Gorgeous Girls In Supply Chain: Holly LaBoda
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. Holly LaBoda is our next feature.
Holly Laboda
I've known Holly Laboda for nearly twenty years. She trained me back at C.H. Robinson during some specialized training, and even then what stood out was how deliberately she carried herself, choosing her words and her actions with a care most people never bother with. It's a big part of why she's so good at what she does. These days she's Founder and Chief Growth Officer at Formula L, where she helps logistics companies build growth strategies that don't collapse the moment the market shifts or their one rainmaker walks out the door. She may run Formula L these days, but that's not what I think of first. I think of how easy she is to be around, and how deliberately she pays attention when you speak to her. Holly is the kind of person who remembers what you said the last time and follows up on it, and who lights up when the people around her win. There's no performance to her, just a steady, thoughtful warmth that makes you want to be a little more like her. I've looked up to her for as long as I've known her, and that hasn't changed.
What is your current role and company?
Founder & Chief Growth Officer, Formula L
How did you end up in the world of supply chain?
Like so many of us, I ended up in supply chain completely by accident. I was moving home to Minnesota from Dubai, job hunting, and C.H. Robinson came up. I'd never pictured myself in this industry. In fact, the only person I knew who'd even heard of Robinson was my dad, who owns a trucking company. They were hiring in L&D because they had a wall of domestic customers sitting on real international potential, and their own teams weren't working together to go after it. And I thought: I can teach corn-fed Minnesotans to understand the world! They scoped it as a training problem. It was, of course, a lot more than that. Which is more or less the story of my whole career since.
What is your favourite part of your work day?
Easy. Hands-down talking to my clients. Love helping them win.
What is the least favourite part of your work day?
Anytime I have to remake a decision I've already made (or one that I thought was). Rework is the bane of my existence. That's why I like to do things right the first time!
What is a systemic issue in your part of the supply chain that concerns you currently?
How genuinely thin most logistics company's growth strategy actually is once you look closely. Two things that often show up together:
First, what I call hero-led growth. Where your company's year depends on what happens in the market, a small group of accounts, a rainmaker, or the leader or two that need to close every deal. It can work for a while, but it's way too risky to hang your growth hat on.
The second is that so many have never decided where or why they actually win (which also causes #1). If you ask them what sets them apart, why their customers choose to grow with them, their answers are all the same. I know, because I've literally asked large groups of logistics leaders more than once. Every one is a version of "we provide great service", which they do because of their talent, their processes, or their tech/fleet/network depending on their structure (asset/non-asset). If everyone says the same thing it by definition can't differentiate you.
When a company hasn't decided where it actually wins, it's growth has nothing solid to stand on - so it leans on heroics. That isn't a strategy, it's a hope, and it's exactly what holds so many back.
How would you address it if you had the power, money, or influence?
Help all these companies build growth strategies worthy of the great businesses they are trying to grow. Something that doesn't break with every market shift or leave when your high-performer does. It means being real about where you actually win and why customers choose you, and building the system underneath that helps you get more of those customers. One that doesn't break when one customer leave or your CRO is on vacation.
Sales in this industry gets treated like a personality trait or a connections list. I'd help everyone figure out that it's a discipline you can build with the right system, just like any other function in your business. A real view of what good looks like and a system that delivers it predictably.
What is one piece of advice you have for young women entering your field?
Be the most substantive person in the room. There's a real freight-bro culture in this field... loud, a lot of swagger... and you'll feel pressure to compete with it. But you don't have to. I think substance beats swagger in the long game. I'd rather be less known, and more able to drive the change I'm talking about, than the opposite.
What are your top 3 podcasts? (do not have to be industry related)
Who are your top 5 women in supply chain to follow on LinkedIn?
How do you deal with creeps you encounter in your work day?
Creeps are real and unfortunately everywhere. If I had a bulletproof strategy, I'd tell you. If I do have an issue, I just escalate it. If it's small, I usually ignore it. But if it's larger or more persistent I squash it. Sometimes with a joke, sometimes with a uncomfortable question, or just a clear boundary. But what I don't do is paint with a broad brush. Most of the men I work with are the exact kind of colleagues I'd want.
What is your favourite way to unwind?
Reading. Both pleasure and business and I always have at least 3 books going at once: paper, e-reader, audiobook. My favorite genre is historical fiction, but I love it all. If you have a book recommendation, I'm always all ears.
What have you recently changed your mind about?
My whole job is to build capability, which means I've always wanted to make my own work unnecessary. I want my clients to no longer need me one day, and I call that day a success. What I recently changed my mind about was being personally irreplaceable. I told myself that the work should make clients independent, but believed that I was the only one who could do it. I was the queen of hero-led growth, the exact phenomena I fight in the companies I serve. Early in my career it cost me a promotion, I knew that, and it still didn't stop me from believing it. Now with Formula L I've been dismantling that on purpose: building an approach that's out of my head and something an equipped team can deliver. The work was always intended to make me unnecessary, but turns out I had to be willing to let myself be as well.
Must haves to get you thru the day?
My support crew (my family & friends)
my network (it's seriously everything)
exercise (for sanity and health)
a trip on the calendar
a book
Social media for Holly:
