"THE INDUSTRIOUS MARKETER" BLOG

Women in Logistics: Is industry exploiting us (enough)?

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Earlier this week, I spent the better part of an afternoon addressing a roomful of women (and a few hardy men) who attended the Jacksonville (FL) CSCMP Roundtable on “Women in Logistics”. As one of four female executives on the panel, it was an opportunity to share some real world experiences. Having spent 90% of my career buying, selling or strategizing supply chain services, I had a sheaf of comments.  The insights flowed as we discussed how we got hooked on an industry that most people are only vaguely aware of, how we’ve overcome the obstacles of this traditional male bastion, and what good advice we could offer.

Steel-Toed Heels Help

It was clear that this particular set of women had run the career gauntlet with relatively few bruises and many rewarding experiences.  Our secret?  Work smart, love it or leave it, know your value.  Be sensitive to how others deal with women in authority—but don’t shy away from dealing straight on contentious issues. As Maureen Cunningham, Crowley Liner Services’ VP operations, put it, “If you have to go toe-to-toe with someone, then you go toe-to-to with them”.  
  

Using both sides of your brain helps, too.

Then, an article in this week’s EyeForTransport e-alert grabbed my attention.  “Let’s hear it for the Women” reported that a new study examining the South African logistics industry found a link between companies’ profitability and how they process information—specifically, leaders’ abilities to read the signs of a changing market and make changes anticipating consequences. EFT drew a parallel between this “intuitive” capacity and women’s agility with complexity and reputation for communications and collaboration.  Are they really saying that women’s intuition makes better business?

Engineering News’ summary of the same study didn’t spin the findings quite so dramatically.  But it did cite conclusions that complex global value chains put exceedingly tough demands on companies.  What’s lacking, the study reported, is leadership ability to rationally strategize and take control while placing emphasis on conducting business in an efficient and objective manner.  Evidently these traits are not abundant in many companies—but they do mirror attributes of cooperation and collaboration often associated with women’s working style.  

Are women more competent or comfortable with managing complexity? 

Or are we just more adept at working both sides of our brains (creative/sensing and analytic/judging) simultaneously?  When I asked Maureen Cunningham to comment, she was unequivocal.  “I absolutely believe that we are able to predict and overcome challenges…we use logic to arrive at our decisions…but I do feel that our 'senses' work to our benefit.”

Okay, so if a senior female executive with an operations background is comfortable with the women’s intuition premise, what’s the view from the lower rungs of the industry?

Just last week, I had connected with a female over-the-road driver who had shared her perspectives on the industry from her Freightliner cab.  TruckerDesiree is her nom de Twitter. (@TruckerDesiree) 

Trucking is a thinking job.

As Desiree pointed out, operating the vehicle is only a part of the truck driver’s job. Trucking, she said, is “a service industry that takes patience and professional courtesy” not unlike the hospitality and hotel group of Disney World where she’d previously worked for several years.  She says that women are an underappreciated resource—yet often have the critical skills needed.  Patience, diligence, and discipline.  Comfort with multi-tasking, attention to detail, legible writing and willingness to ask for directions.  “Trucking is a thinking job, not brute strength”, according to Desiree.  “The weak link is aggressively recruiting [student drivers and others] who have no skills to think in critical situations or communicate effectively. Being here on the front line, I can see things that a person accustomed to these cracks can’t, because they see it as the way it is."  She also said that carriers, shippers and consignees may have been able to ignore the cost and service gaps in the good times, but not now, not with the severely weakened economy. And, she predicted, “smart companies will recognize this”. 

Maybe.  Or perhaps it’s time to just let the women handle more of the load. 

If you're interested....

The Jacksonville Business Journal reported on this CSCMP event (link to it here). 

While looking for stats for this article, my Google search turned up some interesting things about women in the global workplace:

• March is Women’s Heritage Month, sponsored by the National Women’s History Project—who knew?  This year’s theme “Women Taking the Lead to Save our Planet” celebrates women’s contribution to the ongoing “green movement”.   
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in early February 2009 that women now outnumber men at the office—which reflects both long term trends and impact of the current economy.  More women are working and more are doing so part time.  Sadly, some of the gain for women is due to jobs lost by men in this recession’s business contractions.  
• Over the last two decades, women entering the non-farm economy workforce have contributed more to GDP growth than either new technology or the growth of China and India. 
  

Don't Mistake Responsiveness for Strategy

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It was a perfectly reasonable question from today's LinkedIn questions: 

During the current economic crisis, have you and your organisation actively reviewed your sales strategy or are you simply responding tactically?

And my well-reasoned answer was totally wrong.  My first thought was, yes, our clients have hunkered down and made certain adjustments and sacrifices. (Read my full LinkedIn Answer here.) They're focused on getting marketing and sales priorities aligned, and have narrowed target market initiatives to the essential value propositions that help prospects/customers save money, save money, or stretch existing resources most.  While Marketing still invests in long term brand awareness, there's much greater emphasis on pipeline filling lead generation programs.  Sales is concentrating on near term new business deals and doing whatever it takes to retain existing customer relationships.  They are doing what comes naturally, working more collaboratively and with a new urgency of disciplined purpose and process.

But then, I thought, these are all just tactical responses, aren't they?  Sure are.

What strategic responses would address what may be a lingering global economic malaise?

• Prove the value of trusted relationships; assemble the best insights and ideas for improvement and bring them to the customer now
• Innovate new products quickly, to fill the gaps exposed by market weakness; get trusted customers involved in beta iterations
• Look beyond the organizational boundaries and find ways to collaborate now with supply chain partners (and even competitors) 

Tactics feel productive. Strategy is painful.  Collaboration, in particular, has potential to drive new value and new opportunities with both short term and long term impact.  Our research in late 2008 probing how executives make decisions on B2B outsourcing found that industry execs want specialist providers to work in concert and fashion solutions, not just provide quality in their distinct realms.  And this goes way beyond operations, by the way.  Market intelligence consortiums.  Multi-client systems or process management.  Multi-company national account sales teams, cooperating with firms that you partner with but don't directly compete with. This isn't an updated version of "synergy", it's an entirely different way of thinking about commercial strategy.

The momentum of change has started, by economic force majeur, if not by design.  We'll see whether B2B leaders have the capacity, creativity and commitment to use it productively. Now.