Page 20 - Georgia Forestry - Issue 4 - Fall 2020

And talk about mindset, there’s a book called Mindset [that] I’d recommend for anybody. But Dr. Dweck says you can have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. [With] a fixed mindset, you’re pretty much stuck. So if you have a difficult situation, you’re stuck. Everybody is better off having a growth mindset, so when you have a challenge, you adapt to it.
The lesson is that we are a lot more resilient maybe than we thought we were, and that’s great for our indus- try and our company, because we’ll be nimble and because we need to be nimble going forward. And that ends up being just a terrific strength.
HB: What changes to supply chains and markets do you expect to remain in place in the
near future?
CF:If I look back at some of the takeaways from the pandemic, it’s really the importance of the supply chain. And especially now, when you narrow it down to what we might call essential products. Whoever gives them that label. Essentially, in the sense that consumers, people really need it, no matter what happens. So toilet paper is
one of those items, obviously.
The availability of that in a supply
chain in a very, very volatile, unknow- able set of circumstances — that is actually getting a lot of people, compa- nies, consumers, behaving and thinking differently. Where we come out is hard to tell, but I’ve heard some people refer to it or contrast it as “just in time,” which has been the business practice pretty broadly for a long, long time, to “just in case.” The “just in time” that we’re all familiar with, versus “just in case” that
something happens. Now, can I rely on your supply and availability of product? If something bad happens, do you have the resilience? Do you have the flexibil- ity to pivot quickly as the circumstances warrant? Do you have surge capacity or flexibility to meet unprecedented surges in demand?
Those are all shifts in discussion, in behavior that I see. Where we come out, I don’t know yet. I’ll pair this with one more thing, and that’s probably not strictly supply chain but also market trends. Inside our firm, but also with our partners, one thing [is] pretty clear. Everyone’s been more open to exper- iment and try something. Try it fast and fail fast. And if it doesn’t work, let’s correct this as fast as possible. We’ll be better able to serve customers, consum- ers, society by keeping it up even when the pandemic subsides, and I’m sure one day it will.
SV: I like the “just in case” descrip- tor. We’ve certainly been living that. And the supply chains overall will have to be much more nimble and resil- ient in order to meet the needs of our customers. Delivery is an important aspect of our business we’ve seen in ecommerce. There’s a strong desire to have things delivered in different ways.
That’s a strength of our business.
There is a large, significant trend over the past couple [of] years, an even greater catalyst towards sustainability. I could see that gaining additional momentum, particularly as a result of recent events. And I’ll mention the word “circularity,” because our supply chains will become more circular and our industry is in a remarkable position to be able to take advantage of that. And a lot of people think of recycling as being an important aspect of sustainability and circularity for
our business. And that’s absolutely true. Forests are a significant aspect of circularity because we have the ability to regenerate our product over time. I feel very positive about our industry because of the combination of using both virgin fiber and recycled fiber from sustainable
forests for the long term.
CF: We are all keenly aware that, at least for now, hygiene is spelled out and written in capital letters all over the board. And if you can do it with a
18 | GEORGIA FORESTRY
DRIVING VALUE TO GEORGIA'S FORESTRY SECTOR
The American Forestry Conference was hosted by the Georgia Forestry Association in an effort to provide forest landowners, forest-based businesses and others invested in the American forestry supply chain with key insights that drive value to forestry and manufacturing assets across the nation.
GFA remains focused every day on delivering value to members and the entire forestry supply chain by protecting private property rights, enhancing healthy markets for forest products and advocating for sensible taxes and regulation.
BECOME A MEMBER TODAY
Visit www.gfagrow.org to learn more and to join our efforts.