A journey, not a career ladder
Supply Chain Week Sydney 2026 | 20 August 2026 | ICC Sydney
A sideways move or an unfamiliar project can become an important part of someone’s development. In this panel clip, I reflect on the range of skills people may need as AI continues to shape supply chain work.
Video: 29 seconds.
What can leadership development look like beyond promotion?
It can include sideways moves, stretch projects and time in a function someone does not yet understand. In my reflection, I describe these experiences as part of a development journey that extends beyond moving into the next job up.
How does varied experience connect with changing work?
My point in the panel was that the next phase of supply chain work will ask people to develop a broader range of skills. Exposure to different areas gives them opportunities to keep learning as the work changes.
A question to take into your week
Which move did you make that was not a promotion, and how much of your current work draws on that experience?
Video transcript
That's the future as we are going along into the next phase of AI and supply chain 5.0 or 6.0. I think we will need so many more skills - to capture not only the VUCA world; most of you are clearly aware of the BANI world. So we should see this exposure as well as the journey. It's not the typical career ladder.
My LinkedIn reflection
Published 9 September 2026. Original post wording; the official event name is Supply Chain Week Sydney 2026.
Nobody climbs into supply chain 6.0 on a ladder. Second clip from the panel at Supply Chain Channel Week Sydney.
Panel: "Building the Supply Chain Workforce of the Future", Supply Chain Channel Week Sydney 2026, 20 August, ICC Sydney.
Supply chain 5.0, 6.0, whatever we end up calling the AI-shaped version, will ask for skills most of us did not need ten years ago. Nobody moves through that on a ladder. Rungs assume the next job looks like the last one, one level up. It will not.
So I would rather talk about exposure as a journey: sideways moves, stretch projects, time in a function you do not yet understand. That is how people build the range the next decade of operations will need.
If you run a team: which move did you make that was not a promotion, and how much of your current job rests on it?
#SupplyChainChannel #SupplyChainLeadership #FutureOfWork #CareerDevelopment #SupplyChainCareers
Reflection by Alexandra Riha. Recorded at Supply Chain Week Sydney 2026, ICC Sydney, 20 August 2026. Panel: “Building the supply chain workforce of the future”.
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