Matthew Prange

If your team fails, it’s your fault. Not HR’s. Not “the market.” Not the system. Not the new ERP...Yours. You set the expectations. You set the standards. You set what gets tolerated. 🚫 If they’re confused, you weren’t clear. 🚫 If they’re disengaged, you didn’t create ownership. 🚫 If they’re underperforming, you either hired wrong, trained wrong, or led wrong. That’s not blame. That’s responsibility and accountability. The moment you own it, you can fix it. Weak leaders point outward. Strong leaders look in the mirror. And yeah, it’s uncomfortable. Good. Growth usually is. #Leadership #Operations #SupplyChain

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💡 Why Pricing Belongs at the Leadership Table I’ve spent 15 years leading pricing transformations across a wide variety of B2B industries, and one thing is clear: companies that treat pricing as a strategic lever outperform those that treat it as an afterthought. That’s why I was struck by Brendan Hodge’s piece on why companies should consider a Chief Pricing Officer (or at least a pricing leader at the top table). He makes an important point: 📊 Finance sees pricing as a margin lever. 🤝 Sales sees it as a way to close deals. 📣 Marketing sees it as a message to customers. All of these are valid. But without a dedicated pricing voice in leadership, pricing too often gets squeezed between functions, instead of being treated as the central mechanism that translates value into profit. From my experience, the companies that thrive are those that: 💎 Put pricing leaders in the room when strategic decisions are made. 🪟 Align product, marketing, sales, and finance through pricing, not around it. 🎉 See pricing not just as a tactical tool, but as a growth strategy. Forward-thinking businesses are already doing this. The question is: will others follow before competitors outpace them? 👉 My advice to executives: if your company is big enough to have a pricing function, make sure that function has a seat at the leadership table. Pricing isn’t just a number — it’s how you capture the value you’ve worked so hard to create. What do you think: is it time for more companies to have a pricing voice in the C-suite? #PricingStrategy #Leadership #B2B #Transformation #HighPerformance

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Stop treating Inventory Accuracy like a "Warehouse Problem." It’s a Finance Problem. Early in my career, I thought inventory accuracy was just about making sure the count in the system matched the count on the shelf. If we were off, we adjusted it. No big deal, right? Wrong. As I’ve moved into deeper Materials Management roles, I’ve realized that inventory is frozen cash. When your accuracy drifts, you start paying an "uncertainty tax": 💸 Over-ordering safety stock "just in case." 🚚 Expediting freight because the system said you had parts you didn't. 📉 Production downtime hunting for phantom inventory. We often focus heavily on "just in Time" or "Lean," but none of that works if the foundation, the data integrity, is cracked. The Fix? It isn't just cycle counting - it’s culture. It’s ensuring every person who touches a part understands that they are handling the company's checkbook. Accuracy isn't a metric for the warehouse team to own alone. It’s a metric the whole business survives on. #SupplyChain #InventoryManagement #Operations #Finance #Logistics #MaterialsManagement #Culture

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You can “feel” the Supply Chain is functioning properly in a manufacturing environment. The movement is purposeful instead of hectic. The radio calls are few and less frantic. That’s the measuring stick for systems that are moving from chaos to control.

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At RILA Link last month, we talked about Supply Chain disruption. Now 30+ days later, we’re living it. Really enjoyed being in Orlando for the RILA Link conference last month, where I joined Craig Jones, CSCO at On, and Rodney Leonard , VP, U.S. Delivery Operations at Kenvue, for a thoughtful panel moderated by James Roe of AlixPartners. Our discussion focused on supply chain disruptions and how leaders manage through uncertainty. At the time, the conversation was about preparedness. And now, just over a month later, the environment has become even more volatile... Iran conflict, disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, rising diesel costs, pressure on energy infrastructure, and stricter regulations on CDLs... Just to name a few major ones. The overarching theme of our discussion was optionality: building flexibility into sourcing, transportation, inventory, and decision-making so you can respond when disruption hits. That idea has never been more relevant. Resilience is not about predicting every shock. Shocks are going to happen! It’s about designing a supply chain that can adapt when the unexpected happens. Grateful to RILA Link for the conversation opportunity, and even more convinced that optionality and flexibility are no longer nice-to-haves. They’re a competitive advantage. #Tires #SupplyChain #SupplyChainStrategy #SupplyChainResilience #Logistics #RiskManagement #RetailSupplyChain #Transportation

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What if your people could leave work safer and better than they did coming in? Our bonuses are tied to metrics: Quality. Delivery. Inventory. Productivity. You can clearly see how each one connects to your cashflow, top-line, and bottom-line... But Safety? Safety can feel abstract — until it isn’t. It can be just as costly… and good leadership in safety can make a massive difference. Let’s look at Boeing: 📉 2018 to Now Top-line revenue dropped 25% , EBITDA crashed $14 billion to negative Tied to the 737 MAX in-service challenges and poor leadership on safety 📈 2014 to 2018 Top-line revenue grew 10%, EBITDA steadily climbed from $9.4B to $14B During the 2014–2018 period, leadership responded differently after two tragic safety events: 🔹 2012 – Major injury during aircraft testing (non-fatal) 🔹 2013 – Fatal fall from a high platform 🔹 2014 – Boeing launched the “Go for Zero” injury campaign 👀 Inside the manufacturing operation, here’s what I saw: ✅ All safety projects took absolute priority ...and everyone generously labeled their project “safety” to get it through ✅ Flagging even the tiniest issue was celebrated ...so everyone started doing it to get recognized ✅ Every meeting started with a “safety moment” ...half of us rolled our eyes ✅ Daily team huddles began with stretches ...half participated awkwardly 🧠 Management made space for: • An overwhelming wave of safety issues • “Wasted” thousands of hours gently talking safety • Safety awareness training that actually stuck They stayed the course. They weathered the storm. And eventually… it worked. Around 2016, we felt the shift: 💪 Safety & ergonomics were never compromised to meet delivery or financial targets 🟢 Fixing even minor safety issues became frictionless (eg. safety racks) 👀 We had each other’s backs — watching for near misses, not just our own 🧘‍♂️ People got creative with daily stretches to make them fun and inclusive I knew the culture had changed when a colleague shared this: "Over the weekend, I actually avoided slipping on ice in the parking lot going to get a burger... because someone had just reminded us in the safety moment: 'It's cold out there — watch for black ice.'" Safety culture at work had reached home. This campaign didn’t just reduce injuries — it changed how people moved through the world. Drinking the Kool-Aid was actually good for you. Sure, safety has a financial impact. But more importantly — and instinctively — as a leader of people in operations: 💡 Your impact multiplies. What if your people could leave work safer and better than they came in? I love the artwork by SRSLYSO, really crystalizes this impact. Artwork Credit: https://lnkd.in/etCY7pvm ✏️ Side note on Boeing... Maybe during the MAX crisis, discipline was lost in the program & engineering decisions. But today, Boeing is visibly trying to swing the pendulum back — to reclaim its safety foundation and find its mojo again.

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Powering the AI revolution takes a mind-blowing amount of energy. ⚡ The big question: can we do it sustainably? Microsoft is stepping up with a big "YES" in Wisconsin. They're not just building another massive datacenter; they're pairing it with major investments in green energy and AI tech. This is how you build the future responsibly. 👏 Key Highlights from their announcement: 💰 Massive Investment: Over $7 billion total in Wisconsin. 🤖 Next-Gen Tech: Building one of the world's most powerful AI supercomputers. 💧 Smart Cooling: Zero water waste with an advanced closed-loop liquid cooling system. ☀️ Clean Energy: Co-funding a new 250 MW solar project to match their energy use. 🎓 Local Impact: Creating 3,000+ construction jobs & launching a new Datacenter Academy.

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