Disruption in the supply chain brought on by the pandemic showed that transformational leadership is required over the next few years, says Michael Burnette, fellow at the Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Tennessee.

As companies look to identify their failings during the pandemic and how to remedy them, their biggest resource gap is in leadership, according to research conducted by the institute, Burnette says. This is true for some of the biggest multinational corporations as well as the smallest companies. 

“We have a new generation of workers, online sales through the roof are causing supply chain complexity, the speed of business is exponentially higher, and most of these companies are suffering from a lack of leadership talent,” he says. “And the question is, What do you need to do to develop the next wave of leaders?”

In one of the largest research programs ever at the university, the institute partnered with 16 Fortune 200 companies from around the world to come up with an answer.

Research revealed that many companies don’t know enough about their supply chains, especially where their constraints are. Second, leading-edge companies are making a transformation in digital, but leaders need to be an integral part of that process. “You need to be able to utilize the digital tools in the AI world, in the machine learning world. You as a leader need to be a part of the process, not just sitting on the side facilitating.”

There must be a new discipline in supply chain analytics as well, Burnette says. “The corporate analytics group hasn't been effective in getting down to the real supply chain disruptions, and control tower and resiliency issues.” 

Digital-talent hiring has been inadequate, he says. “There needs to be Ph.D.-level talent sprinkled in for the right level of mastery in these new disciplines.”