I have a lot of conversations with supply chain executives in my line of work. Executive Platforms organizes the long-running and successful North American Supply Chain Executive Summit series, and is launching a European series as well, but of course supply chain content is integral to our manufacturing summit series, our food safety and quality series, our pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical series, and our sustainability series as well. Something fundamental has changed in the nature of those conversations over the last year or so, and I missed it for a little while in the background hum of organizations weathering the storm…

Creativity is a slippery thing to define, but we all know it when we see it. It cannot really be taught, although it can be encouraged. Creative people tend to be successful problem-solvers who contribute more than the average to team projects and may rise to become ‘Top Talent’ as businesses like to identify the people who drive positive outcomes in their organizations. We also make a habit of suppressing creative people. Without in any way coming from a malicious or even intentional place, there are many spoken and unspoken influences that shape how a creative person acts in given…

There’s no doubt that digital is quickly transforming the way we do everything. Organizations of all sizes are undergoing a period of intense transformation, and it can be easy to get swept up in new technologies. But at the core of each organization is its people, and it’s important to keep them at the forefront of your transformation.  At the 2021 edition of the North American HR Executive Summit, Binh Nguyen, VP of Talent Acquisition at Walmart, spoke about Walmart’s strategy to keep people at the heart of their digital transformation, and what they believe the future will look like. …

The world is changing. Sustainability is quickly becoming a major topic among stakeholders, and it’s up to organizations to create and implement practices that satisfy the needs of the future.  In 2021, Chris Raymond shared his experience as the first Chief Sustainability Officer for Boeing at the North American Sustainability & Responsibility Summit. Boeing connects the world through aviation – but its industry can also be attributed to 3% of global carbon emissions. In his position, Raymond oversees the company’s approach on sustainable development and ESG priorities.  As the world continues to grow and shift, industries have to find ways…

Jack Garvey, founder and CEO of Compliance Architects, is a frequent co-chair for Quality and Risk event content at Executive Platforms’ pharmaceutical manufacturing series. During the 2022 edition of the Pharma Manufacturing World Summit, Jack spoke about the talent crisis facing the industry and the tools needed for organizations to develop and nurture the next generation of professionals.  The talent crisis is not new —and it will probably never disappear— but there are steps that can be taken to offset its effects. Here are some of Jack’s thoughts:  Understanding the Role  The extent of the work a compliance officer does…

A common theme you will find in almost every Executive Platforms-organized industry event is about moving from reactive to proactive, about identifying and mitigating risks before things go wrong. From Food Safety to Biopharmaceuticals, and from Sustainability to Human Resources, people in leadership roles always want to be out in front of their organization’s challenges. Foresight beats hindsight in just about every business decision you can imagine. For some reason, cybersecurity does not get the same treatment as everything else. People like to turn a blind eye to the software, hardware, and infrastructure the world runs on when looking for…

For this week’s blog we are going to begin with an unusual declaration before asking you to read what we have to say: We do not really know much about semiconductors; in fact, the vast majority of people have very little understanding about semiconductors despite the enormous impact they have on all of our daily lives. The late British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke proposed a few adages that have come to be known as Clarke’s Three Laws: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, they are almost certainly right. When they state that something…

While the wave of workplace turnover popularly called “The Great Resignation” still rolls on with no sign of cresting, it is important to remember that most of those people submitting their notices are also starting new jobs somewhere too. What does onboarding look like in the “New Normal” of work, particularly at the kind of forward-thinking employer who is attracting new employees who have decided to leave their old positions and applied for something more aligned with what is important to them? As you might imagine, onboarding involves a little more than introducing the new team member around the office…

“This meeting could have been an email.” Who has not had that thought at least once in their working lives? For many people it is a regular sentiment. A general disdain for business meetings is something everyone understands even if they are lucky enough not to experience it often themselves. “This could have been an email,” is printed on sassy coffee cups, captions popular internet memes, and is often fodder for business-related blogs like this one. Rather than linger on the popular distaste for meetings and the longing for the email alternative —well-trodden ground without much new to say— let’s…