Supply Chain Leadership Report: Many Styles Generate Success

The Supply Chain Leadership Report: Many Styles Generate Success examines critical success factors of a supply chain leader, including his or her attributes, leadership style and ability to formally and informally influence a multitude of stakeholders.

Compiled from multiple sources, including surveys of APICS members, articles and external research, the purpose of this report is to convey a knowledge and skills blueprint for current and future supply chain leaders.

Based on targeted research of supply chain and operations management professionals across many industries and management levels, APICS identifies the following as core themes for effective supply chain leadership:

• Applying certainty to uncertain situations affecting others, such as in forecasting or decision making
• Balancing risk and reward in careful analysis using hard and soft skills
• Aligning tactics to strategy in planning and harmony with organizational culture
• Maintaining and improving relationships of supply chain partners
• Satisfying competing priorities and stakeholders on an ongoing basis

In addition, the research identified seven core competencies of an effective leader to be someone who: creates and communicates a vision; promotes and brings about change; builds partnerships; captures and acts on insightful information; seizes and creates opportunity at the right place and time; consistently models honorable behavior and best practices; and serves the best interests of the organization without being self-serving.