Pete Behrens in Industry Week: Why Supply Chain's Hardest Problem Is Leadership
Key Insights
Supply chain disruption keeps exposing the same gap: leaders developed for operational mastery in stable conditions are increasingly ill-equipped for a world where the variables never stop changing. Pete Behrens argues in Industry Week that closing that gap requires a fundamentally different kind of leader — one who builds team capability rather than directing it, distributes decision-making rather than centralizing it, and treats leadership development as an ongoing practice tied directly to real business challenges. The organizations that will perform best in the years ahead won't be defined by their technology stack. They'll be defined by the leaders behind it.
The Leadership Gap Technology Can't Close
Pete Behrens, founder and CEO of Agile Leadership Journey, was published in Industry Week with a piece on why the most pressing challenge facing global supply chains isn't technology — it's leadership.
The article, Changing Supply Chains Need Adaptive Leaders, makes the case that most supply chain leaders were developed, promoted, and rewarded for operational mastery — mastery of process, metrics, and execution under defined conditions. That worked when conditions were stable enough. It works less and less now.
What's needed instead, Pete argues, is catalyst leadership: the capacity to operate effectively in ambiguity, build team capability rather than simply direct it, and sustain momentum when clarity isn't available. The piece outlines three specific shifts that define catalyst leaders — from directing to developing, from controlling to enabling, and from reacting to resiliency — and four practical recommendations for supply chain leaders ready to close the gap.
One of the most important points in the piece is where to start. The most common mistake organizations make is beginning leadership development with middle management. The engagements that produce lasting change begin with the executive team — not because frontline leaders don't matter, but because culture flows downward. Organizations mirror their leaders. Development efforts that don't start at the top will hit a ceiling.
Read the full article in Industry Week.
For a deeper look at this topic, including our work with Schneider Electric, read our expanded piece on supply chain leadership on the ALJ blog.
Pete works with supply chain leadership teams at global industrial organizations on building the leadership culture needed to navigate complexity, sustain performance, and develop the people behind it. If that's a conversation worth having, get in touch.
Explore more from Pete Behrens in his book,
Into the Fog: Leadership Stories from the Edge of Uncertainty. Available now in print and Kindle.
