The Zero100 Podcast

For most of his 20+ career, Josh White watched supply chain get treated like every other retailer treats it: a cost to be minimized. But as Chief Supply Chain and Logistics Officer at CVS, he's spent his tenure rewriting that narrative: repositioning supply chain as a growth enabler that his Chief Merchandising Officer now calls “his supply chain.” This week, Josh tells Zero100’s Co-Founder and Chief Research Officer Kevin O’Marah how he pulled off both transformations at once. The growth piece required automation that punches above its weight, AI-powered demand sensing, and flexible systems built for future capabilities. But winning over merchandising required something harder: a shift from “that plan will break our network” to “here's what it would take to make that possible.”

Should companies bet on US or Chinese AI models – and is that even the right question? How can teams push past “too small to matter” AI pilots and ambitious projects that never ship? And is “our data isn’t ready yet” still a valid reason to delay AI adoption? This week, Chief Content Officer Matt Davis sits down with VP, Research & Advisory Caroline and Senior Research Director Oliver Sawbridge to unpack these questions, alongside others from the Zero100 community, getting into everything from process debt to overhyped fears we think will change drastically over the next twelve months.

When a disruption hits a major shipping lane, consumers and markets often presume that if prices don't spike the next day, the danger has passed. But that calm is a dangerous illusion. This week, VP, Data & Analytics Data Cody Stack and VPs, Research Geraint John and Jenna Fink unpack why the most dangerous disruptions aren't always the high-profile consumer tech stories, but the quieter shocks to food, fertilizer, fuel, plastics, and packaging. They explore why standard risk playbooks consistently miss industrial raw material crises, how fixed seasonal windows in agriculture trap businesses on delayed timelines, and why resilience must shift from a reactive function to an embedded design capability across sourcing, planning, logistics, and product design.

What happens when the supply chain playbook you’ve spent decades building becomes obsolete overnight? Fresh from Zero100’s Off the Grid event in the Irish countryside, Chief Content Officer Matt Davis sits down with VP, Research & Advisory Kelly Coutinho, and Account Manager Lewis Barnes to discuss the supply chain shift to “operational sovereignty,” and why 2028 is shaping up to be a defining year for operations. They also explore why 60% of workflows belong to no single function, how AI is exposing decades of process debt, and why the biggest barrier to AI adoption isn't technological, but human.

Major companies like Meta, Google, and Amazon are increasingly pointing to AI efficiency as a primary driver for workforce restructuring. But is the narrative of “doing more with less” the whole story? This week, Zero100 VPs, Research & Advisory Lauren Acoba and Caroline Chumakov move past the headlines to explore how companies are navigating this transition. They discuss why headcount reduction is often more complicated than it appears, how to preserve vital institutional knowledge, and why forward-thinking leaders are using AI to redeploy talent into new, high-value roles that drive long-term resilience.