Leadership in Logistics with Charles Brewer CEO DHL e-commerce
Charles Brewer is the global CEO of DHL e-commerce with 33 years of experience in Logistics across the globe. He has been Chief Executive Officer of DHL eCommerce at Deutsche Post AG since June 2016. He served as Executive Vice President of Sales and of DHL Worldwide Express and served as its Member of the Management Board, US since March 2006.
- He served as Executive Vice President of U.S. Air Products and Services at DHL Express (USA)since March 2006.
- He started his career with DHL in the UK in 1984 and held various management positions at DHL’s Express division in the Asia Pacific region, in the U.S. and latterly as Chief Executive Officer, DHL Express for Sub-Saharan Africa, before joining the pan-African Mara Group in 2015.
Listen to the full discussion here:
- Stream by clicking here.
- Download as an MP3 here.
Connect with the Guest:
Charles Brewer: LinkedIn | Twitter
Stay tuned as we cover:
- most important trends in logistics – the evolution of e-commerce
- challenges in South East Asia Logistics and how to transform them into opportunities
- how to attract and keep top talent in a great corporate culture
- his success habits and most important lessons learned in his career
- how to become the CEO of DHL e-commerce
Show notes:
- [03:48] – How do you see DHL e-commerce in the next five years? And also if you want to give more specifics into Southeast Asia particularly.
- [10:54] – How do you see e-commerce and retail in the future? Will they compete? Co-exist? Will you be seeing synergies?
- [15:19] – Do you see the growth of e-commerce as a threat to the traditional freight industry? Does it mean that more orders coming from e-commerce mean less freight move by traditional sea freight – air freight?
- [19:35] – What are some of the e-commerce trends other than e-commerce delivery lead times, move it closer to get it now solutions? What are the big trends do you see coming up for e-commerce specifically?
- [24:17] – In your view, what does IoT deliver in practical terms for the e-commerce of DHL? Are we ahead or behind the development curve?
- [27:15] – How can you actually make money in e-commerce? Can you actually, in the long term, make this as a successful and profitable?
- [36:35] – Logistics is not sexy. It’s not IT, it’s not technology. Historically, it’s not perceived as a sexy place. Now my question is two-fold. First, challenge me on that part – why you think it’s sexy. Secondly, how can we trick the brightest minds – the guys that finish in the top schools into the industry?
- [51:00] – How could we better train our staff to be outside-of-the-box thinkers rather than just be a piece in the mechanism wheeling in the chain.
- [52: 45] – What do you see as talent gaps in the industry of e-commerce right now? What skills is the industry lacking badly at the moment in e-commerce?
- [56:12] – How to become the CEO of DHL E-Commerce in a few years, what kind of advice would you share?
- [57:58] – What do the first two hours of your day look like. Before you get to work, do you follow early morning routine?
- [60:13] – What is the book that you give most to people?
- [65:15] – What is something that you believe in that other people think it’s insane?
- [67:50] – How does social media help you? How does it help your brand? How does it help DHL E-Commerce brand?
- [74:24] – What has been the biggest letdown in your career so far?
- [80:19] – If you could go back and give your 21-year-old self a piece of advice, what would you say?
Soundbite from the Episode:
About the Host:
The host, Radu Palamariu is the co-author of “From Source to Sold – Stories of Leadership in Supply Chain”. He has been named one of the top 3 Global Supply Chain Influencers on LinkedIn and was featured in Forbes, Bloomberg, WEF, Bangkok Post, and MIT Supply Chain Talent magazine. Radu invites executives to share stories and perspectives around technology, logistics, e-commerce, supply chain, and manufacturing, and their views on how the future will look.
Alcott Global connects and upgrades the supply chain ecosystem by finding the right talent through executive search, developing talent through learning solutions, and meeting supply chain technology needs through a comprehensive crunch base marketplace.
The supply chain executive search has been our focus since the very beginning, offering recruitment services for top-tier supply chain roles at every level of the end-to-end supply chain: plan, source / procure, make, and deliver. Our consultants have years of experience in placing top talent, in North America, LATAM, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and APAC, and besides speed, one of our biggest strengths is our network within the supply chain industry, and we capitalize on it to find the best solutions.
Through the years, we have grown as an organization and our offerings with it. One of our initiatives, the learning solutions- training and supply chain academy, is focused on transforming leadership- self-leadership, executive presence, influence capital, and business acumen. Through Supplify, we aim to match corporations with the top technology companies to solve their supply chain and logistics challenges with a focus on innovation and digital transformation.
We are in constant touch with the leaders in supply chain, inviting them to inspire the supply chain professionals in thought-provoking podcast episodes and events, and showcasing what is possible at the yearly Leaders in Supply Chain Awards.
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