Radu Palamariu - The supply chain C-suite: what companies look for and what candidates get wrong

In this episode, Ben and Wim talk to Radu Palamariu, Group CEO of Alcott Global, an executive search firm for supply chain, logistics and operations leadership, and co-author of From Source to Sold. Radu has placed C-level supply chain leaders for 15 years, first from Singapore and now across Europe and Asia.

Radu explains what companies look for in a chief supply chain officer, why hard skills are only the hygiene factor, the question every candidate should ask in an interview, why supply chain leaders lose the ear of the board, what companies get wrong when hiring, and why China is setting the pace in supply chain operations.

In this episode

• (01:00) From psychology to management consulting to executive search in Singapore
• (03:10) What companies look for: hard skills, soft skills and understanding technology
• (04:30) The CHAIN model: collaboration, holistic, adaptable, influence, narrative
• (05:30) What the most successful leaders have in common: networking, asking how to do better, international experience, mentors
• (08:00) Results are the hygiene factor; how you present them is the skill
• (09:35) The candidate who "could not stop talking", and the three questions to ask in every interview
• (12:30) Own your narrative: the CSCO who spent six months networking internally
• (16:00) Events: why the small, closed-door formats are worth more than the big stages
• (20:00) Operational depth versus the helicopter view
• (25:00) The biggest weakness of the profession: not talking business
• (29:00) Before you take a job: what happened to the last person, and reference-check the company
• (31:57) What companies get wrong: hiring more of the same, and not letting new hires change things
• (35:00) The FMCG leader promoted into a manufacturing region without a manufacturing background
• (38:00) AI, "the most bastardised word in English", and the one candidate in a global search who had actually done it
• (45:00) Why China is the present and the future of supply chain operations
• (49:00) Books: The Goal, No Rules Rules, From Source to Sold

Three quotes

"Hard skills, soft skills, tech. You need all three."

"If you don't tell your own narrative of how you bring value to the organisation, for sure somebody else will, and you may not like it."

"They don't care about supply chain terminology. They care about business things. Talk business."

Questions this episode answers

What do companies look for in a chief supply chain officer? Exposure across plan, procure, make and deliver as the baseline; soft skills (the CHAIN model: collaboration, holistic, adaptable, influence, narrative) as the differentiator; and the ability to understand what technology can do and find the people who can deploy it.

What should a candidate ask in a supply chain leadership interview? What are the key challenges of the role, what are the objectives, how will success be measured in 18 to 36 months, and what happened to the last person.

What do companies get wrong when hiring supply chain leaders? Hiring more of the same from direct competitors instead of looking cross-industry, and bringing in change leaders without the courage to let them change anything.

Resources Radu mentions: From Source to Sold (Radu Palamariu and Knut Alicke) · The Goal (Eliyahu Goldratt) · No Rules Rules (Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer) · Makers and Movers, Alcott Global's annual closed-door event.