LEADERSHIP
with state representatives and the International Warehouse Logistics Association. All thought this change would be good. After more than a year of work, House Bill 451 passed in 2011, allowing electronic signatures on contracts. I was at the signing with Sonny Perdue, Georgia’s governor at the time. IL: How do you approach workforce reduction challenges? It’s difficult. One of my employers had built too many distribution centers throughout North America, and sales weren’t growing enough to support them all. As leases at different facilities came up for renewal, the company closed them and consolidated operations. As news gets out, there’s always a risk that employees will start to jump ship, and then you can’t run the operation. Before that could happen, I would talk with the regional human resources representatives and the Department of Labor about programs that could help employees update their resumes and network. If you’ve built up trust and relationships, that goes a long way. But it’s still hard. IL: How important is logistics and supply chain education? You can never stop learning. Right now, some fear AI and the future. However, everyone needs to be ready and open to learning how to use these tools. Otherwise, someone who has learned them may take their place. It’s important to help people quickly acquire new skill sets. For example, I use virtual reality tools for equipment operators. Compared to traditional classroom methods, you get higher trainee engagement and knowledge retention. That ultimately leads to improved operator confidence and greater safety. IL: What do you do to remain inspired? Every year, I try to do something new, like yoga, or cooking, or fixing Featherweight sewing machines. This forces me to work with another group of people and work another side of my mind. I always like to learn something different. Unconventional Leadership Lessons Bill Stankiewicz, the “Savannah Supply Chain Guy,” credits his compassionate and disciplined leadership to a few unexpected lessons. He famously saved an employee’s job after a forklift accident, championing kindness over meanness as a motivator. His unyielding curiosity led him to successfully lobby the Georgia legislature to pass House Bill 451, legalizing electronic signatures on contracts. To stay inspired, Stankiewicz annually takes on a new hobby, including fixing antique Featherweight sewing machines, which forces him to work “another side of my mind.”
IL: What challenges keep you up at night? I lose sleep over volatile supply chain disruptions, rising freight and fuel costs, on/off tariffs, and critical talent shortages. The key to addressing these challenges is structured planning, cross-functional communication, and building resilient systems that can flex without breaking. Rather than reacting, I focus on disciplined scenario planning and leadership alignment. IL: What qualities do you look for in potential job candidates? I look for intellectual curiosity, an ownership mindset, and the ability to think beyond silos and understand how their role connects to broader organizational outcomes. Technical skill matters, but adaptability and judgment matter more. If a candidate is willing to learn, most jobs can be taught. IL: What is an early lesson that has remained with you? I was new at a company and on a sales call with multiple senior executives from both my company and the customer organization. This was in the 1980s, and we went through multiple slide decks. By the end, the customer looked like they were ready to fall asleep. We didn’t get the business. After that, when I was invited to lead a sales meeting, I took just two slides. We got so much business, the president jokingly told me to stop selling because we had no one to manage operations. IL: What was one unusual project you had to manage? When I was several weeks into one job, my boss called me into his office and showed me all the paperwork he was dealing with. This was about 25 years ago. We needed multiple copies of every signed contract, so the copies could travel between the company, the customer, and the attorney. He said, ‘Stankiewicz, make the computer sign my name.’ I told him that would require changing some laws. He answered, ‘Hell, that’s part of your new job description.’ To even get a bill on the floor of the legislature—key to changing a law—you need to talk with your local legislators. They will say, ‘Great idea. We’ll start a committee.’ Then there’s another committee and another committee. As part of this effort, I got to know the top attorneys working for big companies in Georgia at the time. I also worked closely
April 2026 • Inbound Logistics 11
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