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Killer Quote: "It is not enough to end the year strong. You want to start fast."
Welcome to The Chemical Show™, where chemicals mean business. If you're looking for insights from business leaders of mid-market to Fortune 50 companies, this is the place to be.
Featuring interviews with industry executives, you’ll hear about the key trends impacting chemicals and plastics today: growth, sustainability, innovation, business transformation, digitalization, supply chain, talent, strategic marketing, customer experience and much more.
Episodes are published every Tuesday.
Host Victoria Meyer gained her industry experience at leading companies, including Shell, LyondellBasell and Clariant. Before taking those insights and experiences to launch a strategy & marketing consultancy, Progressio Global, and The Chemical Show podcast. Victoria brings a informed and engaging perspective, making this podcast not just about the chemical business, but about people, leadership, business challenges and opportunities, and so much more.
The Chemical Show brings you the latest insights into trillion-dollar chemical industry. You will hear from leading industry executives as they discuss their companies, business, markets, and leadership. You’ll learn how chemical, specialty chemical, petrochemical, material science and plastics companies are making an impact, responding to the changing business environment, and discussing best practices and approaches you can apply in your business.
This podcast is a must-listen for executives and business leader everywhere, leading B2B process businesses and industries, driving strategy, harnessing customers and suppliers, and driving business innovation.
A key component of the modern
world economy, the chemical
industry delivers products and
innovations to enhance everyday life.
It is also an industry in transformation
where chemical executives and
workers are delivering growth and
industry changing advancements while
responding to pressures from investors,
regulators, and public opinion.
Discover how leading companies
are approaching these challenges
here on the chemical show.
Join Victoria Meyer, president
of Progressio Global and
host of the chemical show.
As she speaks with executives across the
industry and learns how they are leading
their companies to grow, transform, and
push industry boundaries on all frontiers.
Here's your host, Victoria Meyer.
Victoria: Hi, this is Victoria Meyer.
Welcome back to The Chemical Show
Where Chemicals Means Business.
You may notice that my voice
is a little bit raspy today.
Yes, I am recovering from a cold.
Wanted to be here with you today.
As we approach the end of 2024, I
know that most leaders are looking
at closing the year strong and
anticipating their strategy and
their moves as we head into 2025.
And so it was important to bring
today's episode to you, which I'm
framing as Finish Strong, Start Fast.
Four Key Moves for Leaders in 24 and 25.
So we can already anticipate some changes
as we're heading into 2025, right here
in the U S we have a new president and
administration that starts in January.
Um, and we know that it's going
to have an impact on us and
global business activities.
If we go across the pond over in Europe
and Germany, we have a snap election in
February, which will have some impact.
Not sure what that brings.
We know that we have new laws and
regulations set to take effect in the
new year and across the chemical industry.
We've seen already in 2024, many
companies have started to make changes,
whether their portfolio changes or
personnel changes or simply reframing
and rethinking their strategy.
So while we look ahead, into
2025, we know that finishing
out 2024 strong is critical.
The other thing that I think is
important for us all to keep in
mind is that change is opportunity.
The changes that are coming upon us
in 2025, um, are an opportunity for
your business and for you personally.
And frankly, we don't
really have a choice.
Change is happening.
You have to be ready.
So one thing from a personal leadership
perspective, we have put together
a great guide on 10 leadership
lessons from chemical executives.
These are insights and tips
taken from executives that I've
interviewed here on The Chemical Show.
And.
As you look to refresh your business
leadership and your personal leadership,
and heck, rethinking your career is
a classic thing to do at year end.
You'll want to gain access to
this guide, which includes these
leadership lessons, plus some
specific actions that you can take.
So to get that guide, head
on over to thechemicalshow.
com slash leadership, and you'll
enter some basic information,
name and email address, and we
will send that straight to you.
We're also including a link to
that guide in the show notes.
So don't miss out.
Now here on to today's episode,
Finish Strong, Start Fast.
Four key moves for leaders in
2024 and heading into 2025.
My overall mantra on this and the way
I like to think about it is you need
to run through the finish line, right?
So if you think about the recent Olympics,
if you watched the Olympics at all this
summer, um, and you think about the
sprinters and the racers, they were not
Running and stopping right at the finish
line, they're running straight through.
And part of the reason you do
that is momentum is critical
and key to winning the race.
It is not enough to end the year strong.
You want to start fast.
In fact, I think about, the things that
you're doing today and for the next
four weeks as we close out the year and
a lot of people will say, Oh really,
there's only three weeks left and to
a certain degree that's true, right?
Because that last week or 10 days
of the year, often people take that
time off, to holiday with families,
to refresh, to get refocused.
But if you don't use these next
three and four weeks wisely.
The potential is you're also missing out
on the first couple of weeks of 2025.
And I certainly don't like
to have that happen to me.
And I know that you don't
want that to happen to you.
So here are the four things that I
think are important for you to do
to finish strong and start fast.
Number one, reinforce relationships.
So we're in the year end
contracting season, sure.
Right.
Absolutely vital buyers and sellers
looking to secure their supply agreements
and purchase agreements depending on which
side of the table you're sitting on for
the coming year, whether it be one year,
two years, three years, whatever length
of contract you're putting in place.
And often we think of that contract as
kind of the big push in the final piece.
Sure, but really, as you and I both
know, that is just the beginning.
So reinforcing your relationships, one
through those contracts, absolutely vital.
But the second thing is relationships
really go beyond the transaction and
they are beyond just a traditional
customer supplier relationship, right?
So they're your business partners,
they're your team members, there's
other people that you interact with.
And rely on whether they be your
traditional buy, sell, whether they
be service providers, whether they
be inside your own organization.
So spending time over this next three
and four weeks till we get to the end
of the year, focusing on relationship
and strategic alignment, what's
going well, how can you improve?
What can you start doing?
Heck, more importantly,
what could you stop doing?
Always a key one.
And how do you want to work together
to be successful over the coming year?
Framing that now in December is critical
to having a really great January.
So that's one reinforce relationships.
The second one, stress test scenarios.
Now, We know, with the new administration,
there is a lot of chatter, tariffs
are in play again, there are new
rules and regulations coming in play.
What does that mean for your business?
Right?
I don't know.
You need to think about that.
Recently I talked with Patty
Summers on episode 189.
I'll link that one in
the show notes as well.
And we talked about the roles that tariffs
play in her business and what the impact
of the new administration might be.
Right.
And so one of the things that
Patty had said was the 25 percent
tariffs on products from China,
they were able to work around.
But if that goes up to 60%, which is.
Something that we're hearing in the news,
that's a completely different story.
At the same time, we've recently heard
about tariffs on China and Mexico.
There's other factors at play,
but tariffs have an impact.
They're meant to have an impact.
What role do they play on your
business and how will you respond?
So this is the thing
with scenario planning.
We don't really know how things
are going to manifest, but you
do yourself a disservice if you
don't think about what could be.
And how would you respond?
So these are potential factors
like, tariffs, supply chain
changes, which we know are happening.
Ownership changes, right?
There's a lot of portfolio work
being discussed in companies, right?
And when we talk about portfolio work,
that is buying, selling, shutting
down assets that potentially has
an impact on your business, even if
it's not directly related to you.
A supplier, you know, it's
not your company or it's not a
supplier customer relationship.
There are knock on effects.
What are the things that can affect your
business and how do you want to respond?
What strategies can
you put in place today?
What leading indicators are there that
will let you know how you can plan, how
you can respond, how you can strategize.
So stress test your scenarios.
That's my key action.
Number three, strengthen
your supply chain strategy.
Um, I also thought about calling this
one cause I'm, doing a lot of play
on words today, but you know, make
friends with Marine, which I've heard
people say this fact that the chemical
summit this year, what, you know,
somebody said, what do you need to do?
You need to make friends with your
Marine group, whether that's in
house or at an external supplier.
Why?
There are so many factors at play
in supply chain in 2025 again.
I have called the 2020s
the decade of supply chain.
There is no doubt about it.
And 2025 is going to
be just as interesting.
So if we think about what's going on in
Marine, so everything having to do with
global shipments, um, Number of things.
Number one, E.
U.
E.
T.
S.
So that's the emissions trading system.
Effectively a cap and
trade system on emissions.
A phased in approach that started
in 2024 2025 is going to be a big
impact with 70 percent of costs.
Applied to admissions.
And don't ask me how those get calculated.
I know that you guys know how they are.
Um, but 70 percent of those costs
being applicable in 2025 and then
a hundred percent in 2026, so
understanding what that means to your
business, the costs that it might
bring into bear, the responses that
you need to have become critical.
So strengthening your
supply chain strategy.
The other thing that's happening
in 2025 on January 1st, the
Fuel EU goes into place.
And what the fuel EU says is that
ships operating within EU waters
must use low carbon fuels to reduce
their greenhouse gas emissions.
Okay.
So, um, there is a wide variety of.
Of low carbon fuels that are in play.
And in fact, at a recent conference
earlier this year, I had a lot of
discussion about it, but know that
this is also affecting, and making
it challenging for marine companies
to figure out what they're doing.
So whether they're being, uh,
you know, methanol as a marine
fuel, there are other marine fuels
that are considered low carbon.
This is making a dramatic
change in marine strategy.
Maybe not directly for the chemical
companies and maybe not directly for
you, but certainly it's an effect and
it has an effect in terms of how the
shipment of products are moving across
the globe and what it means to the
tankers, to the container ships, and
ultimately to you and your customers.
So, Strengthening your supply chain
strategy, understanding how you're
going to deal with that is critical.
The third piece, and this is also
tied to Marine, but it also has
a significant effect on trucking
and potentially rail is the U.
S.
port strikes.
So you might say, Hey, those U.
S.
port strikes, those
were handled in October.
Hmm.
Not so fast.
My friend, they were
handled, they were deferred.
So a tentative agreement was put in
place that End of that US port strike in
October, and it really just delayed it.
The new date and the new
date for assessment and for a
potential strike is January 15th.
So lots of stuff happened in January.
Strengthen your supply chain strategy.
Make friends with Marine.
It will do you good.
Right.
So that's my three.
Number four, assess and
advance your career.
So year end is always a great
time for reflection on your own
personal leadership, your career,
your goals, your advancement.
Are you getting what you want out of
your career and out of your leadership?
How do you want to
change, adjust, improve?
Now, the reality is some things
may be happening to you, right?
So we talked earlier about some of the
strategy changes, the portfolio changes.
I know that there has been some, uh,
layoffs and some personnel changes at
companies, so this may be happening.
May have happened to you.
It may be happening to your colleagues,
but certainly it is the right time
to assess and advance your career and
understand what that looks like for you.
So how can you change, adjust and improve?
Number one, I'm just going to tell you
to put this on your calendar right now.
The chemical summit is going to be held
September 30th and October 1st, 2025.
It is the premier leadership
conference by leaders for leaders.
It is 2 days of powerhouse thinking,
strategizing, amplifying your career.
So if you haven't made note of that yet.
And in fact, this may be one of
the first times that you've heard
the dates because we haven't
been announcing them so much yet.
Mark your calendars.
You're going to want to be there.
The second thing is level
up, level up your leadership.
And one way you can do that is by
downloading those 10 leadership
lessons I talked about at the
beginning of our episode here.
10 leadership lessons, which are insights
and tactics that you can reflect on,
take And apply to your own career and
leadership, from executives that I've
interviewed here on the chemical show.
So go ahead to head on
over to the chemical show.
com slash leadership and
enter your information and
we will send you that guide.
So, and the reality is, those
are 10 things, but here you go.
If you just do one thing, and this is
my, when I speak to groups, when I speak
with executives, when I coach, um, the
leaders that I coach, I always say,
just do one thing, pick one thing you're
going to do differently tomorrow and
next week and next month and next year.
And by focusing in on that one
thing, you know, that you can take
action now across this episode,
I've given you four things, right?
So, uh, four things that allow you to
finish fast and start strong, right?
So reinforce relationships.
Stress test your scenarios, strengthen
your supply chain strategy, and then
fourthly assess and advance your career.
I hope you've enjoyed this episode.
Please send me an email,
uh, leave me a message.
And if you really love this episode, share
it with a friend or a colleague and leave
a rating or review because they do matter.
So thanks for joining us today.
Keep listening, keep following,
keep sharing, and we will
talk with you again soon.