This is a response to an article published in the Harvard Business Review about the severe shortage of medical supplies in the midst of a pandemic. Members of White House Coronavirus task force, shared their insight to what they see are key issues in the current stockpile. Throughout the pandemic, I’ve been leading a tech enabled medical supplier delivering millions of pieces of PPE such as covid tests and n95 masks to government agencies and first responders. I am proposing ways that the Strategic National Stockpile can build on its foundation and be ready for the next challenge based on experience delivering goods to the front lines.

The SNS, or Strategic National Stockpile, created under the Bush administration is a powerful tool of government. The SNS was designed to make sure we always have critical supplies on hand. Unfortunately, this system was not given adequate investment. It is a beta product, , showing what is possible and doing its best. However, there is now an opportunity to turn this beta product into a 1.0.

Members of a federal task force; Daniel Joseph Finkenstadt, Robert Handfield, and Peter Guinto, identified systemic problems with the SNS — the SNS’s needs additional expertise, being that it’s profile is too low, and the SNS’s information is inadequate. With just a little bit of resources, all 3 challenges can be overcome and turned into strategic advantages.

We believe enhancing the stockpile comes down to having an AIS in the hole. Adaptability, Intelligence, and Systems. Adaptability is employing an additional crack team of supply chain superheroes. Intelligence is creating informal intelligence network. Systems is having the tools in place to optimize inventory. All of these things can be added to the stockpile to make it hardened for the next challenge.

Importance of Expertise

Success comes from the team. I’ve found the government partners we work with to be well intentioned. However, no one was ready for what happened. The SNS could benefit from adding additional individuals who are expert in adapting during rapidly changing situations, ala Supply Chain Special Forces. In the article the authors suggest category experts like they have at the Department of Defense. Instead, we suggest building a small team that is adaptable to any environment and can think on their feet.

Tests have become the new masks. For example, when buying tests, it is not uncommon these days to run into fraud. Just recently we had a run in with a supplier saying they had a large quantity of tests available, but when our quality control representative arrived at the warehouse, they were told they were at the wrong address. When the representative went to the new address they were quickly approached and told that the supplies they were looking for were not there. This had all the makings of a fraudulent transaction. Luckily with a team in place we avoided falling victim.

It would be great for the SNS to staff quality control and fraud prevention teams and actively work with law enforcement to protect from scams. We put together a global team of quality controls folks who verify goods all over the world. They have helped us root countless frauds and sub-par goods. The SNS can do the same, and can also partner with inspection agencies around the world to have on demand staffing wherever the supply chain hot spot is at the moment.

The SNS’s profile is too low.

The lack of a public profile may have resulted in the SNS not getting needed resources to date, however, the public now knows about the SNS. Simply putting out a quarterly survey and report, would be enough to get the news media covering supply challenges and get new suppliers to apply inbound. A drop of PR is all that is needed to raise the profile and identify challenges and opportunities. Information flows fast. If there is consistent messaging coming out, and easy way to apply to fill needs, word will spread on social media and by people following Google News alerts. Very little expense will drive a lot of attention and help!

Handling Inadequate Information

One concern revolves around the SNS’s information being inadequate. Well, everyone had inadequate information. This was a new threat. The way we approached this in the early days of the pandemic is that we used WhatsApp to collect information and communicate with people from around the world. The SNS can create groups, an informal advisory board of sorts to share information.

The SNS also had difficulty getting data from hospitals. They can implement a Data In — Goods Out or DIGO program. In order for hospitals to get access to supplies from the stockpile, they would need to share information with the SNS about their supply and needs levels.

We designed a web-based system, using Google Sheets, that allows hospitals and other healthcare agencies to input their needs into a single data source. This information was then analyzed by a predictive model to determine what was needed, where, and when

This technology does not require a lot of money, it just needs to be customized to meet the needs of a situation. When entering goods into the system, the SNS can ask for manufacture and expiration date, then simply build a script to check the database when goods are within, let’s say a year of expiration and make sure they get distributed and then replaced. No blockchain is needed since Google Sheets has a built-in audit trail that tracks all changes. Fancier versions of this can use RFID tags on the items and formal inventory management software such as those used by most warehouses to tag and log inventory today.

Financing. One of the biggest challenges we ran into was financing. Most government agencies pay on Net terms after delivery, yet most factories require payment upfront before production. I like to say that China is Cash and Carry but the US is Paper and Pay. In normal times this bridged is crossed with purchase order financing but this takes weeks to put together. In April 2020, we didn’t have weeks. We recommend the government buyers work with law enforcement to screen new vendors who are asking for flexible terms. The SNS can require vendors to prove their supply chain on small scale before getting flexible terms. For example, perhaps a delivery from the same factory, using the same 3rd party inspectors and same freight forwarders would be required before any flexible terms are issued. Make people prove they are real and can deliver, then leverage the governments’ massive balance sheet to scale faster than the private sector can on its own.

The good news is that all of the suggestions above can be easily implemented with very little cost. Nothing is perfect but by adding a small adaptable special forces style supply chain team to the current SNS staff, they should be able to get out in front of the next challenge and build strong stable supply lines.

About the author: Richie Hecker is the Managing Director of the TS Health division of Traction & Scale LLC. TS Health is a tech enabled medical supplier. Prior to TS Health, Richie built a technology company that went public and operated a social network with almost 100 million users. He is a thought leader on the fusion of innovation and government and has lectured at Columbia and NYU. For more information, you can go to http://www.tractionandscale.com

How to fix the strategic national stockpile — a bottom up view from the eyes of a medical supplier was originally published in Non Urgent News on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This year’s election will go down in history as the greatest celebrity death match of all time. Prior, the election was a genteel amateur fight with a referee, 16-ounce boxing gloves and headgear. This year the election was a Royale Rumble of Republicans and a UFC style Cage Match in the general election. President-elect Trump emerged victorious from the giant heap of sweaty politicians and took home the title. Linda McMahon, co-owner of World Wrestling Entertainment was so proud that she joined the administration. Today he gets to wear his crown as he is sworn in as the new Heavy Weight Champion of the World.

Rumor has it that Obama is going to be a surprise guest to challenge Trump in next year’s Summer Slam. Okay, fine, that would be fake news. Alas, how was the White House won? Here’s the inside story, brought to you courtesy of Oz Sultan, Trump surrogate, campaign counter-terrorism advisor and social media superstar and your favorite journalist Richard Hecker.

Like all good adventures it starts out with a gold escalator, hired boosters and ends in with the great Wall of Mexico. And that was just in the first 15 minutes of the match. On June 16, 2015, the bell was rung, Trump came down the magical gold escalator declaring his candidacy and US politics changed forever.

“This election was significant because the rules of the match changed. There was no script, no storyline. It was all real time and ground breaking. Trump declared his candidacy like an entrance video in a wrestling match, complete with, fans, cheers and a crazy attention grabbing statement. If you ever listened to a wrestler giving an interview and then making an entrance, you’ll understand the allure of Donald Trump.” According to OZ Sultan, Trump surrogate and campaign advisor.

Round 1: The Primaries. Speak your mind, foment revolution. Like all good wrestlers, the candidates had their promo videos. Alas, only two stood out from the pack. Donald Trump with his gold plated news conference at Trump Tower announcing his candidacy and Bernie Sanders with his Marxist call for Revolution. The other 15 Republicans and two Democrats sounded eerily the same. Trump stood out from the pack by beautifully harnessing social media, and armed with his special move, The Tweetstorm, he manhandled his competition. (Authors Note: We named his power move “The Tweetstorm for this story)

The citizens of America wanted new characters in their Monday Night Raw lineup. They were tired of the same old wrestlers, same old moves and aging storylines. They wanted a fresh entertaining face. They got in the yellow haired 70-year phenom, The Billionaire, Donald Trump. He stood out of the pack as a rough and tumbles, speak his mind, heel. In wrestling terms, a heel is the bad guy in the dramatic storyline. He attacked the GOP, the democrats and the media. However, with each step he took in the character, the people’s boos turned into cheers. Trump built groundswell. He slowly built momentum. He turns hate into energy to fuel his character and amplified the love that he got. All attention was good attention.

Like a good restaurant opening, he started with boosters at his announcement and then built a cult of real followers, one person at a time. He tested his messaging, and stuck with what worked. “Build a wall!”, “Drain the swamp!” were messages he tested and saw riled the crowd and then focused around. He built his character as the campaign evolved.

“The Millennial generation is fueled by social media. The Tweetstorm was such as an effective move, paralyzing the competition because it spoke to people where they were, on social media, and how they wanted to hear it, raw and rough. The people were tied of the same old story and were ready for a street fighter to take country to the next level. Trump represents America today, brash, aggressive and entrepreneurial.” said Oz Sultan.

Round 2: The General Election. Rile the audience and look into their eyes. Bill Clinton was a phenomenal wrestler. He knew exactly how to get under the skin of the audience and mesmerize them with his moxie. Trump learned the mystique of the warrior from President Clinton and perfected it. He looked into each voter’s’ eyes, saw what pained them and delivered the exact message they needed to hear.

“Trump listened. He heard the pain of Middle America — they had lost their homes and lost their jobs and there wasn’t a sense that the country was there for them. Yes, more jobs were created under Obama but they were not in the same places jobs were lost — and therefore it didn’t help Middle America. People didn’t want to move. Trump made this his core message. These people didn’t want to be pandered to — they didn’t want someone being nice, they just want a job. Simple.” said Oz Sultan

The Character

Obamacare was useful for about 20 million Americans. However, there are over 318 million Americans. Jobs is the unifying issue across almost all of the 318 million people. Trump seized on this as his rallying cry and appealed to the masses.

“Trumps message spoke of populism and a new style of engagement that people hadn’t heard in quite a long period of time it was a throwback to Americans thinking about being Americans and building their American Dream. And that he sold the message of job creation and economic hope that was a far cry from Hillary’s message of business as usual and more of the same.” Says Oz Sultan

How did Trump win the match!? Build a crew that got your back!

All good wrestlers have their crew. It could be an association or a formal group, but it’s important to have a team that represents your storyline. Trump represents those in America that didn’t have a voice, those that didn’t have a wrestler to support. He built his crew of people from all races and cultures.

“Trump built a digital SWAT team from outside of the beltway that included a Muslim, a Jew, a Christian and a barking dog. Okay, there was no dog but it was a diverse crew that represented all cultures in America. Meanwhile, Clinton packed her crew with political insiders that didn’t know the modern weapons of technology.” Says Oz Sultan.

Know your audience and which weapons to use for their enjoyment! Like all good entertainers, it is essential to know your audience at each stop on the tour. Trump did his homework, studying every small city and town to make sure he knew how to speak to the crowd at each stop. Trump’s campaign utilizing cutting edge advertising and social media marketing technologies. Trump knew when to throw a chair or jump off the ropes. He knew which crowds like a ground match and which want to see a cage match.

Trump even built his own data platform, Project Alamo. “Project Alamo took all known databases, and profiled every citizen to figure out which citizen was on the fence, and which channel was best to reach them. The general public heard Trump’s branding campaign on Twitter, while the citizens in the swing states got a highly targeted direct marketing campaign speaking to them as individuals. Project Alamo, led by Brad Parscale, allowed us to target messages to each voter. This was crucial at the 11th hour call as we knew who to engage and how to canvass at the last minute. ” said Oz Sultan.

Delivering the right taunts!

People like being riled up. It’s part of being human. Delivering the right taunt at the right time can make all the difference between an exciting match and a boring fight. Clinton didn’t understand the need to entertain the crowds. Ultimately, winning the title comes down to ratings. Ratings come down to engaging the crowd. Good bad or ugly. The crowd is paying their ticket price to see a good fight.

Listen to the crowd and they will return with energy!

The Clinton campaign saw zero need to focus on independents or soft republications. The campaign coasted, assuming victory. They ran ads that screamed “I’m with her!” Meanwhile Trump focused his message around “Make America Great”. I’m with her signifies the election is about her, not about the people. However, Make America Great signifies making the country great, which helps everyone. Clinton focused on herself as a historic candidate. Trump focused on the country. “I’m with her”, doesn’t imply she is with you. Middle America wanted a candidate that promised to be in their corner. The more the people heard Trump yell into his microphone of Twitter, the more his message resonated and soon the heel became the hero and the election was won.

“Trump had directions and motivations slogans instead of policies. This enabled him to define and redefine them for each audience and craft his message accordingly. Clinton had explicit policies and marketed her years in public service, which left her little room to move to listen to her audiences. Trump listened and pivoted messaging to address the needs of independents and soft democrats (Bernie voters) where Hillary continued to tout the same message without accounting for shifts in voter attitude and sentiment. At the end I’m with her really meant she’s not with you, to a lot of voters.” Says Sultan.

Using the Referee as Bait:

Like all good sporting events, there is a referee. However like all most WWE wrestling matches, the referee is part of the fight. In this case, the mainstream media played the role of the referee. Trump fueled his energy from the press.

When you watch a wrestling match, you learn that the referee is not there to provide a fair fight, he is there is enhance the entertainment of the match. Often times you’ll see a referee knocked out cold. In this election, the media played this role.

“Trump played the media by attacking them, sucking the wind out of his opponents as he got all of the promo time, then attacked them for being unfair and going negative on him, even when he started it, leading to more air-time. He riled up the crowd, which created ratings and therefore more media focus. Yes he was mean at times. However, characters can change over time. Throughout his career Hulk Hogan transitioned from heel to hero and back and again.” .” Says Oz Sultan.

The people were always entertained regardless of which side he was on. Trump saw this for it was, a messy wrestling match, while Clinton misread the will of the people and the demands of the crowd. Trump was portrayed as the successful asshole (the Ted Dibiase of present day) while Clinton had difficultly showcasing her achievements and getting people behind her.

“People would rather have a successful asshole, than a nice person who did stuff. People wanted a strong leader, they wanted a leader to take back the country.” Says Sultan

Running Interference!

No wrestling match is complete without a cast of characters running interference and attempting to change the course of the match. Let’s look at each interruption, the spin and the reality. We’ll cover these in the next story, after this commercial break.

The 3 Count and Winning the Match!

“Trump is a shrewd and artful dealmaker. Every time I’ve met with the man, it becomes clear he is intense and driven to solve problems. This intensity to break though challenges and power through to victory.” says Sultan.

Ultimately Trump walked away with the belt amidst a stunning last second victory. He won by a hair of a margin. What future wrestlers can learn from the experience is that if you want to win on the big stage, you need to listen to the crowd, draw from their energy, hear what makes them tick, rile them up, then tailor your message to each audience member so they empathize with you. It doesn’t matter whether you are the heel or the hero, people just want to be entertained. Once you have crowd, use every weapon at your disposal, including the referee to neutralize your opponent and go for the pin. #Winning Share your view to #DreamFWD.

This story was written by Richie Hecker @RichieBlueEyes & Oz Sultan @ozsultan. They are long-time tech community organizers and entrepreneurs. Richie is CEO of Traction + Scale and Oz Sultan is CEO of Sultan Interactive Group.

Radical by Michelle Rhee Book Cover

Right now our country has the opportunity to have one of the greatest educators in our country, Michelle Rhee, become our Secretary of Education. President-elect Trump met with Michelle yesterday, ostensibly to discuss the possibility, and I hope it comes to fruition.

Michelle transformed the DC school system and is leading voice for education reform. She led the DC school system from 2007–2010. Her policies are entrepreneurial by design and should fit in well with President-elect Trump’s entrepreneurial mentality. Her policies have been based around aligning incentives, rewarding teacher performance and ensuring that the best teachers teach our children.

Kudos to our president-elect for the consideration — she is after all a Democrat. However, she supports strongly what Trump has made the centerpiece of his education policy — something that can transform our education system for the better: school choice.

School choice is about enabling parents to send their children to schools where they can get a better education, breaking free from property-tax driven school districts. Michelle believes in school choice for those who need it the most. That is giving kids a chance at an equal opportunity. This concept can provide an even playing field for all students.

The press will speak to her qualifications and achievements, which stand on their own merit. Today, I am writing this story from my heart and hope that our President-elect chooses someone very special to listen to us, to learn with us and to lead us and our children into the future.

While I didn’t have the luck of having her lead my classroom, I consider myself a student of Ms. Rhee. In the past couple of years I had the privilege of getting to know her. What I took away from our interactions is that she exemplifies the super power of the greatest leaders, that of listening. To me her greatest skill and what she can instill in all of us, isn’t the plaques on her wall, but the ears on her head. She listens.

The mark of a good teacher is being a good listener. We are fortunate enough that today our President-elect met with one of the greatest listeners I know, Michelle Rhee. Growing up, I had teachers who lectured, I had teachers who taught, yet I had few teachers who truly listened. One day you think back and realize that the teachers who made an impression on you the most were the ones who listened and engaged you in the dialogue of education.

The best education comes from when the teacher is the listener, because then she can ask the right questions, challenge your assumptions and help you think through the challenges you face. Google is for remembering information. Education is about the dialogue of progress.

Michelle is always willing to listen, no matter how crazy the idea, now matter how raw or undeveloped the concept. She listens and asks the tough questions; is humble enough to acknowledge what she doesn’t know and is inspiring to help solve the challenges that come up in the process. It’s rare to have that perfect blend of listening, thoughtfulness and humility in one person. That is Michelle Rhee.

Think about how many people in your life you can say are great listeners. Now think about, how much you learned from those great listeners. Our country has an opportunity to make someone truly extraordinary the leader of our education system. I am eternally delighted and excited for the possibility of Michelle taking the reigns.

One way to judge how much you trust someone is to ask yourself, “Will you introduce this person to someone you love?” When someone very close to me hatched an idea for an education startup, the first thing I did was introduce her to Michelle. That is the greatest compliment I can give. #DreamFWD

Follow me on Twitter Richie Hecker

*** This story was originally published in HuffingtonPost

Marc Andreessen and Warren Buffet are two of the worlds’ greatest gamblers. Calculating odds, predicting outcomes and placing bets, hoping for a return. If you’ve ever been to a casino and sat down at the blackjack table, you have played a similar game as these titans of finance.

Marc Andreessen is perhaps the best-known Venture Capitalist in the world. Venture Capitalists invest in earlier stages of businesses and typically invest in technology as the agent of change. Meanwhile, Warren Buffet is the best-known value investor in the world. Value investors look to invest where they find bargains and can reasonable predict future profits, usually in sustainable stewards of the current economy.

While their approaches differ, their goals are the same. They place bets where they can buy a stake in something that will create more value than it costs to acquire. The primary difference between the two approaches is time horizon — of when they invest and how they look to exit their investment. Venture capitalists invest early and bet that Revolution and disruption will win, while value investors bet that over the long run Evolution will run its course and the market leaders of today will evolve into tomorrow.

A War over the horizon

The different perspectives over time horizon lead to distinct public differences between the two approaches. Lately, there has been a lot of heat in the press of a war between Marc Andreessen and Warren Buffet’s way of life. Let’s look at the story from behind the curtains.

In reference to Warren Buffet, Andreessen recently said: “The historical track record of old white men crapping on new technology they don’t understand is at, I think, 100%,”

If the future is based on technology and Warren Buffet doesn’t get technology, is that a prophecy of doom for the Oracle of Omaha? Or will Warren Buffet’s Midwestern sensibilities stand the test of time? That is what Marc Andreeseen seems to imply. The stakes at play are tens of billions of dollars in future profits.

Today vs. Tomorrow

Warren Buffet has publicly said he doesn’t understanding technology — or did he? His most famous quotes comes from a 1999 Fortune article about why he doesn’t invest in ‘innovation’.

“the relatively limited longevity and defensibility of competitive advantage in tech and the difficulty of identifying the few winners in advance and being able to buy them at reasonable prices”

If you read carefully, he doesn’t say that he doesn’t understand technology or innovation — rather that he doesn’t think the returns are worth the risk. If you look at the historical returns of venture capital as an asset class, he is proven right as most VC’s never turn a profit. Buffet would rather invest in a sure thing that can think nimbly than a new thing with an unclear base of operations.

Bricks and Clicks, the promise of the 90’s is upon us

Amazon won the commerce wars by combining a digital user experience with the most efficient real world distribution system in the country. Technology is serving as their arbiter of evolution. Yet despite Amazon’s growth, Walmart continues to grow and is far more profitable. Sometimes a startup wins, other times an incumbent figures it out.

Once a caterpillar, twice a butterfly; Betting Big on Transformation

Let’s look at value for a second by comparing two great companies. The largest technology company in the US is Apple (AAPL). Apple while not a startup is a disruptive tech company. It trades at a PE Ratio of 12. On the flip side the venerable Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B) trades at a PE Ratio of 15. Both are growing revenue at about the same rate, yet it would seem the tech company is actually the value opportunity. Hmm…

On the surface Andreessen and Buffet seem very different though in reality they are scarily similar. They seek the same goals and their investments converge over the long term. While Warren Buffet has never coded a web browser — he sure has bet big on corporate transformers that are investing in technology to sustain their competitive advantages.

Warren Buffet is actually a MUCH larger investor in innovation than Marc Andreeseen, by orders of magnitude.

Sounds outrageous? Well, let’s look at some companies in both of their portfolio’s. While coming from opposite points on the horizon, their investments quickly converge.

Andreessen has bet on Bitcoin and the future of payments with over $50MM invested in companies like Coinbase and millions more in payments innovators like Dwolla and Boku. Meanhile, Warren Buffet has invested over $12BN in Wells Fargo (WFC) whose CEO has stated publicly that Bitcon is a big part of their future and in American Express who is betting that Big Data and technology are their future (AXP).

American Express and Wells Fargo sound an awful lot what you would expect to hear from a startup like Coinbase, Dwolla or Boku.

If you dig into their portfolio, there are many more similarities. Andreessen is on the board of HP while Buffet is an investor in IBM. Andreessen invested in retailers, Groupon, Fab and Zulilly while Buffet is an investor in the leading retail innovator, Walmart who boasts a $400MM+ innovation lab.

For some perspective, Berkshire’s positions listed above are each individually larger than the entire Andreessen-Horowitz fund family.

Revolution vs. Evolution- Ante up

In the short run, disruption and revolution can topple a market leader. However in the long run, most industries follow an evolutionary path. Nimble startups unseat some established players and some established players figure it out and crush startups .

You can choose to invest early or invest late — ultimately the winners will be those who invest smart and can transform their industries. The question is do you want to bet early on revolution in the short run or late on evolution winning in the long run?

Will the next transformative technology come from a startup or from corporate innovation labs? Who knows — or perhaps it all converges on the same point over the long run. To find out, you could have gone to Omaha and listened to the Oracle at the last annual meeting. However, your best option to finding a place to stay was following Warren Buffet’s recommendation of AirBnB, one of Marc Andreessen’s top investments.

Life. Simplified.

Sometimes in life, we forget what is important and fixate on everything else. In fact, there is only one important thing in life — living. And by that I mean, choosing to really live. Often, we focus on the distraction and miss our true being. Have you ever been so focused watching TV that you missed a shooting star or beautiful sunset. Or worse, was on your, cough cough *on your laptop* …. and totally forgot to acknowledge your mom, wife or daughter and ask them about their day.How much of our lives must be wasted before we live it? For me, at least the number was 29 years, 10585 days, 635100 minutes to wake and up and finally BREATHE.

So with that said, here’s the three secrets to making your life amazing, meaningful and simple.

1. Take a breathe. Choose your life the way it is right now. Choose that sore thumb, the failing startup, the marriage on the rocks. Choose to accept your life as it is at this very moment.

“Today is tomorrow. Forget about what you are trying to be for one minute, and focus on all the great things you already have, and you already are. Live in the present. Accept your current state and breathe into it.” Melanie Weinberberger

2. Breathe again. Choose how you want it to be tomorrow.Now that you’ve chosen to live, you can choose to create what comes next.

3. Take actions starting today consistent with how you want it to be tomorrow. “Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” Thomas Jefferson

That’s it. Now every day write down the one big thing you did to make make your life the way you want it to be. Rinse and repeat for 21 days. See the results.

You get exactly what you want. Exactly what you put in the universe. Your intention is everything and while you can make a case that in situations where you lacked intent, things still work, most likely someone else with more power than you at that moment had intention and you came along for the ride. Live with purpose and you get what you live for.

So, what do you want to create for yourself today? Share with our community or talk to me @richieblueeyes

Cheers,

Richie