The Traits of an

S&OP Leader
By Patrick Bower

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y | Every so often, a dialogue will start about the traits that make a good S&OP leader. Some
folks will offer specific educational requirements, while others will discuss job experience. Still others will define softer skills
such as persuasion and likability, or even effective communication skills. I am not sure there is a specific skill set required,
although there are many traits that S&OP leaders have in common.

PAT R I C K B O W E R | Mr. Bower is Senior Director, Global Supply Chain Planning & Customer Service at Combe
Incorporated, producer of high-quality personal care products. A valued and frequent writer and speaker on
supply chain subjects, he is a recognized demand planning and S&OP expert and a self-professed “S&OP geek.”
Prior to Combe, he served as the Practice Manager of Supply Chain Planning at a boutique supply chain consulting
firm, where his client list included Diageo, Bayer, Unilever, Glaxo Smith Kline, Pfizer, Foster Farms, Farley’s and
Sather, Cabot Industries, and American Girl. His experience also includes roles at Cadbury, Kraft Foods, Unisys, and
Snapple. In addition, he has worked for the supply chain software company, Numetrix, and was Vice President of
R&D at Atrion International. He was recognized three times by Supply and Demand Chain Executive magazine as a
“Pro to Know,” and Consumer Goods Technology magazine considered him one of their 2014 Visionaries. He is the
recipient of the inaugural IBF’s Excellence in Business Forecasting and Planning Award.

I
recently received a LinkedIn
message from a relatively junior
connection asking a simple
question: what education, training,
experience, and character traits are
needed to be a good S&OP leader? I
thought, “What a great question,” and
“this topic is not often discussed.” It
made me think a lot about my career
and those of people in the profession
whom I admire. There is so much
conversation these days about talent
shortages and the lack of career
definition within the supply chain
planning profession, yet there is rarely
a meaningful discussion about the
qualities and competencies required
to be a great planner. Of course, it
would be easy to say, “Get a degree in
industrial engineering or supply chain
management or statistics; find a way to
cross-train a bit in supply and demand
functions; and then work hard.” But
that statement lacks any meaningful

Copyright © 2017 Journal of Business Forecasting | All Rights Reserved | Summer 2017 | www.ibf.org 11
context and fails to truly address the
spirit of the question as posed.
Admittedly, I liked this question
in part because it presupposes S&OP
leadership as one of the loftiest roles in
the supply chain profession—a place
where it arguably belongs. It is a role
that requires extensive subject matter
knowledge of demand, supply, product
portfolio management, finance, and a
heap of change management for good
measure. A capstone job as it were, with
practitioners capable of flexing in and
out of supply chain sub-disciplines as
needed to solve problems throughout
an organization’s supply chain. The
only thing seemingly missing from the
job requirements is a cape and a mask.
Among long-time S&OP practitio-
ners, our “origin stories” usually evoke
a wink and a chuckle, since most of
us did not follow a set pathway in our
careers. S&OP leadership was never
considered a “destination profession”
for me and my peers; most of us me-
andered our way to these roles. Some
planned better, while others had ca-
reers like mine—a bit more random,
which seems a bit ironic for a planning
professional, don’t you think? As I for-
mulated a response to my LinkedIn
friend, I realized, not surprisingly, my
career seems a perfect example of the
typical S&OP leader’s journey.
THE MEANDERING
My early professional career was
marked by a series of starts and stops
at half a dozen different companies.
After putting in my four years at
college, and then six months at a
technical programming school, I went
to work designing manufacturing
systems in FORTRAN and ALGOL—
the hot computer languages of the
day. I was a computer programmer
trained in systems design and
12 Copyright © 2017 Journal of Business Forecasting | All Rights Reserved | Summer 2017 | www.ibf.org
development, and my initial focus
was manufacturing and distribution.
For nearly a decade, I worked 12-
to 18-month stints for a variety of
organizations: a manufacturer of
facsimile machines, a book distributor,
an air freight company, a large
bakery, an aerospace contractor, and
an industrial pump manufacturer. I
learned something new and different
at each of these stops: discrete and
process manufacturing, distribution,
international freight movements,
and large-scale project management,
among other things. The diversity of
these experiences was tremendously
helpful to me. I worked within systems
groups designing software. This gave
me visibility—literally—to see the data
moving through these organizations.
I observed the similarities—and
differences—in the types of data and
flows based on the type of business.
I learned so much about how data
are used and leveraged within an
organization — and how data are the
bridge between different functions
within an organization. And as my
later experience taught me—it is an
essential element when developing a
robust S&OP process. In fact, data are
so important to S&OP that my most
common advice to new hires and
those fresh out of school is to study
the data flows and systems in their
own organizations.
Many pundits talk about millennials
as being impatient—too eager to move
up and advance in an organization
without first demonstrating that they
have earned the privilege by proving
their competence. I am not sure this
impatience is unique to that population
cohort, as I was a very impatient young
professional 30 years ago. After about
a year working in each of these jobs, I
would begin looking for the next gig,
and I would only consider a position
if I were sure I could learn something
new. It took me eight long years before
I landed what I consider my first real
job, and the enduring lesson for me
was patience. Here again, my advice
is simple: be patient with your career.
Learn everything possible in your
current role and continue to increase
your experience and knowledge while
seeking your “first” substantial role.
As I look back, all of my preliminary
jobs served a purpose. In each, I was
intentionally enhancing my knowledge
and thus “pulling a logical thread”
through my early professional zigzag.
I also learned a lot about myself: the
type of business I wanted to work in,
how flexible and open I was to change,
and the importance of persistence in
working toward a goal. As I waited for
a big job in a great company, I made
good use of my time. I maximized each
job experience to learn all that I was
able in that role.
Throughout this self-designed ap-
prenticeship, I continued in my for-
mal education, taking classes a couple
nights each week on new programming
languages, accounting, marketing, fi-
nance—anything that would augment
my resumé. On weekends, I took a job
as a clerk in a personal computer store
where I learned to repair and configure
PC hardware and software. Of course,
none of this had anything at all to do
with S&OP directly, but I was honing
my craft nonetheless, focusing intently
on expanding my knowledge on any
subject that tangentially applied to my
systems-focused discipline. I always
sought to widen my education in those
instances when my role crossed over
into other subject areas, and I rarely
missed an opportunity to dig deeper
into my chosen profession. The notion
of career learning became embedded
at this time, and it is a gift for which I
am forever grateful.
MY GOAL JOB
Almost unexpectedly, and of course
after a lot of patience and education, I
was offered my goal job as a systems
manager in a manufacturing plant
working for a great company. I
continued to follow the path that had
helped me achieve my new role, and
doubled my determination to learn as
much as I could. I studied shop floor
applications, work flows and data
flows, production scheduling, variance
reporting, and quality control—all
while developing applications to
support multiple functions within the
plant. Throughout what proved to be
a seven-year stint, I raised my hand to
volunteer for every type of training the
company offered: Six Sigma, SMED,
SPC/SPM, Juran, Empowerment, Team
Development, and so on. During those
seven years, I participated in 31 weeks
of company-sponsored training. I
learned every role in a manufacturing
plant as I mirrored people in their
everyday jobs to better understand
how to support them with systems
and associated business processes.
I completely “got it.” I was working in
a manufacturing plant and I knew
that understanding manufacturing
principles would help me better
relate to my colleagues. Further,
understanding the competencies
required of a good manufacturing
leader helped me define the training I
needed as well as the systems I would
ultimately design. By focusing on
becoming a top-notch manufacturing
systems analyst, I was actually laying
the foundation of my future S&OP
resumé without even realizing it. Of
course, not everyone will have the
chance to be a manufacturing systems
analyst, but the lesson learned was
that I should try to expand any role
into something larger and set higher
Copyright © 2017 Journal of Business Forecasting | All Rights Reserved | Summer 2017 | www.ibf.org 13
expectations for what I needed to
know than the job description would
otherwise suggest. In this way, I was
always ready for the next role when it
was offered.
In time, I gained enough con­­fi­d­
ence to begin making recommen-
dations for improvements at the
plant, and started developing and
purchasing application systems to
enhance operations. I specified and
implemented a forecasting tool to
better estimate demand, and a
production-scheduling tool to
better manage the flow of a multi-
stage production operation, with the
goal of improving stage synchroniza-
tion. I designed a fast-cycle process to
boost production cadence and reduce
inventory. I started to feel I was
making a difference. During this time,
I learned to be intellectually brave,
willing to expose my own ideas for
scrutiny. If you seek to make a
difference in your company, I believe
you must be brave. S&OP leadership
will test both your courage and your
spine.
THE UNIVERSAL
TRAITS OF AN S&OP
LEADER
I did not offer this backstory of
the first 10 years of my career to
encourage my LinkedIn contact to
become a manufacturing systems
analyst, or as a textbook example,
but rather to illustrate the underlying
requirements of a solid S&OP leader.
The role requires passion, meaningful
work experience, and a commitment
to career learning. Being an S&OP
leader is less about what you know
or essential experiences you can
check off a list; it is more about who
you are and your attitude. The answer
to my LinkedIn colleague’s question
is NOT easy. To date, there has not
been a singular or standard formula
for success in an S&OP role. There are
however some universal traits that I
see in the best of my colleagues, which
may offer helpful advice to any aspiring
S&OP leader:
Commit to your craft and seek to
be the best. Then, even if you never be-
come the best, you are likely to close
in on greatness. This will require you to
learn as much as you can about every
aspect of S&OP. Commitment means
dedicating the time to dig deep into
the concepts underlying each step of
the S&OP process. Learn about statisti-
cal forecasting algorithms and stage-
and-gate processes; understand how
best practice companies forecast new
products and retire obsolete ones; in-
vestigate inventory metrics tied to
S&OP, and how decisions on product
families within S&OP should be de-
termined. Despite all my experience,
I never stop reading about best prac-
tices. I seek out books and articles and
re-read old seminal works to see what
I missed on the first pass. I attend in-
dustry conferences to see how others
do the same thing I do but differently.
I belong to professional organizations
that are centered around best practices
so that I may continue to learn. I com-
pleted an MBA yet still avail myself of
executive education whenever I can.
It sounds painfully clichéd, but I never
stop learning. Your career begins to
stall when you stop learning, so stay
committed to your craft.
Cross-train within your discipline
whenever possible. I have worked in
manufacturing plants, in a distribu-
tion center, in inventory control, as a
demand planner, in IT roles support-
ing manufacturing and supply chain
software, and I implemented pro-
duction-scheduling software. A good
S&OP leader has a strong working un-
derstanding of supply and demand—
hands-on experience. And it helps to
have some background in distribution
and execution. To the extent that you
can create job diversity on your resumé
with a history of passion and success,
you will enhance your ability to be a
“great” S&OP leader. Seek to spend sig-
nificant functional time—focused on
the realities of day-to-day business op-
erations and processes—in the realms
of both demand and supply planning
at the very least.
Never stop learning about busi-
ness—both your organization’s busi-
ness as well as business concepts in
general. Understanding your organi-
zation’s business model—consumers,
strategy, go-to-market approach—will
all add tremendous depth to your val-
ue within any organization. When col-
leagues joke with me and say things
like “Whaddya think ya want to be, a
marketer?” I take it as a compliment, as
validation that I have taken the time to
understand important business levers
beyond the scope of my profession.
Give back. Dedicate yourself to
one or two professional groups within
your field. At this stage of my career,
people often ask, “What is left for you
to learn?” The answer is, “A lot.” Simply
writing articles for APICS Magazine,
the Journal of Business Forecast-
ing, or other industry publications
has helped me hone my craft and my
elevator pitch. I have developed bet-
ter ways to explain topics—a better
turn of a phrase or two—and doing
research for articles always enhances
my knowledge of a subject. Giving
back by writing or presenting about
what you have already learned is a
guaranteed way to make sure that you
yourself never stop learning.
Get certified. Becoming an APICS
CPIM or IBF CPF gives employers con-
14 Copyright © 2017 Journal of Business Forecasting | All Rights Reserved | Summer 2017 | www.ibf.org
fidence that you have the foundational
subject matter knowledge to perform
a job. These certifications are increas-
ingly a requirement for senior level
consideration. The old axiom that you
can never take away someone’s educa-
tion applies equally well to certifica-
tion.
Stay current. While there are core
principles in any profession, the supply
chain world is comparatively new and
still evolving. There are amazing ad-
vances coming our way in artificial intel-
ligence. Emerging technologies that will
influence S&OP in the near-term future
include (but are not limited to) machine
learning, block chain, and predictive
analytics. A good S&OP practitioner will
stay atop current technologies; it is the
reason why I walk the vendor booths at
every conference I attend.
Do not focus on a single industry.
Although I have spent a majority of my
career in food and beverage and con-
sumer goods, some of my best ideas for
S&OP implementations, process flows,
and metrics have come from attending
conferences and listening to how other
industries have applied S&OP: correc-
tions, health systems, banking, educa-
tion, and industrial chemicals. Learning
about the application of S&OP within
other organizations has helped me
both as a consultant and as an internal
practitioner.
Develop a thick skin. I can guaran-
tee you one truth: an S&OP leader will
be questioned repeatedly for their mo-
tivations, knowledge, and competency.
If you are not, then you are probably not
pushing change hard enough or creat-
ing enough organizational tension.
Lazy people; individuals with agendas;
people who are uncertain about you,
the process, or your role; and those
who legitimately differ with your point
of view or approach will challenge you,
and the going can get rough at times.
Develop a steadfastness of cause that
resembles a thick skin. And, most im-
portantly, listen to what is said and
try not to take it personally. This is a
great help in improving your process,
content, delivery, agendas, and so on.
I personally do not have the thickest
skin when it comes to accepting criti-
cism, but I strive to turn any complaint
into an improvement if possible, and
some of the best ideas for improve-
ment are hidden in the middle of hurt-
ful, negative comments.
Develop your critical-thinking
skills. Delve into problems vigorously.
Work the intellectual Rubik’s Cube to
understand all angles to an issue, data,
or a task. Force yourself to question
deeper, find details, and look for ex-
ceptions. And then develop multiple
answers, solutions, or solves to any
question. Problem solvers with criti-
cal-thinking skills are the most desired
employees. Develop these skills.
Embody the concept of continuous
improvement. S&OP processes need
leaders who exemplify the values of
continuous improvement. Adopt it as
a mantra for everything pertaining to
your professional development—if
not your personal life—as well as the
S&OP process that you lead. Always
ask yourself, “What’s next?”
None of these suggestions may be
a surprise individually, but in the world
of S&OP, they all matter. S&OP is a broad
discipline, and one needs to spend time
understanding core concepts across
a diverse range of topics in order to
be truly successful. A commitment to
lifetime learning coupled with passion,
critical thinking, and business insight will
all help grow your career. As I ended my
email, I wished my LinkedIn colleague a
good journey, with a knowing smirk and
a nod of my head. I will keep an eye on
this person. ­
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