Sheri R. Hinish

We are in the midst of a climate emergency, a business model emergency and a social emergency. When businesses are reconciling the return on investment of making this transition, we’re talking about clean water, breathable air—something that we have to do for survival, for the natural environment and also for our species.

Sustainable supply chains are good for the planet and good for business. In this episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Malcolm Gladwell takes on this topic with Tim Harford, host of Cautionary Tales, and guest Sheri Hinish, IBM’s Global Sustainability Services Leader and Offering Leader for Sustainable Supply Chain, known as the “supply-chain queen.” They discuss the supply-chain crisis and why transparent, responsible supply chains are imperative for our future.

“Business can’t afford to wait, and they aren’t waiting,” said Sheri Hinish, global leader for sustainability services, alliances and strategy at IBM Consulting.

Still, she said corporations need help on where and how they can take action. According to a 2022 survey by IBM of 3,000 CEOs, the majority said they expect sustainability and ESG investments to improve business results in the next five years, but fewer than one in four are implementing sustainability strategies across the… Show more

“Business can’t afford to wait, and they aren’t waiting,” said Sheri Hinish, global leader for sustainability services, alliances and strategy at IBM Consulting.

Still, she said corporations need help on where and how they can take action. According to a 2022 survey by IBM of 3,000 CEOs, the majority said they expect sustainability and ESG investments to improve business results in the next five years, but fewer than one in four are implementing sustainability strategies across the organizations today.

“I expect at COP27 we will see business leaders not willing to wait to drive progress and looking at many avenues to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement,” Ms. Hinish said. Show less

I represented IBM and the Technology sector in the "Africa COP" kickoff. Against a backdrop of global economic slowdown and political instability, the African continent is making headway in designing initiatives to overcome the worst impact of climate change. Hosted by Mokgweetsi Masisi, President of Botswana, and organized by the United Nations Science-Policy-Business Forum on the Environment (SPBF), this high-level event called for greater leadership and renewed international cooperation to… Show more

I represented IBM and the Technology sector in the "Africa COP" kickoff. Against a backdrop of global economic slowdown and political instability, the African continent is making headway in designing initiatives to overcome the worst impact of climate change. Hosted by Mokgweetsi Masisi, President of Botswana, and organized by the United Nations Science-Policy-Business Forum on the Environment (SPBF), this high-level event called for greater leadership and renewed international cooperation to support African-led adaptation efforts. Contribution and quoted herein.... Show less

Hinish uses her platform to guide business leaders toward more sustainable ways of operating. A descendant of farmers and a thought leader on supply chain innovation, she considers herself a steward of the earth. She also seeks to build stronger ties between organizations and the communities they serve. “Businesses can’t succeed in societies that are failing,” she says. “They have a huge role to play in transforming and moving toward more sustainable ways of working.”

This sentiment is… Show more

Hinish uses her platform to guide business leaders toward more sustainable ways of operating. A descendant of farmers and a thought leader on supply chain innovation, she considers herself a steward of the earth. She also seeks to build stronger ties between organizations and the communities they serve. “Businesses can’t succeed in societies that are failing,” she says. “They have a huge role to play in transforming and moving toward more sustainable ways of working.”

This sentiment is the foundation of “transformational sustainability”, which occurs when practices of responsibility and resiliency become an integral part of an organization’s business strategy. More than an initiative, it is core to the values of the company, where “people, planet, profit and impact sit at the center of every decision,” Hinish says.... Show less

The role of society in systems change

Sustainability solutions so far have mainly spoken to environmental stewardship and profitability, as described in a report by the Institute for Business Value (IBV), Balancing sustainability and profitability. As we try to shift “systems,” many have overlooked the social dynamic of systems change. Thus, they have only created partial solutions that focused on economic growth at any cost, with incremental and inconsequential environmental benefits....

The financial services sector is going through transformative change. To predict what the future of the sector could look like, we interviewed leaders from across financial services and beyond – insiders, outsiders and challengers – asked them to place themselves in 2030 and describe the financial landscape they think could emerge in the years ahead.

The ’Voices’ in this report cover many facets of financial services and beyond — from incumbents to challengers, BigTech to fintechs… Show more

The financial services sector is going through transformative change. To predict what the future of the sector could look like, we interviewed leaders from across financial services and beyond – insiders, outsiders and challengers – asked them to place themselves in 2030 and describe the financial landscape they think could emerge in the years ahead.

The ’Voices’ in this report cover many facets of financial services and beyond — from incumbents to challengers, BigTech to fintechs, policy makers to legal experts. Taken together, they create a valuable chorus of insight and expertise. Show less

Access our detailed, comprehensive CSCO action guide and our entire set of findings when you download the full CSCO study, Own Your Transformation: Data-led innovation for the modern supply chain.

We’ve reached an inflection point.
For some time, the role of business in sustainability has received steadily increasing attention from companies and their stakeholders. But over the past year, something changed for CEOs worldwide, and sustainability talk turned into action. Continued disruption—including upheaval from the pandemic—has society calling for a new approach to economic activities and business priorities.

Our latest CEO study, drawn from interviews with 3,000 CEOs… Show more

We’ve reached an inflection point.
For some time, the role of business in sustainability has received steadily increasing attention from companies and their stakeholders. But over the past year, something changed for CEOs worldwide, and sustainability talk turned into action. Continued disruption—including upheaval from the pandemic—has society calling for a new approach to economic activities and business priorities.

Our latest CEO study, drawn from interviews with 3,000 CEOs worldwide, reveals sustainability’s dramatic emergence onto the mainstream corporate agenda. For a few, this ascent is validation of long-held beliefs and years of planning. For most CEOs, however, an urgency to act is encountering the reality that turning sustainability aspirations and commitments into measurable results is easier said than done.

Transformational sustainability occurs when sustainability becomes an integral part of an organization’s business strategy. More than an initiative, sustainability becomes core to the values of the company. Leaders who embrace transformational sustainability recognize the opportunity to reshape major aspects of the enterprise. They view sustainability as a catalyst to define new business models, as well as deliver on community needs. Transformational sustainability embraces digital technologies strategically and operationally to drive sustainability outcomes while expanding economic opportunities. Show less

IBM Sustainability Services, Supply Chain and Celonis PoV

Supply chains are the conduit for change in Scope 3 emissions
Scope 3 emissions are the resulting emissions of activities not owned or controlled by the reporting organization. But they are significant because the value chain of the reporting organization is indirectly impacted. Given that most of Scope 3 emissions occur within the supply chain, addressing supply chain emissions leads to significant impact and improvements when enterprises are committed to comprehensive reduction goals… Show more

Supply chains are the conduit for change in Scope 3 emissions
Scope 3 emissions are the resulting emissions of activities not owned or controlled by the reporting organization. But they are significant because the value chain of the reporting organization is indirectly impacted. Given that most of Scope 3 emissions occur within the supply chain, addressing supply chain emissions leads to significant impact and improvements when enterprises are committed to comprehensive reduction goals. Transformation Trailblazers stand out from their peers by tapping the potential of emerging technologies and data, broadening C-level and CEO involvement and responsibility and collaborating with ecosystems and supply chain partners.

A focus on supply chain heightens efforts to address Scope 3 emissions. Leaders have a duty to understand their organization’s impact and opportunity to tackle these emissions, while designing a future supply chain landscape that involves product development, sourcing, manufacturing, transportation and logistics. To drive responsible and equitable outcomes enterprises must align people, the planet, profit and purpose. Show less

Businesses cannot succeed in societies that are failing. The urgency of fulfilling the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 is a global rally for climate action underpinned by systemic reform, social justice, and technology to help put humans and stewardship at the center of designing a better world.

The missing link in transparent and responsible supply chains. Protecting human rights is a leading indicator for sustainable supply chains ...

Technology is transforming the business models of
enterprises across the globe, creating new opportunities for
growth and fresh benchmarks of cost and efficiency. The
ability to apply AI, automation, blockchain, the Internet of
Things (IoT), 5G, cloud, and quantum computing at scale
has made the promise of Cognitive Enterprises real.
As we place this revolution in the context of an increasingly
virtual world, we see even more power arising from the
ecosystems, digital… Show more

Technology is transforming the business models of
enterprises across the globe, creating new opportunities for
growth and fresh benchmarks of cost and efficiency. The
ability to apply AI, automation, blockchain, the Internet of
Things (IoT), 5G, cloud, and quantum computing at scale
has made the promise of Cognitive Enterprises real.
As we place this revolution in the context of an increasingly
virtual world, we see even more power arising from the
ecosystems, digital workflows, and networked organizations
that are made possible. The Virtual Enterprise is emerging,
supported by a “Golden Thread” of value that animates the
enterprise and binds ecosystem participants (see Figure 1).
The Virtual Enterprise reinforces the extent of
connectedness around the world and the impact of humans
on each other and on the planet. It aligns purpose and
intent with wider societal impacts. With sustainability and
stakeholder capitalism taking hold in the C-suite, new
ecosystem business models are helping provide solutions
to the biggest challenges of our time around climate, health,
security, and equality. This plays an increasing part, too, in
the way that customers, partners, and employees feel about
engaging with the organization..... Show less

Joined several leaders and organizations in this robust report on sustainable supply chain. "As the supply chain sustainability field advances, so does this report, and this year we introduce a
classification of companies based on behaviors related to SCS. The model, called the SCS Firm Typology, yields fresh insights into the state of sustainability in supply chains. Categories of firms range from loweffort enterprises with little engagement in SCS to highly committed leaders. This… Show more

Joined several leaders and organizations in this robust report on sustainable supply chain. "As the supply chain sustainability field advances, so does this report, and this year we introduce a
classification of companies based on behaviors related to SCS. The model, called the SCS Firm Typology, yields fresh insights into the state of sustainability in supply chains. Categories of firms range from loweffort enterprises with little engagement in SCS to highly committed leaders. This typology distills the report’s analyses into an interpretable model and enables future exploration of the evolution of SCS across multiple dimensions. An indication of the typology tool’s potential is this year’s analysis of supply chain professionals’ engagement in SCS activities—a critical determinant of what companies can accomplish in this area. The level of engagement shown by practitioners (from operating as a decision maker to having no engagement at all) was aligned with the commitment shown by different categories of firms. For example, professionals in firms that we identified as “Leaders” exhibited the highest level of engagement." Show less

I share a personal reflection in Supply Chain Digital’s May edition. It’s a story that describes why diversity and equity are critical to a business’s success and how sustainability is people, planet, and profit positive. Equality and equity are not the same thing. And despite progress, we still lag behind both gender and racial equity in STEM + supply chain fields.

For supply chain gurus, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to become a classic case study in what happens when your greatest strength – selling low priced goods for higher profit margins – morphs overnight into your biggest downfall. As supply chains worldwide have buckled under extreme pressure from the pandemic, strategic thinkers and doers are already rebuilding models of excellence around three standards: quality data, holistic visibility, and supplier collaboration.

Resilient Supply Chains Can Save Lives
If Sheri Hinish, co-founder of Supply Chain Revolution, is right, we are in for a paradigm shift from price to value as companies search for supply chain resilience and increasingly prize transparency. With more accurate data, companies can move more quickly to avert future catastrophic failures.

“There’s a realization that supply chains are the conduit that powers the world,” Hinish said. “But do we really know who we’re shaking hands with… Show more

Resilient Supply Chains Can Save Lives
If Sheri Hinish, co-founder of Supply Chain Revolution, is right, we are in for a paradigm shift from price to value as companies search for supply chain resilience and increasingly prize transparency. With more accurate data, companies can move more quickly to avert future catastrophic failures.

“There’s a realization that supply chains are the conduit that powers the world,” Hinish said. “But do we really know who we’re shaking hands with beyond tier two or tier three suppliers? The pandemic has created a new understanding of external risk, visibility, social, and environmental insights. You have to understand all the risks in real time and that can have tremendous influence end-to-end in being resilient.” Show less

Named #1 of 5 Supply Chain Professionals you need to know Q3 2019. "To colleagues and clients, Sheri is known as the “Supply Chain Queen.” She has made a career reimagining supply chain sales and operations planning, strategy and talent management. As an influencer, Hinish encourages leaders to see the business and social benefits of circular economy. Using her social media platform, she provides thought leadership on how and why we must transition to a model of sustainable supply chain. Her… Show more

Named #1 of 5 Supply Chain Professionals you need to know Q3 2019. "To colleagues and clients, Sheri is known as the “Supply Chain Queen.” She has made a career reimagining supply chain sales and operations planning, strategy and talent management. As an influencer, Hinish encourages leaders to see the business and social benefits of circular economy. Using her social media platform, she provides thought leadership on how and why we must transition to a model of sustainable supply chain. Her content focuses on aligning people, planet and profit, women in technology and supply chain in new ways of working." Show less

Page 15 - Featured 1:1 interview

This case dives deeper into Blockchain, a novel technology with the strong potential to revolutionize the Global Supply Chain. The goal of this analysis is to discuss: 1) the key technical and economic aspects of Blockchain, 2) the current Blockchain innovators, barriers, and obstacles to Marketplace acceptance, 3) the business case for Blockchain, and 4) future applications and implications of Blockchain technology.