Hey friends,

I was reflecting this morning on just how wild the last ten years have been in our industry.

If you rewind to 2015, the biggest worry for many of us was simply "getting the lowest rate." It was a buyer’s market. Excess capacity was everywhere, fuel was relatively cheap, and the supply chain felt like a boring, predictable utility.

Then came the Hanjin bankruptcy. Then the 2020 sulphur cap. Then COVID. The Ever Given getting stuck. The post-pandemic boom. And now, the Red Sea crisis and the impending EU ETS carbon costs.

If that decade taught us anything, it’s that the old playbook—the one built entirely on "cost reduction" and "just-in-time" perfection—is not just outdated; it’s dangerous.

If I were stepping into a CPO role today, I wouldn’t just look for better negotiators. I would fundamentally change the mindset of the operation.

Here are the five specific mind-shifts I would instill in my team on Day 1.