Supply Chain Careers Podcast - Lee Beard on Strategic Career Pivots, Leadership, and Sustainability in Supply Chain

Lee Beard on Strategic Career Pivots, Leadership, and Sustainability in Supply Chain

10/31/24 • 49 min

n this episode of the Supply Chain Careers Podcast, we talk with Lee Beard, a supply chain executive with extensive experience at companies such as Coca-Cola, Nordstrom, Nike and Dell. Lee knew he wanted to be an engineer because his dad was a manufacturing guy, but then made his way into logistics where he saw a future. He has achieved his career goal of leading large teams and organizations. To get there he knew he needed greater financial understanding, so he got an MS in Management with a focus on finance and operations. He offers his perspective of what it means to manage a truly global supply chain at a large scale. Lee says the diversity of talent in supply chain has changed dramatically for the better. He provides his concerns about supply chain professionals being able to see through the fog of many proposed new technologies and whether they have the ability to work and to scale. Lee provides his career development advice, particularly when you are trying to lead others. He also provides his thoughts about the value of being part of associations to learn and to build relationships. Lee closes with his thoughts about sustainability

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Previous Episode

Series Recap: Growth as a Leader Relies Upon Grit and Accountability

In this episode, Chris Gaffney, Rodney Apple, and Mike Ogle synthesize each lesson from the entirety of the SCC Leadership Series. In this 20th episode, they discuss ways that your team can benefit from these lessons and how to implement a lot of these practices across your organization. Chris emphasizes that these best practices in leadership are not limited to supply chain practices. So share across your networks and help others become better leaders and improve their own career success.
Leadership is something that is developed over time by those who seek knowledge and understanding. This can only be done if an individual is willing to follow and be proactive about their own growth. Gap analysis, blind spots, seeking mentors, and humility are all keys to succeeding and growing as a leader. We show you how this can be done and encourage aspiring leaders to consult these episodes to help pave your path to leadership growth and success.
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Next Episode

La-Z-Boy's CSCO Shares Career Growth Insights: Embrace Diversity of Experience and Adaptability

In this episode of the Supply Chain Careers Podcast, we speak with Mike Leggett, Chief Supply Chain Officer for La-Z-Boy, who has also progressed through positions at Kimberly Clark, Abbott Laboratories, Masonite, and Dentsply Sirona. Mike got his start in supply chain pursuing finance at Ohio State, but after attending a Transportation Logistics Association meeting and enjoying the free pizza, found that a speaker from Big Lots inspired him to look further into supply chain. He shares his transitions and growth path on the way up to CSCO, knowing he wanted to be a leader. Mike provides his thoughts about how to establish breadth of experiences, including vital operations experience, that helps him lead a broad team of VPs. He shares his mentors' advice and the value of being a servant leader. He also seeks continuous feedback and asks as many questions as he can about how he is doing and the directions he should be taking. Mike highly values curiosity, intelligence, and analytic capabilities, but values attitude most of all. In this episode Mike also addresses international experiences, networking, establishing relationships, setting proper expectations, and asking what more you can do.

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