The Power of Logistics | Terry Esper | TEDxOhioStateUniversitySalon

Good evening, thank you very much, raise your hand. How many of you are online shoppers? Almost every. In fact, I guess the better question would be how many of you are not online shoppers, especially in 2019. Well, I have a scenario for you. He bought something online and was promised two-day delivery and sure enough, within two days or less, his package arrives at his house. It's exactly what you bought and it's in exactly the condition you expected it to be in. As it does? You feel like it's a pretty satisfying experience, that feeling of satisfaction that many of us experience several times a week, sometimes four to five times a week.

That feeling of satisfaction, that's what I study as a professor here at Ohio State's Fisher College of Business. essentially my research can be represented by this photo I study the

logistics

of home delivery and in particular I focus on people like her this consumer who is clearly satisfied with this delivery service my research focuses on how we can better satisfy customers through of home delivery services and in fact I do a lot of research that focuses on her expectations to understand what she expects in terms of delivery services and how companies can better design their

logistics

infrastructures to meet those expectations.

I have been interested in this topic for a long time. I started my career a long time ago working for a large retail organization when we started our first online retail store and in fact my first opportunity with the company was developing their first home delivery logistics infrastructure so I have been involved in this for a long time. time, but I have a secret to tell you about this work I do. I think it's interesting and I enjoy it, but my secret, to be honest, I've struggled to connect with the work on a very deep level.

Here is an example. I have a friend who researches diversity and inclusion within corporate organizations, and as an African American woman who worked in a corporate environment before becoming an academic, her research is an extension of who she is as an individual. a friend who researches entrepreneurship and grew up in an entrepreneurial family that had a family business and worked in that business when she was a child, so her research on entrepreneurship is an extension of who she is as an individual that I have. a friend who researches consumers who have undergone significant body transformations and she herself has been on an interesting journey and has lost a considerable amount of weight along that journey, so her research is an extension of who she is as an individual and For me, researching logistics is interesting, but to be honest, I really struggled with the connection to the work in terms of being part of who I am as an individual.

Well, you know everything started to change for me and it started to change in mid-October of last year I was reading a series of articles about one of the great business organizations in this country, Sears, it was mid-October 2018 and Sears had recently declared bankruptcy and so there were a number of articles about Sears that were dominating the business press, so I was flipping through those articles and I was intrigued and essentially caught by some headlines that really caught my attention, like this one from the Washington Post that talked about about Sears and its radical past when it comes to service. customers during the Jim Crow era, which was the time in this country that was rife with racism and discrimination, or there was a New York Times headline that talked about Sears putting black customers first and making them a priority , in addition to being African American.

That caught my attention and I read more about what made Sears so innovative at the time and I learned some really interesting things: It was Sears and its home delivery services that gave African Americans in this country a way to shop where they couldn't they had to be subject to racism and discrimination and that was a lightbulb moment for me, it was something that connected to me personally. I went back to the times when I shopped with my grandmother at the downtown retail stores, even as a child we used to have to put on our best clothes to go to these stores because we needed to project to the retailers that we belonged there and could afford the things they gave us. sold, but even as a child I was very aware of a difference in my grandmother, I could sense that there was no joy in her during this time, in fact, I felt afraid, but then I remembered when Sears delivered the packages to her house and the excitement and joy now I used to think she was excited because a package was being delivered to her house, but after reading these articles I stopped, paused, and thought about whether the joy she experienced was not because she was receiving a package, but rather to the fact that I was receiving a package that allowed him to Maintain his dignity well, that connected me personally and at that moment I began to feel that my connection with logistics was beginning to develop in a very interesting and revealing way for me as an individual, so I began to explore other things that have inspired me. throughout my life they have a lot of logistics associated with them, like this gentleman, this is an artist's interpretation of a gentleman named henry brown, in fact he is more affectionately known as henry box brown now the interesting story about henry box brown is that he was born a slave in the state of virginia but to reach freedom he literally climbed into a wooden box and embarked using logistics towards freedom in 1849 he climbed into a box and embarked to the city of philadelphia to To be free it took 27 hours and seven changes in logistics and modes of transportation, so Henry Box Brown, for those of us who speak the logistics vernacular, was an intermodal shipment, but it was the fact that he sent himself from slavery to freedom using logistics which was a connection for me or this photo a lot of people see this oh that's rosa parks the mother of the civil rights movement and that's true rosa parks was the mother of the civil rights movement it was the montgomery bus boycotts that sparked the civil rights movement and the era that was essentially responsible for my ability to be here today.

Many people know Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King as the heroes of the civil rights movement, but there were many unsung heroes, for example, this gentleman, a gentleman named Rufus. Lewis now, the significant thing about Mr. Lewis is that he was a logistician and it was his logistics background that developed an entire ride-sharing logistics infrastructure in the city of Montgomery that allowed African Americans to have an alternative way to get back and forth and gain access to products and services and it was that logistical infrastructure that allowed them to boycott the Montgomery bus system. Now a lot of times when we think about the Montgomery bus boycotts, we think that one week a month, the Montgomery bus boycott lasted 381 days and it was that boycott.

That sparked the civil rights movement, but that boycott would not have been possible if it had not been for the logistics expertise of someone like Mr. Rufus Lewis and well, there's this example, the green book, many of you may have heard talk about the green book, it was just an academy award winning movie, well you know, the green book was a reality the green book was a printed directory for African Americans to use when traveling on American highways it was a pamphlet that It had a list of stores, gas stations and restaurants. and places of accommodation that were welcoming to African Americans because not all of them were at the time.

I am a product of the great migration. I was born and raised in a state directly north of Ohio, but my family has roots in Mississippi and Tennessee. so as a product of the great migration in this time period, when it was suggested that between five and six million African Americans emigrated from the south of this country and headed to the northeast, the midwest and the west, it was during the great migration That The Green Book became like a bible, but the interesting thing about the Green Book is that it was not just a directory of businesses that welcomed African Americans, but it was a logistics planning document because, from what I was told, the African Americans at that time.

They wouldn't dare hit the road without developing a complete plan for where they could go, where they couldn't go, where they could stop, and how far they could go before needing to stay before needing to get gas, so these were important. logistical plans that were developed before they hit the road to go from the south to the north and interestingly, all of these stories are a part of me, these were things that have inspired me my entire life, I am a product of these stories and as I progressed On this trip I realized that I no longer have to envy my friend who researches diversity and inclusion.

I no longer have to envy my friend who researches entrepreneurship because for me logistics is personal, it is something that has been given to me as a gift when I think of the shoulders that I have been able to support as a professor here at Ohio State, so I had a moment of joy when I realized that the work I do is not something that is simply interesting. for me, but it is something that is part of me because if it had not been for the logistical capabilities and skills, maybe I would not have had the opportunity to be here today, but I also had to rethink logistics and see it as something quite

power

ful, so that when we talk about the fundamentals of logistics, we talk about things like the utility of time and place and that logistics is about getting products to where they need to be so that consumers can have access to the things they need to live and that It's great from a corporate perspective and that's a very, very, very important part of the business, but the reality is that logistics can be so much more: it could actually be something that can help someone gain their dignity.

Logistics could actually be something that could give someone access to a better life and it could even be something that could potentially spark a movement, so for me I've had to walk this journey and it's been a wonderful journey for me to connect with the logistics and for those of us in the room who do work associated with logistics and supply chain. and I know there are many of us here tonight. I would challenge us all to really think about the work we do, make it personal, find the links between who you are and what logistics offers the world, but not only that, see it as

power

ful. because the work we do has the ability to unlock so much more than just getting a package to the door, so now when I do research and focus on consumers like her, I don't just think about the delivery process and the product that's in the box, but I'm thinking about what we actually offer to customers because what we could offer could be just a product in the box, but it could also be dignity, it could also be a door to a new opportunity, etc.

For all of us in the room tonight who work in logistics, let's take on the challenge of not just thinking about the product at the door, but also about giving the world dignity and access to a better life. Thank you so much.