I have discovered that when it comes to managing demand, changing the organization for
the better is really all about people, assuming that the organization has the rudimentary
supply chain methods in place. No doubt I can go to the pool of top MBA grads in operations
management and hire very good technical skills, people who can blend statistics, forecasting
methodologies, and IT knowledge with factory skills. But putting on top of that the leadership
abilities required to build an organization, know-how to influence senior management and to
change the processes reduces that pool of talent significantly. These aren't people who grow
on trees; they just don't exist in large numbers.