234: Women in Supply Chain, Anne Robinson

In today’s episode of Women In Supply Chain, I’m joined by Anne Robinson: Chief Strategy Officer; proven leader in analytics, supply chain, and digital transformation; and the 19th president of INFORMS. Anne is a supply chain strategy expert who, over the course of her career, has worked at major names like Cisco and Verizon. As well as currently serving as the chief strategy officer at Kinaxis, Anne is also a mentor at Creative Destruction Lab, a non-profit organization that delivers an objectives-based program for scalable, seed-stage, science- and technology-based companies. Today Anne will be talking to us about her career so far; her passion for supply chain; the power of mentors; and she’ll be sharing her experiences as a woman in the industry, and her words of advice for all of the women following in her footsteps.   SHOW SPONSOR:   Apex Logistics are proud to sponsor Let’s Talk Supply Chain’s Women in Supply Chain podcast and blog series. Our leadership team actively works to empower an industry as diverse as our workforce with a focus on inclusion, and we’re passionate about promoting the voices of women leaders to drive visibility around their achievements. Find out more over on the Apex Logistics website.   IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS:   [06.46] Anne’s eclectic educational background, and how fate led her to mathematics, operations research and ultimately a career in supply chain. “If I learned one thing as a child, it was the importance of transferrable skills – so whatever you learned, you could put that into the industry that was hot at the moment.” [11.11] How Anne’s experience working for big IT brands Cisco and Verizon allowed her to explore a range of different supply chain disciplines and led to a passion for strategy. “It’s great to have data, but you need to be able to understand the measurements. And you can only define the measurements, if you know the strategy. And that was my evolution to supply chain strategy.” [17.06] Anne’s role as Chief Strategy Officer at Kinaxis, and her reflections on empowering supply chain professionals through combining people and technology. “When you introduce human behavior, along with the best analytics possible, that combination allows you to react and respond to the world around you, to make the best decisions for your supply chain.” [22.29] How becoming a member of INFORMS as a student inspired Anne, her role as president of the organization and why being a part of an industry body during the course of your career is a must. [28.52] Anne’s role as a mentor at Creative Destruction Lab, why mentors are so important, why you should have multiple mentors throughout your career, and what makes a good mentor/mentee relationship. “A mentor of mine, pretty early on, said: ‘It’s important for you to be a chameleon, always be relevant to the conversation.’ ” [34.20] Anne’s experience of balancing motherhood and a successful career, and why we need to talk about it. “A lot of people forget that you’re not in the same circumstances that you were before, so it was challenging going back to work – and we don’t talk about that enough.” [37.35] What the future holds for Anne. [38.52] Anne’s words of advice to all of the women following in her footsteps.   RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED:   You can connect with Anne over on LinkedIn. Check out our other podcasts HERE.