The Buzz: How Decision Intelligence Can Transform Supply Chain Performance

Summary

Podcast Summary: Supply Chain Now – The Buzz: How Decision Intelligence Can Transform Supply Chain Performance

Date: June 5, 2026
Hosts: Scott Luton & Alex Perdon
Special Guest: Arash Aghlara (Founder & CEO, FlexRule)

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Buzz dives into the challenges, trends, and innovations shaping global supply chains—with a focus on how decision intelligence can be a transformative force. Scott and Alex, seasoned supply chain thought leaders, review timely industry news and reports, and engage in a deep interview with Arash Aghlara, a leading thinker on decision intelligence. The show uncovers why organizations struggle to scale AI initiatives, the evolving state of omnichannel, the ongoing supply chain talent shortage, and the real foundations of effective governance—culminating in actionable strategies for elevating decision-making capabilities across supply chains.

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Key Topics & Insights

1. AI “Pilot Purgatory” in Supply Chains

[17:05]

• Key Takeaway: Most organizations are struggling to move AI pilots beyond early stages into enterprise-wide operations.

  • Statistic: Less than 1 in 10 supply chain leaders surveyed have managed to scale AI solutions organization-wide; 74% remain at the planning/roadmap phase.
  • Memorable Quote:
    “Most supply chain AI programs should become more boring before they become more ambitious. Boring is how technology gets adopted.” (As cited from Cargo Explorer)

• Panel Insights:

  • Arash: Success hinges on making decisions explicit and “visible,” not just focusing on processes or data. The so-called “boring” work is understanding and mapping decisions.
  • Alex: Companies are skipping critical foundational steps (governance, clarity on objectives), often due to FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).

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2. MIT Omnichannel Supply Chain Report

[21:00]

• Key Findings:

  • 81% report ongoing e-commerce growth.
  • Sharp uptick in omnichannel distribution strategies.
  • Priorities are shifting from just creating omnichannel capabilities to optimizing for profitability, sustainability, and return management.

• Critical Observations:

  • Arash: The report focuses on metrics (accuracy, prediction, AI enablement) but fails to diagnose root causes such as “complexity of fulfillment” and “decision complexity,” missing a decision-centric perspective.
  • Alex: The pace of change on the commercial side often outpaces internal operating models, requiring companies to reevaluate not just decisions but also their KPIs and the way decisions are made.

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3. Turning the Talent Shortage Into Opportunity (Accenture Report)

[27:39]

• Data Highlight: By 2035, US demand for core supply chain jobs will rise by 1.3M (+19%), but workforce growth will only add about 221,000—implying a gap of over 1 million jobs.

• Accenture's Recommendations:

  1. Build talent foresight.
  2. Redesign work (people + systems in harmony).
  3. Enable continuous skill-building.

• Panel Insights:

  • Arash: Without making business decisions explicit and centrally managed, closing the labor gap is impossible. 95% of financial results are tied to the quality of executed decisions (citing Bain & Company).
  • Alex: Pushes back on the “AI kills jobs” narrative, suggesting the real challenge is lazy AI deployments and superficial efforts at augmentation or redesign. The critical need is deep understanding of roles and true autonomy.

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4. Case Study: Whey Protein Shortage

[31:53]

• Context: Protein-fortified product demand is booming; supply shortages of whey have led to price hikes and heavy investment in new capacity.
• Decision Intelligence Lens:
  • Arash: The issue is a cascade of decisions—pricing, refunds, absorbing costs, supply sourcing—all needing to be made explicit, modeled, and connected for better outcomes.
  • Alex: Highlights lost opportunities when organizations don’t use mature demand sensing and decision technologies to anticipate and respond to market signals.

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Feature Segment: In-Depth with Arash Aghlara (“The Uncle of Decision Intelligence”)

[35:36 onwards]

Defining and Tackling the “Wicked Problem” of Disconnected Decisions

• Arash discusses the “continuous decision model” (CDM), a framework that interconnects and contextualizes decisions across operations, giving each decision memory and awareness of upstream/downstream impacts.

Memorable moment [37:52]:

“We came with the modeling technique called continuous decision model... They [the decisions] can communicate. It really brings this state and memory to the next decision. So they become aware of their environment.” (Arash Aghlara)

• Alex amplifies the point:
  “Today, you have decisions made in isolation... There's no end-to-end context, no memory, no ability to anticipate downstream effects. This is the wicked problem.”

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A Four-Dimensional Framework for Decision Intelligence

[39:36]:

• Arash’s Framework:

  • 1. Structural: Make decisions visible, explicit, and governable.
  • 2. Behavioral: Shift organizational culture from tolerating ambiguity and noise to prioritizing consistency and explicitness.
  • 3. Operational: Embedded clarity—define what to do, who acts, logic, constraints, ownership, and accountability.
  • 4. Architectural: Underlying technology must support explicit, interconnected decision management.

• Alex’s perspective: Use the framework to target high-value, high-impact decisions, not just those that are most “visible” or easy to measure.

Quote [41:54]:

“Decisions are hidden, mostly implicit, unactioned, and ungoverned... If you want to implement a successful strategy, you have to address these four dimensions.” (Arash)

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Bridging the Gap Between Visibility and True Intelligence

[44:00]:

• Arash: Intelligence starts with defining what intelligence means for your organization. The missing link is making decisions “first-class citizens” through a “decision-centric approach.”
  • This closes the 21% gap between execution and strategy Accenture identified.
• Alex: Most companies have visibility into "what" is happening, but not "why" or "what to do next.” Decision intelligence tells you what really matters and how to act.

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Governance: Not a Dirty Word

[47:12]:

• Key Message: Governance is more than policies or post hoc audits—it’s about making decision inventory visible, connected, and owned.
• Good Governance Means:
  • Visibility of decision inventory.
  • Clear ownership and accountability.
  • Decisions are explicitly modeled, with logic, constraints, and effect mapped out.

Quote [48:22]:

“If you don't have visibility on something, you can't govern it... Governance is not a policy document. It’s a discipline for making decisions visible, explicit, connected.” (Arash)

• Alex: “It’s not a policy exercise—it’s a decision architecture exercise. The focus on governance is foundational work, and companies ignore it at their peril.”

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “[Regarding AI pilots] FOMO drives humanity… You see the shiny AI and want to invest, but without targeting and specificity, you create friction.” (Scott, 19:05)
• “You can’t shrink your way to greatness.” (Scott, 8:06, referencing Ben Gordon)
• “Treat decisions as first-class citizens in the organization so they can be optimized, customer-centric, and situation-aware.” (Scott intro for Arash, 13:04)
• “There are a ton of decisions that are truly hidden, and leaders may not understand the real drivers of performance.” (Scott, 42:28)
• “Sound governance is your friend in a world moving fast.” (Scott, 49:25)
• “Don’t manage from fear—manage from faith and practice.” (Listener Jeremy via X, cited at 52:09)

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Actionable Takeaways

1. Prioritize the Foundations: Emerging tech like AI must be built on explicit, mapped-out decision inventory, not just data or processes.
2. Adopt a Decision-Centric Approach: Make decisions visible, defined, and explicitly owned to close the “visibility-to-action” gap.
3. Invest in Good Governance: Governance is an engineering discipline—a continuous architecture for quality, not box-ticking.
4. Continuously Redesign Work: The supply chain talent gap will be closed not by substituting labor with AI, but by redesigning roles and continuously upskilling with systems in harmony.
5. Focus on the Wicked Problems: Recognize that disconnected, stateless decisions are the root cause of friction—focus on creating interconnected, contextualized decision models.

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How to Connect and Learn More

• Arash Aghlara: flexrule.com, LinkedIn
• Alex Perdon: LinkedIn
• Further Resources: Decision Camp conference, MIT Omnichannel Report, and upcoming Supply Chains to Admire research (June 23).

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Final Challenge From the Hosts

“Deeds, not words. Take one actionable idea from today—make a decision visible, map it, and own it. It’s time for supply chain leaders to lead decisively.” (Scott, 54:29)

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Transcript

[A]

Welcome to Supply Chain now the number one voice of supply chain. Join us as we share critical news, key insights and real supply chain leadership from across the globe. One conversation at a time. Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you may be. Scott Luton and Alex Perdon with you here on Supply Chain Now. Welcome to today's Live stream. Hey, Alex, how you doing today?

[B]

I'm doing great. How are you?

[A]

I am doing wonderful, wonderful. And it's a gorgeous day here in metro Atlanta. It's a bit cooler, I think, than where you are down in Miami, huh?

[B]

Yes. It's always, as I like to say, hot and muggy and miserable during the summer.

[A]

So, yes, hot, muggy and miserable, that's almost alliteration there. We'll have to do a weather check as we get into the past of summer and into the fall where I bet it's lovely here in Miami. But regardless, folks, on today's show, you know, it's the Buzz where every Monday at 12 noon Eastern time, we discuss a variety of news and developments across global supply chain and business news that matters is what we like to call it. And folks, all month long, the Buzz is powered by our friends at APL Logistics. APL Logistics is a global supply chain logistics provider specializing in order management solutions operating from 180 locations across 93 countries. To learn more, visit APL logistics.com okay, so Alex, big show here today. We're going to be talking about a variety of topics including AI pilot purgatory continues to be a growing problem. Hey, what does MIT say about the state of supply chain omnichannel? We're going to find out how can we transform the supply chain talent shortage into an opportunity? We got some thoughts there. And how are leading organizations driving successful decision intelligence strategies? Stay tuned. We've got a great expert joining us. All that and much, much more. And as I mentioned, in about 15 minutes or so, we're bringing in a special guest, Arash Aglara, founder and CEO with Flex Rule. Now you're going to enjoy Arish's perspective on a variety of topics, especially decision intelligence. So, Alex, big, big show here today. Are you ready to go?

[B]

I'm ready. Let's do this. I'm excited.

[A]

All right. Well, hey, joining me and Alex already, It's one of my favorite people in the world. Hey, Alan, Jacques from beautiful Canada. I think Alan's coming to Atlanta soon. We're going to grab a wonderful meal and I'm going to get all your latest perspective. Alan, so great to see you here today. And Alex, before we bring in our guest and we got a great win here today. Arish Agara is going to bring it. We got four things to work through. Let's hit the first one. And as usual, it is our with that said newsletter which we publish almost every week now, Alex, we, we let off this edition with a bit of a recap from a fascinating discussion we had last week on how supply chain leaders must prepare now, not tomorrow, not next week. They got to prepare right now for the onset of quantum computing. We also included a wonderful resource from our friend Dr. Mudasir Ahmed, a purpose trained supply chain AI called Sensei. In this edition you're also going to find a bevy of tools and resources, plus a big week of live programming including we've got a great show coming up. Not that one, that's a great show we had last week. We've got a great show, Alex, coming up on June 5th, which you'll find information for. And with that said, and it's all about a frank conversation focused on the truth about entrepreneurship that nobody talks about coming up Friday, June 5th at 12 noon Eastern Time. So folks, give it a read, join us for the programs and let us know what you think. So Alex, did you get a chance to read with that said this past weekend?

[B]

I did, I did. I, you know, I, I think anything on emerging technologies, quantum computing is important. I think what I found really interesting is that today we're, we're seeing supply chain leaders are being bombarded with a lot of information. You know, the market is going through unprecedented technology change. And I think as a supply chain leader they're asking themselves, you know, where do I prioritize? You hear about AI gen AI. And so perhaps my take on the whole quantum computing was a little bit and I think leaders need to ask themselves what is your organization's risk appetite? And what I mean by that is, you know, for example, when I was researching Blockchain at Gartner, I would ask companies to rate their risk tolerance on a scale of 1 to 10. And so if they answer like 6 or below, I would tell them, you know, this is not for you. You know, your probability of failure is greater than success. And so it's not to say don't go out there and begin to dip your toes, but just be aware what your risk appetite is. And so I think that's also important to keep in mind. You know, quantum is no different. Emerging technologies are going to require more than just budget approval. But be mindful of what it means, especially when it comes to a lot of the testing.

[A]

Excellent points, excellent points. As you know, everyone's risk tolerance is going to be much, much different. And of course, so the strategies to deal with said risk are also going to vary. But I would challenge the audience and we'll see if Alex agrees with me. She may not, and I'm in trouble if she doesn't. But I would argue that, folks, if you're leading organizations, whether you're in supply chain or not, you gotta at least have an understanding about what the quantum error poses so you can figure out what are the right steps for you and your organization based on those factors that Alex touched on. Would you agree with that, Alex?

[B]

Yeah, definitely. I definitely agree. I think you, you, you have to be, you know, to your point, aware, doing your research. Yes, completely agree on that.

[A]

Excellent, excellent. All right, so folks, again, check out with that said, again, it comes out almost every single week, almost every single weekend at that. And let us know your take. And you know, to make things easier, let's see here. Tricia has dropped a direct link right there. Thank you, Tricia. She also dropped our direct link to APL Logistics, our friends there. So check that out. And Rashid is back with us. And I hope I said your first name right. Check out what Rasheed said. Supply chain leaders must prepare now, not later, because the next disruption will not send a calendar invite. I like that, Alex. That is a good one, huh?

[B]

That's a good one. That's a good one. Yes.

[A]

Okay. Good stuff, Rasheed. All right, so number two, let's see here. Now, I must share this graphic here. I got excited because this was a great conversation. So, you know, Alex, you, you tuned in last week. We had a bunch of folks joined us last week or what I thought was a fascinating discussion that Wiley Jones from DOS and I had on our Enterprise Unleashed series. It focused on Ben Gordon's perspective. Now most, a lot of folks will recognize Ben for all of his investment and advisory work across global supply chain. And Alex, I enjoyed your comments, several of them. And we're laughing, folks, because it was a lively conversation. But Alex, what was one of your favorite takeaways from our discussion here?

[B]

Oh, my gosh. I, I, I mean, as you said, right? I mean, he has candid views from leadership style, the views of the market. I mean, he covered a lot in 45 minutes. I would say the one thing that stuck out to me and I actually wrote it down on a sticky note, I have it right here, was simplify, focus and execute. And I love this. I think this is great advice professionally, personally, and I think it's for many companies this is really important not to lose sight of, you know, what is that main thing, Whether you're a software provider and you're trying to, you know, hone in on your moat, your competitive advantage or you're an enterprise. And again, that conversation about there's so many different types of technologies, you know, which one should you go in and focus on first? So I again really, really liked that take about simplifying, focusing and executing. I thought that was great.

[A]

I did too. And I had at least 17 pages of notes. I like that one. I love a good framework and that's a great framework. I think it's very universal. Simplify, focus, execute. The other thing that he mentioned that I think has lots of different twists on it, but a timeless truth at the core is you can't shrink your way to greatness.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

I used to work with a, with a, a smart individual that would always say you can't save your way into sales success. Right? Invest, invest, invest. It's not always dollars, it can be many other things. But it was a great conversation. And folks, tune into the replay we're going to be dropping on the podcast channel. You can also go find it over on our YouTube channel currently. But it was a great one with Ben Gordon and Wiley Jones and the team from dos. Okay, Alex, I got more perspective on I will get from you because coming up here next few weeks, our mutual friend, the one and only Lar Ceri, is going to be releasing the 2026 installment of supply Chains to Admire. And I think this is either the 13th or 14th yearly edition of this research. So Alex, I gotta ask you, what is your favorite aspect about this research that's released each year?

[B]

Yeah, yeah. I mean the report itself is, it's strong, obviously long standing report as you mentioned, based on quantitative data, lots of research, lots of evidence. I personally know that she is pushing to recalibrate the industry's view of excellence and challenges, obviously the status quo, which is very important in our industry. I think what I'm looking for this report is maybe three different questions. Number one being what is she seeing in terms of tariff disruptions and AI investment, is that creating any changes that she's seen for how companies are performing? You know, and then for those companies that are, I guess, let's use the word winning, you know, what are they doing differently? I mean, I'm not talking about vague statements and Laura would never do this such as digital transformation or change management. But again, what what is she seeing that those companies are doing know, radically different or perhaps it's not that radical. And so again, I think this is a great report comes out. Everyone who's in supply chain should be reading this. And it really just helps you to think about, you know, some of those other questions and bring up some great data points.

[A]

You know, Alex, I met with Laura last week to kind of go through some of her early key findings here as well as the latest with Ask Laura, which is a platform we'll touch on in a few weeks. But one thing is for sure, we'll see if Alex agrees with me here too. Supply chains to admire will be anything but fluff. It is a no fluff zone. And that is one of the things I've always appreciated about that and frankly her perspective. So folks. So Alex, would you agree there you

[B]

agree with absolutely zero fluff, no fluff,

[A]

zero fluff, negative fluff. But folks, I invite you to join me and Laura and maybe I guess a special guest OR2 on June 23rd at 12 noon Eastern Time as we dive into key takeaways from this year's supply chains to admire 2026 and more about this powerful new platform called Ask Lore. So join us then. All right, let's see here. I want to add Rasheed is on it. They say AI is rapidly reshaping supply chains, but a real competitive advantage will come from leaders who know how to connect technology with people. Resilience and execution. Alex, that is almost poetic, huh?

[B]

Yeah, there's a lot there. There's I, I think we should also add a data somewhere in there about governance too. So I think that'll be a good segue.

[A]

I'm with you. And Rashid adds people development. That's a good one too. All right, Trisha has also dropped we talking on Ben Gordon Enterprise Unleashed episode. You can, you can go check that out here. And one last thing I'mma mention before we have a great guest join us here today is this comes from our friends at APL Logistics. Now you know how much I love a good list and by the way, so does Amanda. Big thanks to Amanda. Trish behind the scenes helping us today as always. Our friends at APL Logistics published a neat read focused on 5 signs your supply chain has outgrown how it's managed today. Hey folks, you can't race a Corvette but drive it like a Chevette. Alex, have you ever heard of the Chevette?

[B]

No. I thought you were going to go with Chevy there for a minute, but

[A]

no, I've not So I was curious when I first put that together, I was like, I wonder how many folks have ever heard of a Chevette. Well, folks think of this. Y' all know The Corvette, big V8 or maybe bigger, you know, race car, I'll call it. And then you got the Chevette, which is a bit like a Pinto, except it came a decade or two later. Okay, so you don't want to. You got to unleash the beast, right? Unleash the beast. And you'll check out this great read, practical read from our friends at APL Logistics. All right, so, Alex, I am really delighted to have this guest here with us today that you found first. You said, hey, we got to get in touch with this person's agent and get him booked on the show. So that's what we did. He was, he was, he was on world tour. We brought him away maybe with the stones. We brought him away here today and I'm gonna introduce our guest. Arash is known as the uncle of Di. Right? The uncle of Decision Intelligence. He's the creator of the decision centric approach and he's a thought leader when it comes to decision intelligence. Of course. With over 20 years of experience in various industries, he helps enterprises treat decisions as first class citizens of the organization so they can make optimized customer centric and situation aware rather business decisions at scale in regulated environments. Please join me in welcoming Arsh Aglara, founder and CEO of Flex Roll. Hey. Hey, Arish. How you doing, my friend?

[C]

Hello there. I'm doing very well. Thank you very much for having me on the show.

[A]

We've heard so much about you, so your ears may have been burning. And Alex, once you and I got together, we're like, hey, who we want to have on today's show? And you're like, I've got the perfect guest and I can't wait to dive in. That's kind of how it went, Alex, huh?

[B]

That's pretty much how it went, yes.

[A]

So, and folks, you're going to find out why in just a minute. But first, first, Arish and Alex, I've got a fun warmup question. Then we're going to touch on four news stories and then we're going to dive into Decision Intelligence and much, much more with Alex and Arish. Let's do this. So today is many things, right? It's International Children's Day. It's National Olive Day. That's kind of like licorice. Some folks love olives, some folks hate olives. I love olives. It is Dinosaur Day. And it's also Oscar the Grouch day. Now everyone knows hopefully who Oscar the Grouch is, that beloved character from Sesame street spinning on TVs for over 50 years, I believe. Now, Arash and Alex, did you know the late great Jim Henson, right. Who helped create Sesame Street? A lot of the characters got the idea for Oscar the Grouch after an experience with a rude waiter at a restaurant called Oscar's Salt of the Sea.

[B]

No.

[A]

And they created a character. So folks, that tells me you got to be careful and be nice to people that know how to make TVs and television shows and movies and characters. But I want to ask you this, Arash and Alex. Arash, when you think of. When I think of Oscar the Grouch, I think of like a lot of folks can be grouchy in the morning and other folks are morning people. So Irish, which are you? Are you a grouch in the morning or you just jump out of bed in the morning, cup of coffee and the world is good?

[C]

No, I just jump out of the bed and I start my working. Sometimes my wife actually laughs at me. She's like, how do you not even having your eyes open and start typing on your computer and generate four hours sleep is good for me to go?

[A]

Oh, I'm kind of like that. Arash, Alex, about you grouchy or morning person?

[B]

Oh, I'm a morning person. I'll get grouchy anything after 7,8ish. But, but no, I'm, I'm, I'm a morning person. I'm the, I'm the annoying morning person.

[A]

Love it. I am too. And maybe I wasn't always a morning person, but really we've got so many blessings that we should appreciate in this world. And for some reason, the first thing in the morning as the sun's coming up, it really makes me more grateful, I think, and gets me ready for a good day. So Arish and Alex, great to have you both and especially grateful that both of you are fellow morning people as well. All right, so folks, we've got a lot to get into here today and we're going to start with the. We're going to explore how supply Chain AI is getting stuck more and more in pilot purgatory, as reported by our friends at Cargo Explorer. In this article, they focus on Supply Chain Brain reporting on a new GEP and University of Virginia Darden research report, which is out and it offers up some nuggets that I don't think is going to surprise a lot of folks, maybe a little bit. But of some 200 supply chain leaders surveyed, fewer than 1 in 10 have scaled AI pilots into enterprise wide operations. In fact, 74% according to the research, have not moved beyond planning or have created a roadmap for how AI should operate inside the business. Now I like this quote from the article as I think it relates to an important observation quote. Most supply chain AI programs should become more boring before they become more ambitious. Boring is how technology gets adopted. End quote. Okay, so Arish, I'd love to get your take on the news here out of Cargo Explorer.

[C]

Well, that's the boring is actually very interesting. So they refer to something called operating model. Right. What is interesting about the report is that they actually point out that they can't really get the AI at the enterprise scale because of lack of that operating model. But what is lagging in this particular report is defining what that operating model looks like. Now in referencing back to the boring job should be done first, I think that's really highly related to understanding what AI is supposed to do. If AI is supposed to make decisions, we're going to talk about that in the decision intelligence section. But nobody thinks of decisions explicitly. They look at processes and data and AI models, all of that, and somehow they assume those are decisions. So I think the boring work is to understand and make those decisions visible.

[A]

I like it, Arish. And you know, I love how we're able to more and more automate the boring work and tedious work across the industry. Alex, your thoughts on this article here about Pilot Purgatory?

[B]

Yeah, I mean I think we're, we're seeing a lot of articles very similar to this one. I mean, I think, you know, whatever stat you're pulling, whether it's from this article, Gartner, you know, wherever it may be, I think they're all basically saying the same thing, which is that there's a conversation of a lot where there's a lot of investment but there's not a lot of movement happening. And, and I think progress is been hindered by that lack of readiness, not because it's a lack of ideas. And so specifically, I mean what Arash was, was talking about is, yes, focus on the boring, on the governance, on, you know, what are you trying to focus on? And, and I think that's something that in the rates to, I don't know if it's fomo, fear of missing out. You know, I think a lot of organizations are skipping through that fundamental, let's call it that the boring, boring stuff which is incredibly important.

[A]

It is incredibly important. But I love the acronym you mentioned, fomo. We talk about FOMO all the time. And I think just my take, Arish and Alex. One of the most dangerous dynamics, actually it's one of the best, but it's also one of the worst dynamics that drives leadership, motivations and sometimes day to day behavior is that fomo, right? They see the shiny outcomes or the shiny objects that other organizations are doing with AI and they're like, I want that. And so they drag it back, invest a few bucks without the targeting and the specificity and the particular case studies needed or problems that we're going to apply it to. And it can create, in my experience at least tons and tons of friction because people don't know what to do with it and they feel the pressure to do something with it. Have you seen that in your journey as well, Arash?

[C]

Yeah, absolutely. I think actually the report is kind of positive because if you look at for example the Oracle report, they say 95% of those AI projects have zero literally value or zero measurement in P and L. So kind of maybe in supply chain they're doing better. But at the end of the day, I agree that FOMO drives humanity essentially. Not only this particular industry, every human on planet Earth are really want to get to a better position than what they are at this point in time. And the big driver of that is fomo.

[A]

The grass is always greener, Alex, is that right?

[B]

Not always, not always greener, but certainly I think again, just going back to looking at some of these different emerging technologies and even nascent technologies. It's, it's, yes, you should be, you know, doing your research, going and moving forward, but just being mindful. It's about, you know, I see your point, looking at your organization and, and thinking, you know, it's not, it shouldn't be about fomo. FOMO should not be driving your, your, your investment decisions.

[A]

So, absolutely, so true. All right, and by the way folks, got some good news if you liked that last article we covered, especially the, the, the main driver of it, that new research of 200 supply chain leaders that GEP and University of Virginia Darden has created and released. Come join us on June 10th at 12 noon Eastern Time as we dive into with a couple of the figures that created, help create and publish the research. I'll be joined by Jake Barr, John Wayne Global Supply Chain. And I invite y' all to come join us. Okay, let's see here. Next up we're going to be talking about how MIT defines the current state of supply chain omnichannel and specifically this is from the MIT center for Transportation Logistics. So Arish and Alex, this research was released in April 2026 so just a couple months ago. It was based on a survey of 647 supply chain professionals and it's been conducted annually, I think for four or five years now. And it's free to download. So folks, we're not gonna be able to do it justice in the five minutes or so we spend on it. So go check out the link that Trish has dropped a couple of key findings. 81% of those surveyed report ongoing E commerce growth. That doesn't surprise me folks. I'm sure about the same reported that their organizations are implementing new omnichannel distribution strategies which is about a 10% increase over last year's findings of organizations doing the same and going back to growth. The biggest sectors reporting growth. And this reads like my 11th grader shopping list, beauty and personal care, fashion and toys. So no, maybe no surprises there. But one of the biggest shifts identified in the research, his business leaders are moving from building omni channel capabilities to optimizing for profitability. And two of the things that I think is good news from the research, I love this really sustainability and returns management are rising in importance. In fact, sustainability made double digit gains year over year in terms of the prioritization that leaders are putting on that topic. So again there's a lot to digest from this report. I think it's a really good one. Tons and tons of findings. Good. Download the copy and let us know what you think. Arish, what did you see in this research?

[C]

Oh, it's a very interesting research. I really like it. I have some issues with the research itself which I'm going to talk about that. But one of the things that is very obvious is that the MIT research is really focusing on the numbers that are flooded in the supply chain like the prediction accuracy, the forecast, the AI enablement and all of that. But what is lacking is they didn't name the symptom behind for example 50% site complexity of fulfillment of decision making at top challenges. Right. So if we want to look at it from the angle of the research, it's a very good research. If we want to look at it from the angle of how we can overcome the challenges that research is identifying the there is a very big gap there and I think one of the things that most of the organizations that we work supply, change, insurance, banking, even many of these research look at it is that they think and they behave the way that those numbers, accuracy, prediction, forecast are the decisions. Unfortunately, that's not true. And that's really what I see the lag and the gap in these sort of research.

[A]

Arash, I appreciate your perspective there. Alex, what you see here in this

[B]

MIT study, one of the clear takeaways was that the commercial models are rapidly outpacing traditional operating models. And I think this is an interesting report to highlight in a way it doesn't call that out specifically that way. But I mean E commerce at this point is table stakes. You mentioned it's growing. It's no surprise there. But I think if you look at what's happened in the last five to seven years, and I think a lot of it really the catalyst was Covid where a lot of companies had to evolve very quickly to model or, or to serve how customers are changing their behavior, their shopping and whatnot. And so I think what you're seeing is that a lot of that commercial model for many different companies is very rapidly changing. But their operating models, the way that they're actually operating day to day on the supply chain really has not changed. And so maybe pointing back to what Arash is saying is that, you know, I think also evaluating how traditionally not only they're making decisions, but even what are the KPIs that historically we've considered are good.

[A]

Well said Alex and Arish. And folks, there's so much more in this report. I'd love to hear your take and not just today. Come back to us next week, email us, you name it, put it on social. But check out the link. Tricia's dropped a link to the state of supply chain Omnichannel report by our friends over there at MIT center for Transportation and Logistics. Up next. Hey, it is like a report. Heavy edition of the buzz we are going to dive into. We're going to talk talent, supply chain talent. Now Accenture released a report recently that suggests we can turn lemons into lemonade as it relates to converting the current supply chain talent shortage on so many different levels, turning all that into opportunity. Now bear with me here a minute. I'm going to share some data and then I'm going to share some suggestions. So Accenture says that based on its proprietary scenario planning model, that demand across core US supply chain occupations is expected to increase by 1.34 million rolls, or 19% from 2026 to 2035. Over the same period. They're projecting that the workforce will grow by about 3.2%, adding 221,000 workers. Right. So that gap, that implied gap between those two numbers reaches almost 1.1 million. Again, no surprises, right? No surprises. That's just us. Based on their industry research and challenges at hand, though, Accenture suggests that supply chain leaders do three things. Number one, build talent foresight, where demand changes fastest. Number two, redesign work so people and systems scale together. It sounds like harmony to me. Number three, build skills continuously as tasks evolve by the industry, doing so successfully, says Accenture, they see a workforce deficit transforming into a surplus of some 360,000 workers. Now, that's what I'd call a healthy dose of optimistic thinking, but I like it. Arish, your thoughts on this piece from Accenture.

[C]

My friend, it's actually very interesting. So the labor gap, which is significant, 1.3 million position by 2023. Right. And then as part of this report is talking about 66% want a leader, executive leader, want to make quicker decision making autonomously. And then that raises the question for me. Autonomy over what exactly? We don't know what the decision is. We can get these many people also on board because of the lack of labor. How are we going to survive and how are we going to close this gap without understanding the business decisions we make day over day over day in organizations based on actually Bain and Company report, 95% of financial results of organizations are correlated with the decisions they make and execute. And that's really a big gap. I see. However I look at it, you touched

[A]

on one thing, Alex Arsh touched on one thing where, you know, just the tip of the spear, just the awareness piece. You know, we've got to get more folks in the industry so that we can tackle other aspects of the workforce gap because it is so multifaceted. But Alex, what'd you take away from this Accenture piece?

[B]

Yeah, I, you know, I thought this was really interesting because today you turn on the news or you really pick up, you're reading any of these articles that are out there and the headlines is AI is killing jobs. Right? And I don't know if you guys have seen lately in the news, all these commencement speakers are literally getting booed for saying these sort of things, right? And then on this side you have the extension report that is being, I guess, optimistic in a way and talking about there's this 1 million jobs. And this is not a job elimination story. It's sort of how can we help to augment the worker. But I think the challenge is today that most companies are deploying the AI, AI very in a very lazy way. And I think it points to the first, the first or the second topic that we were talking about, which is, you know, don't think of AI. You have to focus on the fundamentals first. And so right now we're seeing a lot of, you know, using this as a headcount substitute, but not as a redesign tool. So how do I do the hard work going back to the foundational redesign for the role itself? You know, what does, you know, Tarash is talking about, what does autonomy even mean? Like what, what does that even look like in the day to day? And so I, I think, I think it's really interesting just to see sort of these two different stories out there. And I think right now companies need to have a very honest internal conversation about, you know, what, what does the role of the planner or how are we going to go ahead and really look at AI.

[A]

Alex, well said, well said. You and Arash both. Next time I digest a report or research, I'm going to wish both of you are with me to help read into what I should be reading into with this research. All right, we got one more story and then we're going to dive into the uncle of Di and get some really actionable perspective. I look forward to that one last story though. First, this comes to us from our friends at Food Dove. Food Dive is reporting that a protein powder shortage has hit industry which comes really at the worst time possible because there's unprecedented demand for protein fortified products. 70% of Americans say they want more protein in their diets as opposed to 59% just four years ago. So whey protein, I think I'm saying that right. Whey protein has been a major input used by protein product producers for years, really decades before the modern era though, it was just a cheap byproduct of cheese manufacturing operations. Right? Easy to get, cheap to buy, cheap to use. But the current market has changed all that and the dearth of whey protein supply is leading to higher prices, number one. But as, as well as new industry investment, U.S. dairy producers have recently announced $11 billion in new and expanded manufacturing capacity across 19 states. And that's just here in the U.S. so Arish, weigh in, no pun intended, into this story from Food Dab, my friend.

[C]

Oh, that's interesting. So it's kind of becomes at some point boring because everything I look, I look at everything from the decision point of view. Again, this is to me about the decision. And when we talk about the decision, there are different levels of decision, strategic decision, tactical, operational, etc. In nowadays because of the pace of business. Really, the line between all of these type of decisions are blurred. Hence, if you look at this particular piece, you can see, do we raise the price, do we refund, do we absorb the cost, we change the market. All of these are decisions that are implicitly someone knows or someone's try to apply their judgment, be gut feeling to find out the answer. Unless we don't make these decisions visible and explicit, in my opinion, they cannot find the right answer.

[A]

Interesting. I tell you, if y' all can't tell. Arish is very passionate about decision intelligence and how business leaders make decisions. And we're going to close. We're going to connect all those dots in just a minute. Alex, weigh in on the state of whey protein amidst the current market conditions.

[B]

I'm hoping, right, the different producers of protein have been seeing the signals, right? So you have the GLP1 prescription data, you know, point of sale trends. So again, getting some of the more mature technologies like demand sensing and seeing the consumer behavior. So going back to you can sense you're seeing everything that's happening and then how do you close that gap? But going back to what, what is that right decision? So if there is a long lead time to produce some of this protein and obviously changing whether it's manufacturers or suppliers, take some time. But I think at this point it's. Why is this an issue right now? I guess I'm not in the protein business, but I think there is something to be said about, and I think other industries can also learn from this as well, is it's really important for them to be plugged into looking at macroeconomic conditions, you know, macro trends and so on, to be able to get in front of these type of issues.

[A]

Completely agree. And I would add to that, Alex, every assumption we've made, every assumption, including, I mean, think about the folks that have assumed that they'd have ample supply of inexpensive whey protein to put into their products. We've got to reevaluate everything right now, especially at the speed that we're moving. Okay, so in addition to Irish that loves all things decisions, I think our friend Jeremy tuned in via X is all about decision intelligence as well. So Jeremy, stick around. You're. You're in a perfect place today. I look forward to your, your feedback throughout. All right, so before we dive into all that, I want to just put a plug in right quick folks. If you enjoy shows like today or some of these other shows that we have mentioned here today, go check out all of our upcoming live Programming, we've got live streams, we've got webinars, including coming up on June 16th, we've got a great primer. You probably have heard the news. Maybe, maybe you're one of three people out there that hasn't. Amazon Supply Chain Services has launched. Come join us on June 16th. You can learn more about what this means to the market. Okay, now we're going to move into the Irish Aglara segment here on the buzz for June 1, 2026. But Alex, before we do that, when we first got talking about your appearance here today, because you know I've loved collaborating with you. I get smarter every conversation I have with one Alex Perdon. But you know, you were telling me about you saw Arish in action at a keynote at a fairly recent event and he really, what he was sharing really captivated some of your thoughts. Tell us more about where you first saw Arish, Alex.

[B]

Yeah, sure. So it was last year, heard Arash speak at Decision Camp. Just a quick side note, definitely it's a great conference. It's free, it's virtual. Really showcases thought leadership in the decision intelligence space. So if you're listening in, make sure that you join. And so what stuck out to me was that his team is trying to solve what I call the wicked problem. And that was disconnected decision experience. And so if you think about what's happening today in supply chain, the challenge today is that there really isn't end to end context. So decisions don't know their influence on each other. They can't adopt to prior decisions or anticipate future, future paths. And so what, what's happening is you have almost a, a disconnected decision experience. So there's a series of isolated intelligent actions but they don't quite understand or there's no understanding, there's no memory. And so what I thought was really interesting that is that his team was doing it was basically trying to solve this, this overall, this, this wicked problem, which I'm sure he can go into a lot more, more detail.

[A]

Wicked problem. I love that, Alex. All right, so Aresh, tell us more. And then we got about 17 questions for you, my friend.

[C]

Yeah, about the wicked problem, huh? So if someone tells me I can't do something, I've got to do that thing. And that was the wicked problem. So when you look at the decisions and there are many great vendors out there, but they look at the decisions at point in time that are stateless. You send input, it calculates, it does stuff and returns outcome. But then that becomes kind of a vicious cycle because this decision doesn't know what happened before it and doesn't know the upstream, downstream, the influences and the actions that are going to be taken. And we were trying to solve this problem and we came with the modeling technique that is called continuous decision model, which allows you to create a decision continuum. And all of these decisions sit inside that continuum. They can communicate. It really brings this state and memory to the next decision. So they become aware of their environment. Therefore they can understand upstream downstream impact, they can adapt to change and all of those good stuff.

[A]

And you know, I don't, I don't have to tell Alex or Aris here that when you think about upstream downstream impact, you industries are, have to manage that, have to be wary of that and have to be people on the radar how their actions impact things upstream and downstream more so in global supply chain. Yes, Alex, is that right? Would you agree with that?

[B]

No, absolutely. And I think that's what we're seeing today is that you have decisions are being made about inventory adjustment or, well, that we know carries implications for production, rescheduling or delivery, reprioritization. And so how do you think about those interactions, the relationships and that context that you need to really understand the coordination that needs to happen. And that to me is what I call about this wicked problem that's out there. Because you, you need to have a, a semantic understanding of cause, effect and intent. So a lot of different moving parts, but basically, you know, there's all of these different relationships that are interconnected.

[A]

So true. And you think about that universal, almost human conversation that I bet all of us have had so often, you know, you. The workday completes 5:36pm rolls around. Hey, what do you want to have for dinner? I don't know, I don't want to make any decisions. You make decisions. I mean, it's kind of funny to think about, but apply that to, you know, our work environments. There is decision fatigue and decision exhaustion. So I'm looking forward to learning more of your thoughts here. Arash, the uncle of decision intelligence. I love that Arish. I love that sense of humor. Tell us, would you share key components of successful decision intelligence strategies, especially as it applies to supply chain organizations?

[C]

Yeah, absolutely. Look, so there is no lack of numbers in any industry, particularly in supply chains flooded with numbers. So prediction, forecast, accuracy, visibility, all of them valuable and important. But successful of a decision intelligence strategy is really beyond those numbers, is what you do with those numbers. And then it works across four dimensions. The structural, behavioral, operational, architectural dimension. So I'll go quickly through that. So a structural dimension is if I step back, look at organizations before I go and solve it. Decisions are hidden, mostly implicit, unactioned and ungoverned. So hidden means that no one knows where it is they can see. Implicit is no one has a formal definition about it. And in organization, we haven't agreed what it is. And as organization, how do we approach it? It's an action because it sits in queue or in dashboard, or there is a friction between the outcome of decision and someone takes action and therefore there is no ownership. No one wants to be owner of something invisible and unclear and that becomes the governance problem. Right. So if you want to really implement a successful strategy, you have to address that from structural, behavioral, operational, architectural point of view. So you have to make them structurally visible, make sure that a group of them that are correlated or related are actually aligned with business strategy. The behavioral aspect of it is more cultural, that organization's culture of tolerance really to noise and inconsistency. So we should think about that. Operational side of it is treating numbers, prediction, forecast as decision. But decision is what do we do with them, who acts what logic, under what constraints, whose owner, under what accountability. And architectural side of it is the technology that allows us to support all of this end to end. So we have to have a strategy that addresses these four dimensions.

[A]

Arash, I love a good framework and you just laid one out. And Alex, I want to pick up on just one thing he mentioned there that stood out to me. There are so many, especially as you get bigger and bigger as an organization, as an in, as an ecosystem, there are tons and tons of decisions that are truly hidden. And leaders and managers are trying to figure out what drives certain performance. And sometimes I would argue is because we really don't understand why certain decisions are made. And that's just one element of what ARIS shared there. Alex, react to kind of what I'll call that framework that ARIS just presented.

[B]

Yeah, no, I like that framework. I think when you start to think about where do I focus and it's not, hey, what can I see, but which decisions are going to create the most value or the risk or cost of service impact, but going ahead and using that framework to help really understand what are those key components ultimately of that decision. So bringing in and not using a rash exact words, but more of that business context or giving you a finer view of what is that clarity that you're going to need so that you can connect your ultimate goal or that decision right. To real operational implications. I think That's a really good way for, for organizations to think about their path when they're starting out.

[A]

Well said, Alex. All right, so, and Arash, of course I wish we had a couple hours with you here because I know you could talk about this for a long time and, and we could. We got about a thousand more questions I want to pose to you, but one of the things I want you to speak to and, and shine a brighter light on is, you know, for years supply chain leaders, we've all invested heavily into visibility. How many times you heard that word? Right? We've made progress, we got still more heavy lifting to do, especially as we get deeper and deeper into our ecosystems. And of course that's one reason why we can still struggle when disruptions occur. And it's also why we don't act. We can't oftentimes can't act fast enough when said disruptions occur. But I want to ask you, Ars, what is the missing link between visibility and truly intelligent decision making?

[C]

Of the first thing is defining what intelligence means to that organization. That's fair. So assuming the leadership or part of that committee, they know what they mean by intelligence, the next step is we again visibility is a number and what do we do with that number? Or if we again step back, we can see the gap. And that missing gap is to put decisions out of the shadow, make it first class citizens of organizations which becomes the decision centric approach. Now decision centric approach closes that gap. Without that supply chain cannot really close 21% gap between execution and strategy, which Accenture mentioned. Right. So decision centric approach allows you to make decisions visible, explicit actions and as the result of that you have a governance in place. So I think the missing gap, missing link is that decision centric approach.

[A]

All right, Alex, you agree with that? Your thoughts?

[B]

Yeah, I mean I think you've heard me talk a little bit about this. You know, do we, do companies truly have visibility or not? I understand the high level view where you can see your inventory positions or your orders. So I think of it more as a visibility tells you what, what is happening, what has happened. But when you look at decision intelligence and I think this is why we're starting to see so much more of a focus on this specifically in supply chain is it tells you what matters, what to do, why to do it and what happens next. So kind of connecting a bit if you want to think about it, these two different areas. Another way that I like to think about is today I think many companies are focused on doing things right and fast. And we should be focused more on doing the right things and improving efficiency, which again, that's where a lot of this conversation around decision intelligence is helping to focus more on what I mentioned about, you know, doing the right things and improving efficiency.

[A]

Yep. And in particular I'm not sure if we can find it, but I enjoyed your blog article on visibility. You've done a couple of them. I know, but a couple months ago, I think last time you joined us from the Buzz we talked about a great read. We'll have to see if we can't find that link and drop it. All right, so Arish and Alex, I think earlier in our conversation today the G word came up right, Governance. Now I know by me just saying that you've got a portion of industry, a shiver goes up their spine and they're like oh no, not governance. But I would argue that is your friend. That is your friend. Especially when it comes to this fast moving environment where we've got cutting edge technologies, we're still trying to figure out how to use them but. But protect our ecosystems, delight our customers and and not create or at least create only the acceptable level of risk that organizations, you know, company by company is willing to embrace. So Arish, you know, as we deploy more AI agent speaking governance across planning, procurement, logistics, customer service, two part question, how should supply chain leaders think about governance and should what does good decision governance look like in practice?

[C]

That's interesting. Right? Because we just talk about the visibility and from the supply chain visibility are those number of numbers that are both fulfillment stock number, lead time, et cetera. Right. But how about if we look at decision inventory so we have an inventory of decision. We should have the visibility on that. If you don't have a visibility on something, you can't govern it first of all. So the governance is not a practice of a policy document sitting somewhere or audit trail after the fact or a committee. So a discipline that makes decisions visible, explicitly model connected and then once it is visible and explicitly people understand and have a formal definition, then you can find the owner for it. Then you can hold people accountable. I don't know. Scott, do you know anyone that you say I have a thing which is hidden and unclear, you're the owner and I hold you accountable. No one agrees to that. Very.

[A]

Yeah, that's right. That's right. Alex, your thoughts on governance and how good governments looks in practice.

[B]

I agree with you on, you know, companies can't be thinking about it as a policy exercise. But I maybe what I like Arash was talking about is that it's a decision architecture exercise. And again, I may not using the exact right words here, but I thought it was really interesting. I wrote it down. The visibility of decision inventory or your inventory decisions. And I think that's a really kind of almost like a shift in mindset of how to start to think about what are those decisions that ultimately are going to focus on giving you the, you know, for example, visibility or whatnot. But to me, I think a lot of our conversation as we're thinking about governance is it points back to, I think earlier in the show we were talking about the boring stuff, right? You know, the unsexy foundational work that companies need to do. So again, I guess this kind of sort of comes back is, you know, sometimes we do need to focus on governance and that is really important as a foundational.

[A]

Yes, undoubtedly. Governance and compliance science. Those are not bad words, folks. They're not bad words. Especially, you know, I'm kind of kidding aside, you know, when we're moving this fast, in fact I have a recurring, a recurring, I'll not call it a nightmare, but a recurring dream where I'm moving so fast that it creates kind of some fear, right? And because when you're moving really fast, you can feel like, like you're losing control, you're losing the ability to write, you know, keep the ship going the right direction, whatever it is for you and your organization. That's where I would argue that a sound approach to governance, a sound aspect of compliance in your strategy, your organization is going to be able to not just tolerate the higher pace of business today and a faster velocity, but find more success because that velocity is not slowing down. Arish, I wish, I really wish I had some more time with you here on the buzz, but I want to do a couple of things before we wrap here. First, Arash, tell us more about what you and the Flex Rule team are doing.

[C]

Plex Role is a decision intelligence company. Help organizations make optimized customer centric situation aware decisions. But what really is interesting for us nowadays in the company as a whole is to make sure that companies in supply chain, in bfsi, they understand the governance is not necessarily the paperwork and it doesn't need to be the boring job. It can be actually an engineering job. So I have a post about this called Pillars of the Decision Governance. It has the design governance, engineering governance, operational governance. It has many different aspects to it and in fact it's not really a boring job. It is a very hands on job that you have to go through this and the way it connects, for example, in compliance, maybe in supply chain is very different that it connects to compliance in banking, in supply chain might be your commitment for delivery. Right. Your SLA that you have with clients. So those, all of that comes under the umbrella of the governance. If you don't have it in place, you can't guarantee that.

[A]

I'm sure of one thing, very sure of one thing. Maybe two things. I want to have our more shows, Alex. We'll have to make that happen because there's so much there we couldn't get to here today. And then secondly, I love your focus on and helping other organizations optimize their decision intelligence and the incredible factor that is in overall organizational success. So Arash, really appreciate your perspective here today. Let's make sure folks know how to connect. So it's flexrule.com is your URL, is that right, Arash?

[C]

Correct. Correct.

[A]

And, and we're dropping that link right here in the chat. Right here. Flexrule.com Also in the chat. I like Jeremy, you got some good comments here including don't manage from fear, manage from faith and practice. I like that. All right. So Arish, how else can folks connect with you beyond your URL? I know you do a lot of stuff across social. A lot of good. No fluff on social. How can folks connect with you, Arash?

[C]

Too easy. Follow me on LinkedIn orashaglara@LinkedIn or send me an email orash@flex rule.com cozy.

[A]

It is easy. It is easy. Now Alex, you're doing some cool things with alchemy advisory whenever you're not here and writing good stuff and attending great shows like Gartner. How can folks track you down, Alex?

[B]

Yeah, through LinkedIn. So look up my name on LinkedIn and you'll find me there and would love to connect and answer any questions.

[A]

Outstanding. We're dropping Irish's LinkedIn right there and Alex's right there. So you're one click away from connecting and following both. And let's keep the conversation going. Hey, before we wrap Arish and Alex, I want to share one more resource for folks. Folks, you know we love sharing resources. You can check out our growing resource hub over at supply chain now Dot Com. We've got a variety of new blog articles focused on our conversations at Modex. 50,000 people came to Atlanta for Modex this year. It's crazy. Biggest Modex in history. You should check out this great take from Christine Barnhart, AKA the Supply Chain Whisperer on why practicality still reigns supreme. Go check that out, folks. I'm a very practical person, Alex and Arish, very practical. And I think we need an extra dose of practicality in the environment, the business environment here today. These things got to work, folks. They got to work and we got to, we got to be investing in targeted approaches built for success, rather rooted in reality, not in fantasy land. And hey, there's still good bit of that out there. All right. So Alex, I got a pop question for you. We've heard a lot of good stuff from Arish here today. A lot of wonderful perspective from news to decision intelligence, all points in between. If there's one thing, if you had one patented key takeaway that you would challenge folks to take from Arish Aglara, the Flex rule here today, what would that be?

[C]

Alex?

[B]

Yeah, I think from this conversation, and maybe you've probably heard that our dialogue is thinking differently, right? So how should you be? I think companies have traditionally been focused on traditional metrics, traditional ways of looking at what does supply chain success look or even making decisions. And I think to me just how can you start to think about decision intelligence to support kind of moving forward the craft of the supply chain. So I think overall grabbing all of the different pieces that we talked about today and I would really position or have companies sort of think that way.

[A]

Agree with you. There's a better science and methodology out there to how organizations not only make their decisions, but how do they, how do they acquire more intelligence and smarter intelligence and a better framework for making said decisions. And Aris, you're really speaking to many of those intersections here today. We'd like to have you back. Arish Aglara, founder and CEO of Flex Rule. Aris, thanks so much for being here, my friend.

[C]

Thank you very much for having me. Pleasure.

[A]

Look forward to having you back along with big thanks to my wonderful co host here today, Alex Perdon, who's doing some really cool things as I mentioned over at Alchemy Advisory. I say that right. Alchemy.

[B]

Yeah, that's all right. And thank you for having me.

[A]

You bet. Alex, great to see you here today. Enjoyed you and Arsh's perspective. Big thanks folks to our friends, APL Logistics. Be sure to connect with [e-mail] of course. Big thanks to Amanda and Trisha behind the scenes. Appreciate what all they do. Most importantly, big thanks to the smartest audience in all of global supply chain for being here with us here today, folks. Hope you enjoyed the show but you know the challenge, you got to take one thing, Arish and Alex brought a lot of actionable perspective. You got to take one thing they shared, put it into practice. Deeds, not words. And with that said, on behalf of the entire Supply Chain Now Team Scott, l challenge you. Do good, get forward. Be the change that's needed. We'll see you next time right back here on Supply Chain Now. Thanks, everybody. Join the Supply Chain now community. For more supply chain perspectives, news and innovation, check out supply chain now.com subscribe to Supply Chain now on YouTube and follow and listen to Supply Chain now wherever you get your podcasts.