Scanning titles in the Bellwether’s book club
What’s in the stacks of the logistician’s library?
By Rick Dana Barlow
Whether you’re an aspiring Hall of Famer, looking to get ahead in the healthcare supply chain profession or even looking to enter the healthcare supply chain, you’re only as good as your experience, knowledge and wisdom as gleaned from day-to-day activities, coaches, mentors, media outlets and, of course, books!
What should be accessible or on the shelf of a successful supply chain leader – well-worn with dog-eared page corners and plenty of margin-based notations?
Leaders & Luminaries compiled a recommended list of titles worth reading and retaining – some of which were penned by Bellwethers in the Hall of Fame for Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership! L&L asked, “What book(s) would you recommend that every Supply Chain leader have on his or her shelf as a useful reference – one that should have been read cover to cover and one that you would recommend for a college student with an interest in or pursuing a degree in healthcare supply chain management? Please list title, author and a brief one-sentence reason.”
To find these books (or determine if they’re out of print) be sure to search by author and/or title via Amazon.com, other web sites, second-hand bookstores or contact Bellwether League Foundation headquarters. This is not intended to be an all-inclusive list – and one even called his selections an incomplete list from a lover of books.
Let’s start with useful and valuable books penned by Bellwethers and those supporting Bellwether League Foundation.
Ammer, Ph.D., Dean S., “Purchasing and Materials Management for Health-Care Institutions,” 1983; “Materials Management and Purchasing,” 1980; “Dictionary of Business and Economics,” 1977 (co-authored by spouse Christine Ammer, Ph.D.; “Profit-Conscious Purchasing: A Treasury of Newly Developed Cost-Reduction Buying Methods,” 1977; “Hospital Materials Management: Neglect and Inefficiency Promote High Costs of Care,” 1974; “Materials Management,” 1972;
Ammer was the first to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the Bellwether Class of 2008 and the namesake of the Dean S. Ammer Award for Healthcare Supply Chain Performance Excellence, earned in 2020 by Randy V. Bradley, Ph.D., CPHIMS, FHIMSS.
Housley, Charles E., “Hospital Materiel Management,” 1978; “Strategies in Hospital Materiel Management: A Case Analysis and Masterplanning, 1983; “Controlling Hospital Supply Inventories: A Collection of Articles from Hospital Materiel Management Quarterly,” 1983; “Product Standardization and Evaluation,” 1986.
Housley was the third to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the Bellwether Class of 2008. One of his commonly known pet peeves during the 1960s through 1980s? The word was “materiel” with one a and two e’s and not “material/materials” with two a’s and one e. A former hospital supply chain leader-turned-administrator-turned-college professor, Housley wrote 15 authoritative books and also was a prolific writer in industry magazines. One of his most famous – or infamous – book titles that he distributed to those attending his educational sessions, “New Concepts in Materials Management Over the Past 20 Years,” may also have been the easiest for him to write. The pages were blank. One clue to the ruse or snarky commentary? Look at how he spelled “materials.”
Farrell, Paul V., “Fifty Years of Purchasing: The Story of N.A.P.A.,” 1954; “The First Fifty Years of the N.A.P.A.,” 1965; “Purchasing: Principles & Applications,” 1981 (co-authored by Stuart F. Heinritz); “Purchasing: Principles & Applications, 8th Edition,” 1991 (co-authored by Stuart F. Heinritz, Michael G. Kolchin, Larry Giunipero).
Farrell was inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the Bellwether Class of 2012.
DeBusk, Autry O.V. “Pete,” “The Rabbit’s Got The Gun,” 2013.
DeBusk was inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the Bellwether Class of 2015. DeBusk pens an entertaining autobiography/memoir that serves a dual purpose – an enlightening tale of Appalachian cultural history that gives you a deeper sense of how to be a successful entrepreneur and sales executive through the eyes of someone with a mindset for customer service and innovation. And wait until you read who the “Rabbit” is and why.
Kowalski, Jamie C., “Cost Containment in Hospitals,” 1980 (contributing author); “Materials Management Policy and Procedural Manual,” 1980 (1st Edition), 1990 (2nd Edition); “The Handbook of Health Care Materials Management,” 1991 (contributing author); “Effective Healthcare Facilities Management,” 1991 (contributing author); “Managing Hospital Materials Management,” 1993; “Healthcare Supply Chain Management; Resource & Logistics Processes,” (contributing author and team editor).
Kowalski was inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the Bellwether Class of 2017. He is the Co-Founder and Founding Chairman (2007-2013), Bellwether League Inc.; and Co-Founder and Board Secretary, Bellwether League Foundation.
Thorne, William V.S., “A Central Purchasing Agency for the Hospitals of New York,” 1909; “Hospital Accounting and Statistics,” 1918 (4th Edition).
Thorne posthumously was inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the Bellwether Class of 2017. Widely regarded as “the father of cooperative buying,” the forerunner to contemporary group purchasing, he used this booklet as the blueprint to create, develop and launch the Hospital Bureau of Standards and Supplies in 1910.
Van Sumeren, Mark, “A ‘Trip’ to Strategic Leadership,” 2016.
Consider this educationally rich but “lighter” fare reading as an engrossing learning/teaching exercise about strategic direction and thinking cleverly disguised as a fictional story. Van Sumeren served as a Bellwether League Inc. Board Member, 2014-2019. If you ask him nicely, he might autograph your copy for you. But if he subsequently finds it listed on eBay, the autograph magically and mysteriously vanishes.
Brown, Brene, "Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.”
“One of the best leadership books I have read in recent years.” Steve Kiewiet, Chief Commercial Officer, Intalere, Bellwether League Inc. and Bellwether League Foundation Platinum Sustaining Sponsor
Burns, Lawton R., “The Health Care Value Chain: Producers, Purchasers, and Providers,” (co-authored by various Wharton School colleagues).
Camp, Robert C., “Benchmarking.”
“The bible for industry practices leading to superior performance.” Robert T. Yokl, Bellwether Class of 2018
Carpenter, Mason Andrew, and Sanders, William Gerard, “Strategic Management: A Dynamic Perspective: Concepts.”
“While not particularly exciting, this textbook offers a wide variety of tools and frameworks for strategic leadership.” Jack Koczela, Future Famers Class of 2020
Cecere, Lora M., “Supply Chain Metrics That Matter.”
“Healthcare supply chain needs to be educating the c-suite on metrics that matter beyond unit cost and savings.” Steve Kiewiet, Chief Commercial Officer, Intalere, Bellwether League Inc. and Bellwether League Foundation Platinum Sustaining Sponsor
Cohen, Shoshanah, and Roussel, Joseph. “Strategic Supply Chain Management: The Five Core Disciplines for Top Performance.”
“A solid textbook on the basics of good supply chain management.” Steve Kiewiet, Chief Commercial Officer, Intalere, Bellwether League Inc. and Bellwether League Foundation Platinum Sustaining Sponsor
Covey, Steven, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.”
“It recommends principles, not just skills, on how to make good decisions and navigate through very tricky situations in your career.” Jack Koczela, Future Famers Class of 2020
DePaoli, Tom, “Avoiding a Supply Chain Apocalypse: Be Ready for any Supply Chain Disaster.”
“If only we had all read this book and applied a few of the principles.” Steve Kiewiet, Chief Commercial Officer, Intalere, Bellwether League Inc. and Bellwether League Foundation Platinum Sustaining Sponsor
Drucker, Peter, “Management.”
“Classic management theory and best practices by the leading authority on modern management.” Robert T. Yokl, Bellwether Class of 2018
Durant, J.M., “Quality by Design.”
“Classic quality theory and best practices by leading authority on quality management.” Robert T. Yokl, Bellwether Class of 2018
Frankl, Viktor, “Man’s Search for Meaning in Life.”
“The book doesn’t have a … thing to do with healthcare or the supply chain, but it does have to do with humanity, inhumanity and the questions each of us has to solve as we make our way through this life. The book gives us a perspective on how we should treat each other, and once we learn those lessons, everything else can be figured out, including the healthcare supply chain.” Fred Crans, Bellwether Class of 2020
Harringon, Lisa H., “X-SCM: The New Science of Extreme Supply Chain Management.”
“A great introduction into leveraging big data to enable supply chain as a strategic asset for your organization.” Steve Kiewiet, Chief Commercial Officer, Intalere, Bellwether League Inc. and Bellwether League Foundation Platinum Sustaining Sponsor
Hewlett, Sylvia Ann, “Executive Presence: The Missing Link Between Merit and Success.”
“As important as technical skills and job execution is learning to control how others see you and show up as the leader you are.” Steve Kiewiet, Chief Commercial Officer, Intalere, Bellwether League Inc. and Bellwether League Foundation Platinum Sustaining Sponsor
Kelly, Kevin. “The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape our Future.”
“We can either keep up with the pace of change or be rendered obsolete.” Steve Kiewiet, Chief Commercial Officer, Intalere, Bellwether League Inc. and Bellwether League Foundation Platinum Sustaining Sponsor
Lencioni, Patrick, “The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business.”
“The key to the talent war begins with creating great team culture and this is one of the best road maps.” Steve Kiewiet, Chief Commercial Officer, Intalere, Bellwether League Inc. and Bellwether League Foundation Platinum Sustaining Sponsor
Lynch, Gary S., “Single Point of Failure: The 10 Essential Laws of Supply Chain Risk Management.”
“This book pretty much highlights and predicted every point of failure that occurred in this pandemic. (Maybe we will actually do something about it now).” Steve Kiewiet, Chief Commercial Officer, Intalere, Bellwether League Inc. and Bellwether League Foundation Platinum Sustaining Sponsor
Miles, Lawrence D., “Techniques of Value Analysis and Engineering.”
“Everything you want to know about value analysis from the Father of Value Analysis.” Robert T. Yokl, Bellwether Class of 2018
O’Connor, Christopher, “Healthcare Supply Chain at the Intersection of Cost, Quality and Outcomes”
Quarles, Jack and Altman, Ian, “Same Side Selling.”
“This excellent book focuses of creating a truly collaborative approach where a buyer and seller work collaboratively, instead of combatively to address the buyer true need.” Carl Meyer, Bellwether Class of 2019
Schneller, Eugene S., “Strategic Management of the Health Care Supply Chain, (co-authored by Larry R. Smeltzer with a Foreword by Lawton R. Burns).
“I am always impressed with Dr. Schneller’s knowledge of the healthcare supply chain industry. He describes a clear understanding of the supply chain within healthcare and a few good strategies.” Brent Johnson, Bellwether Class of 2014
Sheffi, Yossi, “The Resilient Enterprise: Overcoming Vulnerability for Competitive Advantage.”
“Resiliency is not a new concept for most supply chains, and it must become a regular topic for the healthcare supply chain.” Steve Kiewiet, Chief Commercial Officer, Intalere, Bellwether League Inc. and Bellwether League Foundation Platinum Sustaining Sponsor
Sinek, Simon, “Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t.”
“Leadership is not an entitlement program.” Steve Kiewiet, Chief Commercial Officer, Intalere, Bellwether League Inc. and Bellwether League Foundation Platinum Sustaining Sponsor
Studer, Quint, “Results that Last.”
“This book will allow a supply chain leader to create an environment not only to achieve great results, but to sustain those results long-term.” Rand Ballard, Chief Customer Officer, Vizient, Bellwether League Inc. and Bellwether League Foundation Founding Sustaining Sponsor
Syer, John, “How Teamwork Works.”
“How to form, management and motivate teams that really works.” Robert T. Yokl, Bellwether Class of 2018
“There are two books that I think everyone in supply chain management should read, and neither is overtly specific to supply chain, but more about the power of critical thinking in business,” said Siobhan O’Bara, Senior Vice President, Community Engagement, GS1 US, Bellwether League Inc. and Bellwether League Foundation Silver Sustaining Sponsor. “The first:
Goldsmith, Marshall, “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.”
“The author highlights how successful people become more successful by constantly rethinking and reinventing processes and solutions. When the supply-chain tactics that used to work stop working, we have to adapt quickly – that is where success happens. By remaining willing to constantly review and reassess, you can avoid getting stuck trying to fix new problems with old solutions,” O’Bara said. “The second:
Christensen, Clayton, “The Innovator’s Dilemma.”
“Christensen [is] a brilliant Harvard professor who was renowned worldwide for his business acumen. In this book, Christensen explained how good companies with established products will inevitably get pushed aside if they don’t continually adopt new practices. Together, these two books offer a perspective in alignment with the unique paradigm supply chain holds in business today – as an accretive function that makes a difference in an organization’s performance. To fulfill that potential, we must constantly reinvent our roles, our ideas and our processes in a very dynamic field,” she said.
Vitasek, Kate, “Vested Outsourcing.”
“Five new rules that will transform your purchase service contract performance.” Robert T. Yokl, Bellwether Class of 2018
Walden, Joseph L., “The Forklifts Have Nothing To Do: Lessons in Supply Chain Leadership”
“This book offers some great lessons on the concept that activity doesn’t equal value or productivity.” Steve Kiewiet, Chief Commercial Officer, Intalere, Bellwether League Inc. and Bellwether League Foundation Platinum Sustaining Sponsor
“The Bible” (or your scripture of choice).
“Never forget that there is a bigger reason for what you do every day.” Jack Koczela, Future Famers Class of 2020