Bart is the Chief Supply Chain Officer of Haleon, which he helped through the spin off journey from GSK.
He also spent 14 years at Reckitt, where he was Head of Quality, Safety Sustainability and Compliance as well as Head of Global Operations for RB Health and held various other roles in the global health supply chain.
Bart previously worked at Unilever for over a decade in a number of roles across manufacturing, procurement, planning and strategic projects in the UK and the Netherlands.
Listen to the full discussion here:
Connect with the Guest:
Bart Derde: LinkedIn
Some of the highlights from the podcast:
- Career progression, leadership, and purpose in supply chain management
- Spinning off a consumer health business from a pharma company
- End-to-End Autonomy in Business
- Industry trends and supply chain challenges in consumer health
- Attributes of a great Supply Chain Leader and advice for Aspiring Board Member
Show notes:
- [1:09] What were some of your inflection points that made the most difference for you in your career?
- [4:59] How did you navigate suddenly gaining freedom while also having to create your structure, culture, dynamics, and workforce? Could you tell us more about how you managed to make it happen?
- [7:14] If you can give people the full autonomy to work in a way where in a separate business, they feel like they’ve got the end-to-end responsibility to deliver on that consumer promise and deliver on the P&L commitment that we’ve got, I think that’s where you can genuinely deliver huge success.
- [8:29] Why is it that many organizations lack an end-to-end setup in their supply chain? Could you elaborate on the significance of this approach and explain why you consider it the most efficient way of doing things?
- [10:50] I think the closer you can get end-to-end to either the brand or the country in which you operate, and make those trade-off decisions for that brand and that customer and that business, the more effective you can be.
- [14:06] So looking back, when you first started 18 months ago, and knowing what you know, today, what were some of the key things you wished you knew in this journey?
- [15:00] I think understanding how deep-rooted some of the ways of working are deep in the organization.
- [17:03] How do you reinforce and kind of build the culture that has these two elements – agile fast type of culture, and at the same time compliant?
- [20:01] What do you see as some trends or some likely things to happen within consumer health in general as an industry in the next 12 to 24 months?
- [23:11] What are some of your thoughts on the key attributes necessary to become a great supply chain leader, particularly focusing on the next 12 to 24 months?
- [23:26] I think the first and most important thing in life, whether it’s a supply chain leader or any leader is curiosity. And being curious about learning, learning about yourself, and what you’re good at, and what you want to do differently.
- [26:35] How do you sift through the noise and or not-so-secret recipe to get to the crux of what is truly relevant at this point?
- [28:51] For younger professionals aiming to become board members one day and listening to this, what advice or pieces of advice would you share with them?
- [29:04] Firstly, enjoy the journey, because it isn’t about being on the executive team. It’s about enjoying the journey to get there.
Quotes 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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