Supply Chain Now — Best of 2025: Key Elements to Optimizing Supply Chain Leadership for 2026 (and Beyond)
Episode Date: December 29, 2025
Guests: Paul Brooks (Founder, Go Further Consulting), Dave Food (Chief Strategy Officer, Prophetic Technology)
Host: Scott Luton

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the evolving landscape of supply chain leadership as 2026 approaches. Host Scott Luton facilitates a robust conversation with industry veterans Paul Brooks and Dave Food, exploring both timeless and emerging leadership challenges, the rise of “T-shaped people,” and the skills, mindsets, and organizational structures that enable effective, resilient, and innovative supply chains in a volatile world. The discussion is packed with real-world insights, leadership mantras, and actionable guidance for supply chain professionals at every career stage.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Leadership Mantras & Personal Philosophies

• Dave Food’s Mantra:
  "Every day is full—full of opportunity, full of potential, and full of choices." (04:29)
  Dave emphasizes the need for conscious prioritization in both personal and professional settings, appreciating the privilege of making daily choices.

• Paul Brooks’ Mantra:
  "It always seems impossible until it’s done." (05:40)
  Paul’s approach centers on positive mindset and relentless solution-seeking, insisting every challenge has a path forward—crucial in supply chain careers.

2. Career Journeys in Supply Chain

• Dave Food:
  Shared his entry into supply chain by happenstance, blending roles as a teacher, planner, and ‘reluctant academic’ who thrives on storytelling over theory (07:47).
• Paul Brooks:
  Chronicled his shift from retail marketing to global supply chain and e-commerce, always orbiting around business development and solution creation (09:05). Highlighted the huge untapped potential in sales and business development roles within supply chain.

3. Timeless vs. Emerging Leadership Challenges

• Timeless:

  • Integration, collaboration, profitability (12:20)
  • Deep understanding of roles, servant leadership, ability to inspire teams (14:00)

• Emerging:

  • Rising customer expectations for accuracy, speed, and transparency (12:20)
  • Navigating the increased visibility of supply chains post-COVID; complexity is now in the open (20:26)
  • The bar for data quality, agility, and cross-functional expertise continues to rise

• Memorable Quote:
  "A leader has got to understand how the troops do what they do as well as the strategy and the strategic what we do." —Paul Brooks (14:00)

4. The Importance of Analytical Thinking & End-to-End Visibility

• Both guests stress that modern leaders must balance analytics with people skills, leveraging vast data while staying grounded in real customer experience and cross-functional processes (14:00–18:40).

5. The Bigger Picture & Process

• Martin Christopher’s Maxim:
  "Companies will compete on supply chains and services rather than products and prices." —Via Dave Food (19:00)
• The conversation expands on how innovation now includes the customer’s shopping and delivery experience, not just physical products (18:40–20:08).
• Paul: COVID uncovered the hidden complexity of supply chains, making the function highly visible and respected (20:26).

6. The Wider Team & Boardroom Alignment

• Modern supply chain teams are interconnected across finance, HR, and operations (27:09).
• Leaders must align KPIs across functions and stay attuned to new executive strategies, ensuring supply chains don’t operate on outdated assumptions (28:20–29:13).
• Supply chain leadership is now firmly at the board table, influencing key business decisions (29:42).

7. Generalists vs. Specialists & The Rise of “T-Shaped People”

• The best leaders increasingly are generalists who know when—and how—to leverage specialists.

• "Generalists move mountains because they figure out which specialist to bring in to the right conversation." —Scott Luton (32:56)

• “T-shaped people” are those with broad business perspective (the horizontal bar) and deep area expertise (the vertical stem), critical for integrated, innovative teams (36:20).

• Paul emphasizes:
  "If you pull a lever in supply chain, you’ve got to know what the impact of pulling that lever is. Your stakeholder group is really broad—and your end goal is to delight that customer." (38:20)

• T-Shaped Legacy:

  • First articulated in the early 1990s (David Guest), it’s now vital for developing “lifetime learners” who can adapt with expanding responsibilities (37:10).
  • Dave: Teams need diversity, and even purposeful friction and conflict in meetings to solve the real challenges—before they ever reach the customer (37:10–38:00).

8. Leadership Pitfalls: What NOT To Do

• Paul: The worst leaders control how people work or think; instead, inspire people to innovate and seek better ways (42:53).
• Dave: Avoid trying to do everything everywhere. Give teams clear objectives, strategic focus, and freedom to innovate within guardrails (43:59).
• Scott’s memorable anecdote:
  "My first boss said, 'You will learn to fear me.' That has stuck with me ever since as something never, ever remotely to do. Because leadership's not about fear." (41:47)

9. The Road Ahead: What Rises in Importance by 2030?

• Dave:
  • Hyper-personalized delivery, “teleporting” (3D printing at the customer site), and supply chain as programmable, reconfigurable capability
  • AI and machine learning enabling sandboxes for complex scenario modeling (45:55)
• Paul:
  • Despite technological leaps, enduring need for people with strong communication, analytical, and leadership skills—AI changes tools, not the core human leadership qualities (47:38).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Happy customers will tell people. Unhappy customers will also tell people. Getting it right really matters." —Dave Food (16:27)
• "If you keep your employees happy, they will keep your customers happy." —Paul Brooks quoting Richard Branson (17:17)
• "Changing a supply chain is like doing open heart surgery while you’re still walking along. It’s pretty hard to get right." —Paul Brooks (39:27)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:00–03:20: Introduction and guest backgrounds
• 03:20–06:38: Leadership mantras & mindset
• 07:47–11:36: Career journeys and opportunities in supply chain
• 12:20–17:56: Timeless vs. evolving leadership challenges
• 18:40–24:46: The bigger picture, process, and complexity in supply chains
• 27:09–30:42: The wider team & cross-functional/board alignment
• 32:56–36:00: Generalists vs. specialists; defining “T-shaped people”
• 38:20–40:54: Why T-shaped people are critical; safe-to-fail and sandboxes
• 42:53–44:41: Leadership pitfalls—what not to do
• 45:55–48:31: The future of supply chain leadership (AI, 3D printing, personalization)
• 49:03–53:27: Guests’ current projects, publications, and how to connect

Guest Initiatives & Resources

• Paul Brooks:

  • Inspired series of books on supply chain leadership; Volumes 1 & 2 available, more to come (49:05)
  • Website: wordstoinspire.co.uk

• Dave Food:

  • “Planning: Food for Thought” — Weekly LinkedIn blog unpacking provocative topics in a conversational style (50:44)
  • LinkedIn: Dave Food
  • Email: dave@prophetic-technology.com

Actionable Takeaways

• Supply chain leadership now requires breadth (generalist perspective), depth (specialist know-how), and the humility to admit gaps and seek diverse input.
• Foster psychological safety and sandbox environments for innovation—fail fast and learn early to avoid risk downstream.
• Align supply chain strategy, metrics, and process with business objectives—especially as leadership becomes more visible at the board level.
• Anticipate a future where supply chains are decentralized, customizable, and powered by AI—adaptability and continual learning will be key.
• Above all, create and sustain cultures where employee and customer happiness drive operational excellence.

Final Charge
"Take one thing you heard here from Paul or Dave, put it into practice. It's about deeds, not words. That's how we're going to continue transforming the global business world." —Scott Luton (54:04)

For more episodes, resources, and insights, visit supplychainnow.com.