of training, financial training.

Do I want to do one size fits all training?

Probably not.

I know certain things that I'm actually reasonably good at.

There's other areas I know I'm not good enough at.

I want to learn the things where I don't yet know.

And so we as a company, phenomenally believe in the fact that you should train people and where the gaps are.

And that comes down to two things.

It's where the gap is for the individual.

And obviously, depending on how long people have been in their role or if they're new to a role or if they've been promoted or what have you, they'll have different gaps based on their role.

But it's also based on what the company needs, what the organization needs as well.

We've got Kevin here, and we're proud to have him.

And we did a full skills gap analysis with Delta Airlines to find out.

You know, we can then target, we've got a thousand digital assets, a thousand courses, effectively, that we can target towards the right person, in the right team based on their role.

So this is not one size fits all.

It's not like, hey, just go and watch a YouTube clip.

YouTube clips can be great.

I use them, but learn the things that are most important based on your competencies.

You know, were hugely proud of that.

And when I said right at the beginning of the show that one of the reasons I joined the business, joined skill myself two and a half years ago was because I think they get it.

They got it, then the founders got it.

Who im still in touch with are great guys.

They understood that there are gaps, that skills in supply chain and procurement are vitally important and then targeting towards those skills is what's driving us now.

Sam, excellent point.

I love your targeting comments and I love how you mentioned, you know, everyone uses YouTube for all kinds of stuff.

I love YouTube, but I can't tell you how many bad recipes I've tried I've learned from YouTube.

Right.

And what you, what I've always wanted to do is learn what the best in their industries are doing and figure out what the tools are using, whatnot.

And gosh, if Kevin and the Delta Airlines team are using skill dynamics, I bet more folks across the industry probably should take a look and kick the tires on it as well.

300,000 people, Sam, I believe around the world using what you all do.

Yeah.

So I just say we're very, very proud of that.

That's purely in supply chain and procurement.

Those are professionals in our space.

Wow.

I think the other thing that your findings, key takeaway there, 69% of the survey respondents reported on the job training.

But kind of to your point about the importance of targeting.

Only 17% reported mastering personalized programs targeted at skills gaps.

Managers and leaders, we're not doing a good job there.

We've got to, we've got to really take that in a targeted manner, help folks with where they need help.

So excellent point there, Sam.

And Kevin, your quick thoughts, especially about the targeting I think of in the consulting world, you don't come in and just take what you did in the last company and apply it here.

You do an assessment of where ABC company or the current company is and what their individual needs are.

Your quick comment on the importance of assessing and targeting and then applying, I.

Think that curation piece is very underrated.

Right?

I mean, we're in a technology age where there's an abundance of materials.

To your point about YouTube, to other resources, I appreciate Sam saying that what's important to Coca Cola or Disney is not necessarily what's important to us just because we both have supply chain management organizations.

They might be interested in bottlers and dealing with them where there might be manufacturing that's dealing with.

At Delta, we're less concerned with those aspects.

That curation piece is very underrated and very important.

Excellent point.

Excellent point.

Okay, so let's talk about prioritization, right?

It's an hourly task in these ever moving, fast moving times, especially in global supply chain.

So, Sam, what would you say to supply chain leaders in terms of what they might should prioritize when focusing on upskilling?

Well, I think one of the things is to understand what your own business goals are.

If I talk about another one of our customers, Heineken, they have very clearly defined needs that they want to fulfill and where they want to get better.

Schneider Electric is another great example of that.

They came to us knowing that they had issues the same way as Delta Airlines did not, issues that were potentially threats to the business, but they knew that they could be even better.

So we would go into those companies, help with a skills gap assessment.

That's a digital thing, right?

So we don't need to do classrooms.

You know, I think 30 is it?

32% of people mentioned that training takes them away from their main job, which is a bad thing.

Right.

So that's especially true if you've got classroom based training where, you know, you've got to get to a physical location or you've got to all be together.

We're not saying that's not a good thing to do as well.

It absolutely is, and we offer that.

But the advantage of digital training learning is everyone's an individual one.

So what my training needs to be compared to Kevin and yours, Scott, would be completely different.

Potentially going back to Kevin's point, there'll be fundamentals that I think you mentioned.

Coca Cola there.

Coca Cola and Delta Airlines will want a lot of the same fundamental skills in supply chain.

But then it's the nuance beyond that, what's most important, where are the biggest gaps?

And sometimes that comes down to company by company.

Other times it comes down, interestingly, by region, where employees in Europe have different skills gaps to employees, say, in Asia or in Latin America or wherever.

And many, many of our companies are global organizations.

So we look at that and model the training and curate the learning plans to the individual.

Not a one size fits all, really, really important.

Excellent comments there, especially around customization, both in terms of the topics that need to be covered, but as well as the format and how we put that together, because different people, different teams, different organizations have different needs.

Excellent comments there, Sam, and I agree both of you all.

I feel like I'm leaving this conversation smarter between the words you are using, the data you're presenting, and the topics we're talking about.

Kevin, what do you think supply chain leaders should be prioritizing when it comes to the critical need to invest in upskilling?

I think they have to balance the core competencies of the past, which are often forgotten, and those of the future.

We do have to spend the time and the resources on the researching AI and generative AI and how that can help our business.

Other parts of the business are interested in procuring those tools as well, and they often lean on us as advisors to support that decision making.

Right.

It's not a solution to every use case that supply chain has or that the rest of our organization has.

In some places it can be a great benefit, and in some places the cost may exceed the benefit.

So I think understanding that, understanding that dynamic still exists where you still need core competencies and, you know, everything is not going to be replaced by AI.

You know, some functions may be some functions that might be prudent to make that investment.

I think that balancing act is going to be something that leaders are going to have to wrestle with over the next year or two.

Excellent point.

Start with what are we trying to do?

How about let's start there?

Because if I can use metaphors and similes, always get them confused.

But I saw a great cartoon of the day.

AI was represented as a hammer and it was being brought into a meeting.

However, all the problems were illustrated as screws.

Right?

But they were going to use that hammer on those screws, and we can't do that.

We got to start with what are we trying to do?

And then work backwards to identify the best tool to get there.

Um, Sam, I want to get some more advice from y'all both as we're coming around the home stretch.

But you, something you said made me think of a couple things.

We've talked about.

Delta and Coca Cola company and Heineken and Schneider Electric, which I think was atop the Gartner top 25 supply chains here in recent years.

Benchmarking comes to mind.

Sam, any comment you want to make about benchmarking and the opportunity we have.

Here to do just that, benchmarking organizations against one another, not in a negative way, in a positive way.

So if we're seeing that particular companies are doing a great job and are smashing things in a certain respect, we can learn from that.

We can learn what training we gave them.

We're not taking all the credit of course, we'd take very little, but we would be proud that a company's doing well.

So we'd look at that, and then, crucially, we'd look on a skills basis, on a role.

So if there's a category manager versus a supply chain executive versus chief negotiator, or whatever the skilled role might be, we'll look at how that breaks down over territories between companies, between industries, and so on and so forth.

We then adapt the standard learning plan for that role, but then adapt, as I said, the system.

The great thing with computers is they can do a lot of number crunching for us.

So the system can then adapt that learning plan based on where the skills gap is, how we can get companies to and beyond best practice.

I mean, you mentioned Schneider electric, Larry.

They've been number one in the Gartner supply chain two years in a row.

That's not because they've been targeting best practice per se.

I think it's because they're helping to define it.

So great companies like Delta Airlines, like Schneider Electric, like ABB, we could list lots of customers, but we're really proud to work with people that get it.

And when I say get it, get that their teams are the most important factor with any business.

Obviously, Delta Airlines has an awful lot of airplanes, but it's the people that make the whole thing tick.

And that will, for as long as I can think of, will be the case.

Absolutely.

Well said there, Sam.

Well said.

One more note on Schneider Electric.

I think beyond their investment in their workforce, based on what I've researched, they invest a ton in their supplier ecosystem and fomenting practical relationships that work for everybody.

Okay, so we have made the case in the last 47 minutes of why we've got to invest and take action to close the skills gap within teams.

It's not something that happens overnight.

There's no magic wands.

Right.

And it is no one size fits all, as one of y'all mentioned earlier.

But I'm going to ask, go one more time back to the well here and ask for one, one or two more pieces of general advice when it comes to how supply chain leaders, what maybe what they should do today to start to make a change.

Kevin, what would you recommend, back to your last point.

There are a lot of things you can buy and change overnight, and there are a lot of things that have to be ingrained over years.

We could buy 100 planes, aircraft overnight.

But what you can't buy overnight is you can't buy a culture.

You can't buy servant leadership, that's something that has to be truly ingrained in your corporate DNA.

It has to be ingrained in your, your values.

I think leaders here have done a very good job of that.

That's why we have a prominent place in our industry.

I think as we get our new generation of leaders, especially after we talked about all the change and upheaval in the last several years, getting those folks to embrace that culture, to embrace those thought processes, that this continuous investment in education, professional development, and your workforce, your people, is number one.

They will then treat your customers well, too, you know, and everyone's happy and more profitable in the end, I think keeping that ingrained is the number one thing that leaders can do.

Excellent comments.

Excellent comments.

Spot on with the cultural investment in any organization.

And, gosh, the returns, the massive returns that can be had from that investment.

All right, so, Sam, what advice would you have, especially real actionable advice that folks can jump on to start making the change we're talking about here today?

Well, I think possibly the number one piece of advice is to understand the goals, what is a company trying to achieve and why, and then understand where things are today and where you want to get to.

Now.

The way we talk about it is a lot of the words that Kevin just used, embracing, you know, culture, leadership, constant development, all of those type of things are really important.

Having generally a learning mindset in a business that's something that is crucial within skill dynamics.

It's been crucial in all of the businesses I've been chair of or been CEO of, and I'm really proud of that.

We always want to be better and we care.

If I think about great companies, I mentioned some of them, but just a couple more to bring into the mix.

Ford and Mars.

So Mars, the massive confectioner company, and Ford, the great vehicle business, they are brilliant at understanding what they want to do, why they're trying to get there.

Understanding where they are and what they're trying to do helps then for us to do a good job for them.

And we assess against nine competencies.

So there are nine competencies that everyone in the team will go through.

And the idea isn't to pull people apart and look for gaps.

It's actually, we call the module review.

The idea isn't to find gaps.

It's purposefully not called gaps or something negative.

The idea is to review so that we can then provide the right training that's targeted, that will resonate with the learner as something they want to learn, which is crucial because we don't have unlimited time for them to sit.

We allow our customers to track the improvements as they go against all nine competencies, not just on a learner basis, but a team basis and actually an organization wide basis.

And we can also then benchmark that against others and help to explain where things go right where they maybe can get better.

And that's part and parcel of what we do for our customers.

I love it, Sam.

I love it.

Opportunities, not deficiencies, opportunities.

And that's how we need to embrace it for sure.

Okay, so, Sam, as we start to wrap here, we've got resources for folks.

We're going to make sure folks know how to connect with Sam and Kevin.

But you've touched on kind of what skill dynamics does, both kind of what your values and kind of philosophical approaches, and you talked a lot about the platform.

But anything else you want to share, that's critical, folks, to know about how you help teams close the skills gap and drive continuous learning.

Any last comments there, Sam?

Yeah, I guess, you know, just to fill in the blanks as we move towards wrapping up, I think our platform has three areas.

So the first area is review, which is the skills gap analysis to look where people are strong and then where we can help them further to develop even where they're strong.

We'd still like to get them to the master level potentially, but it's that review piece that's very, very important.

The second part is learn the LMS, the learning management system just recently launched the new SDX front end that's rolling out to all of our customers.

SDX is a really modern take on the learning experience.

It's very, very intuitive, it's very powerful and it's very personalized.

We're really proud of it.

That's just come out in the past couple of months.

And then so that's review.

That's learn.

Insight's the third module.

Insight is all about giving analytics, again, one of Kevin's words, analytics back to our customers, back to the learners, back to their managers and beyond, so that they know how things are progressing, that they're getting the most out of their investment, and they're making the progress, crucially, to the goals that we have set.

Now, all of those things together, that's the platform.

We've got learning partners that are human beings, that know our customer base and they understand what our customers are trying to achieve and they can help hone the system on a learner basis, on a team basis or organizational basis.

And that, I think, wraps the other three things together really nicely and ensures that we're getting the engagement we need and making the progress we need.

I love it.

It sounds like a plan do check act closed loop approach to helping people learn sustainably so they can build on the skill sets so they win, the people win, the lifeblood of global business win, the organizations win.

And we got our finger on the pulse of how it all plays out day by day.

Review, learn and then insights.

Kevin and Sam, let's make sure folks know how to connect with you as they may want to continue conversation after today's live session.

Kevin when you're not at a Dodgers game or celebrating Dodgers championships and or playing tennis, maybe still, how can folks track you down?

Kevin LinkedIn is always great.

It's just a great place.

Great medium to contact me.

Email's good too.

First name last nameelta.com dot LinkedIn is best.

I think it's a great forum for this.

Outstanding.

And we'll continue our DC food scene conversation that we were having pre show at a later time.

But great to have you here with us here today.

Appreciate what y'all do at Delta Airlines.

Sam, I've really enjoyed the last hour.

I've loved you and Kevin's perspective.

I really appreciate your passion for what you all do, especially yours in particular.

How can folks track you down and continue the conversation?

The easiest way is probably LinkedIn as well, although I'm inundated on there.

So you can also go to, as Kevin said, it's Sam dot pemberton@skilldynamics.com.

and then, you know, skilldynamics.com comma.

Our website has a host of information on there.

There's some contact us type stuff on there.

And our teams are genuinely brilliant.

We've got teams around the world here in the UK, the US, Germany, Mauritius, India and Ukraine.

We're super proud of our people.

We've got some brilliant stuff and we're super responsive.

We like to think so and we'll do our best to get back to everyone as quickly possible.

Sam, really appreciate that.

And folks, reach out.

Reach out to Kevin.

Sam, keep the conversation going.

Big.

Thanks.

Hey, Kevin Tac, your manager, portfolio strategy and analytics with Delta Airlines supply chain management center of excellence.

I'm so glad you stopped by here today and share your valuable perspective.

I look forward to talking baseball and food at a later time.

Thanks for being here.

Kevin, pleasure was mine.

Thanks for having me.

You bet.

And Sam, thank you for not only bringing Kevin, thank you for bringing all the, all the facts that power today's conversation.

I appreciate what you are doing globally to move organizations, but really in a bigger way, move our industry forward.

Right?

We can't.

Everybody knows the most dangerous sentence ever heard, right?

Because that's how we've always done it.

We can't do it anymore.

So big thanks to Sam W.

Pemberton, group CEO with Skill Dynamics.

Sam, thanks for being here.

I really appreciate you inviting us on.

Scott.

It's been an absolute pleasure, as always.

I'll be watching into the future with all the others and as we hopefully continue to drive efficient supply chains that drive down carbon output and so on and so forth.

So, yeah, really, really appreciate your inviting us.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

And the opportunities abound to your comments there.

We have so many opportunities to take the industry in a whole new, different, exciting direction and change how business is done with the incredibly valuable human element.

Hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I have.

But I hope here's your challenge.

You got to take one thing that Sam or Kevin laid out here.

There's lots of them.

I got about 17 pages of takeaways.

But just take one thing and put it into practice.

Deeds, not words.

Your team is ready to do business differently, to take care of your customers, your suppliers, the whole ecosystem in a 2024 way.

Not like we did it in 1982.

Take action here today.

Whatever you do on behalf of our entire team here at supply chain now, Scott Luden, challenge.

You do good, give forward, be the change that's needed, and we'll see you next time right back here at supply chain now.

Thanks, everybody.

Thanks for being a part of our supply chain now community.

Check out all of our programming at Supply chain now.com and make sure you subscribe to supply chain now anywhere you listen to podcasts and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

See you next time on supply chain now.