It's been about a month since London International Shipping Week ended, and I still catch myself thinking about it, not the panels or receptions, but what the week revealed about how fragmented the supply chain industry really is.

After twenty years in trucking and brokerage, I thought I understood logistics. I've spent enough time in warehouses, dispatch offices, and meeting rooms to know what makes the system tick and what makes it break. But stepping into the maritime world reminded me that we aren't one industry. We're a collection of silos, each fighting similar battles without realizing how much overlap there really is.

Welcome to our series celebrating the incredible women in Supply Chain and Logistics! In a traditionally male-dominated field, it's important to shine a light on the inspiring women who are making a significant impact. Through a mix of insightful and fun questions, we’ll explore their journeys, challenges, and successes. While we acknowledge the contributions of everyone in this industry, this series aims to elevate the voices and stories of women who often get missed. Next up: Serena Kanline

If you’ve opened TikTok lately, you’ve probably seen it, the Le Creuset Mystery Box unboxings. People are filming themselves tearing into sealed boxes of colourful cookware like it’s Christmas morning. Screams, squeals, gasps over the colour they wanted or a pot they had been eyeing and somewhere, a logistics manager is quietly smiling.

Because this isn’t just a marketing stunt, it’s a supply-chain strategy wrapped in enamel and hype.

If you spend any amount of time on LinkedIn in this industry, you’ve seen it: glossy corporate posts about “supporting women in trucking,” event recaps showing off all-female panels, and photo ops with hashtags about inclusion. And don’t get me wrong, it looks good. It makes us feel like progress is happening. But let’s be real: polished posts and performative panels don’t protect women from harassment, help close pay gaps, or create safer, fairer work environments for women in trucking and logistics.

Because when the spotlight shifts, the cracks show. We saw it in the way the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) handled harassment at their own event. We saw it when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) quietly shut down its Sexual Harassment & Assault Study, the one initiative that could’ve given us actual data to build solutions with. Both are painful yet unsurpprising reminders that while the industry loves to say it supports women, actions often tell a different story.

Welcome to our series celebrating the incredible women in Supply Chain and Logistics! In a traditionally male-dominated field, it's important to shine a light on the inspiring women who are making a significant impact. Through a mix of insightful and fun questions, we’ll explore their journeys, challenges, and successes. While we acknowledge the contributions of everyone in this industry, this series aims to elevate the voices and stories of women who often get missed. Next up: Katie Rodas

Vegas is known for neon lights, roulette wheels, and questionable buffets. But when I landed there for Alibaba’s CoCreate event, I didn’t hit the jackpot on the strip, I hit on something else: a glimpse of the future of entrepreneurship.

Here’s the gossip from the desert.

If you’ve been in logistics long enough, you’ve probably attended your fair share of industry events. Some are trade shows with big exhibition floors and endless booths. Others are smaller, more specialized gatherings. They all have their place.

But London International Shipping Week (LISW) isn’t either of those. It’s something different.

Rather than a single venue or giant expo hall, LISW takes place across London, inside law firms, financial institutions, historic buildings, and even on ships moored along the Thames. It’s not about collecting swag bags or walking the tradeshow floor. It’s about conversations, high-level discussions on the issues shaping global shipping and the world of supply chain.

But social feeds and headlines condition us to believe if you’re not growing at warp speed, you’re failing. Cue the 10X bros telling you to grind harder, sell more, never stop scaling. But that’s not a business strategy. That’s just bullshit.

When it comes to wellness in trucking, let’s be real: the bar is low. A free app no one uses, a one-off webinar, maybe a dusty gym membership no one knows they have, that’s what passes for “driver wellness.” Meanwhile, in maritime, the conversation is miles ahead. Seafarers face many of the same challenges as truck drivers, long stretches away from home, irregular sleep, isolation, and stressful daily work, but the way shipping companies approach health and wellness puts most trucking outfits to shame.

I sat down with Claudia Paschkewitz, Columbia Group’s director of sustainability, diversity, and inclusion, one of the world’s largest ship management companies, responsible for the welfare of over 16,000 seafarers. Columbia has built structured wellness programs that blend physical health, mental health, nutrition, and connection. Trucking could learn a lot from how maritime has tackled these same problems.

But social feeds and headlines condition us to believe if you’re not growing at warp speed, you’re failing. Cue the 10X bros telling you to grind harder, sell more, never stop scaling. But that’s not a business strategy. That’s just bullshit.

Welcome to our series celebrating the incredible women in Supply Chain and Logistics! In a traditionally male-dominated field, it's important to shine a light on the inspiring women who are making a significant impact. Through a mix of insightful and fun questions, we’ll explore their journeys, challenges, and successes. While we acknowledge the contributions of everyone in this industry, this series aims to elevate the voices and stories of women who often get missed. Next up: Tayler Dillin

We act like growth is the only proof a business is doing well. But ask anyone who’s lived through a hypergrowth phase, it can be chaotic, messy, and even destructive.

And the media? They’re guilty too, plastering revenue numbers across headlines like it’s the only thing that matters. Spoiler: revenue is 100% a vanity metric. It doesn’t tell you how healthy, stable, or scalable a company really is. You can have skyrocketing revenue and still be bleeding cash, drowning in churn, or running your people into the ground.

But social feeds and headlines condition us to believe if you’re not growing at warp speed, you’re failing. Cue the 10X bros telling you to grind harder, sell more, never stop scaling. But that’s not a business strategy. That’s just bullshit.

Welcome to our series celebrating the incredible women in Supply Chain and Logistics! In a traditionally male-dominated field, it's important to shine a light on the inspiring women who are making a significant impact. Through a mix of insightful and fun questions, we’ll explore their journeys, challenges, and successes. While we acknowledge the contributions of everyone in this industry, this series aims to elevate the voices and stories of women who often get missed. Next up: Natalia Giraldo

In a perfect world, marketing and logistics work hand-in-hand. The hype machine drums up interest, and the supply chain quietly delivers the goods, literally.
In reality? Companies often operate in silos, and marketing regularly make moves that can take the logistics team completely by surprise. Sometimes that surprise is a PR disaster. Other times it’s a tidal wave of demand. Either way, if your operations are not informed, they won’t be ready, and then you’re in trouble.

Let’s look at two beauty industry examples: one where marketing is likely to hurt demand and one where it blew it through the roof.

In supply chain, just like in day to day life, tech is supposed to make life easier. Instead, a lot of companies are slowly drowning in all the “solutions” they have been sold.

Every year, a shiny new platform promises to revolutionize your operations or optimize scalability or maximize profits. A dashboard here, a tracking widget there, maybe a warehouse robot that looks like it rolled straight out of a sci-fi movie. And before you know it, your team has six logins, a 40-step procedure for booking a truck, and no one can agree which report has the “real” numbers.

If that sounds familiar then your tech stack isn’t helping you. It’s got you working for it.

Welcome to our series celebrating the incredible women in Supply Chain and Logistics! In a traditionally male-dominated field, it's important to shine a light on the inspiring women who are making a significant impact. Through a mix of insightful and fun questions, we’ll explore their journeys, challenges, and successes. While we acknowledge the contributions of everyone in this industry, this series aims to elevate the voices and stories of women who often get missed. Next up: Jessica Vickers

There’s been an explosion of content in the logistics and supply chain world. LinkedIn is full of polished videos, witty hot takes, and carefully curated brand stories. People, and companies, are learning that building a voice, sharing values, and connecting through storytelling can drive engagement, loyalty, and even sales.

That’s a good thing. But let’s not get carried away.

Because in logistics, your story is only as strong as your execution and service. It doesn’t matter how clever your content is if the trucks don’t show up, the freight goes missing, or no one answers the phone or emails.

Sales used to be about being the loudest voice in the room. Now? It’s about being the most useful.

But here’s the problem, there is a lot of sales advice floating around, especially in logistics, that is completely outdated. To be honest, some of it never even worked to begin with. And worse, it’s still being taught like gospel.

If you’ve ever been told to "always be closing" or "don’t take no for an answer,” this one’s for you. Here are six sales tactics that need to die already, and what to do instead if you actually want to build trust, book meetings, and close deals (without being annoying as hell).

Let’s be real: most drivers aren’t going to walk into your shipping office and tell you what’s wrong with your operation. They’ve got places to be, a clock that never stops ticking, and, frankly, they’re tired of being ignored.

But that doesn’t mean they don’t have thoughts. And if you’re a shipper who wants freight moved on time, with fewer headaches and a solid reputation in the carrier world, you should want to hear them.

So, on their behalf, we’re saying the quiet parts out loud. Here are six things drivers wish you knew:

Welcome to our series celebrating the incredible women in Supply Chain and Logistics! In a traditionally male-dominated field, it's important to shine a light on the inspiring women who are making a significant impact. Through a mix of insightful and fun questions, we’ll explore their journeys, challenges, and successes. While we acknowledge the contributions of everyone in this industry, this series aims to elevate the voices and stories of women who often get missed. Next up: Jessie Merritt

Everyone loves to talk ship about bad brokers. The ghosters. The lowballers. The margin-chasers who disappear the second things go sideways.

But what about the ones who are trying, and still missing the mark?

Let’s be honest: a lot of people come into this industry and get handed a phone, a list of leads, and not much else. If they’re lucky, they get an afternoon shadowing Chad, who might be a top earner, but also happens to have a mountain of bad habits (and possibly a superiority complex).

Transportation fraud isn’t just a nuisance, it’s a growing, multi-million-dollar problem in North American logistics. From double brokering to stolen loads and hijacked payments, fraudsters are getting bolder and smarter.

And no one is immune.

Whether you’re a shipper, broker, carrier, or driver, the only way to stay ahead is to stay informed, and be proactive. Below, we break down exactly what each party can do to reduce risk and keep freight flowing safely.