I’ve been at CHEP for over eight years now. In that time I’ve been in operations, project management, continuous improvement, logistics, and now commercial sales. And I can tell you honestly that not one of those moves happened because I applied for the job.
Every single one came from a relationship.
A Director in Logistics saw the work I was doing and wanted to bring me onto her team. Another leader pulled me into commercial sales because of a project we had worked on together. I got voluntold to start our continuous improvement team, which turned into a global program, because someone trusted me enough to hand me something with no playbook.
None of that shows up on a job board. None of that comes from submitting a resume into a portal. It came from showing up, doing the work, and building trust with the people around me over time.
Supply Chain is a relationship business. And I don’t mean that in the cliche, handing out business cards way. I mean your ability to build and maintain relationships has a direct impact on how far you go in this field.
I was talking to someone recently who was early in a new role and still figuring out the culture. He mentioned that in his first few days, he was heads down, focused on the work, keeping to himself. Then he went to his first team meeting and realized he’d been missing something. He started greeting people in the mornings. Having small conversations. Asking questions that had nothing to do with work. And he said it changed everything about how he felt at that company.
That stuck with me because it’s something I see all the time, especially with people early in their careers. They think the work speaks for itself. And the work matters. But the relationships are what open the doors that the work alone can’t.
Externally, it’s the same thing. Your carriers, your suppliers, your vendor partners. These aren’t just transactions.
The carrier who picks up the phone on a Friday night when your load is at risk? That’s a relationship. The supplier who gives you a heads up on a delay before it hits? That’s trust you built over time.
When relationships are strong, problems get solved faster. Communication flows easier. People go the extra mile because they want to, not because they have to. When relationships are weak, everything is harder. Every issue turns into a finger-pointing exercise.
