🐾 The Three Scruffy Dogs Through the Cracked Mirror: Why Supply Chain Transformation Often Chases Shadows

“What we see depends mainly on what we look for.” — John Lubbock (1893)

Picture this: three scruffy little dogs, each with their own pair of spectacles, sitting before a cracked mirror.

• One wears legacy-tinted lenses: Full of history, habits, ego, and internal pride.

• The second is business polished: Sharp PowerPoint slides, trendy suits, and well-rehearsed acronyms.

• The third has a chrome-and-cloud sparkle magic wand: Selling digital brilliance and system-driven promises.

  
  

They all gaze into the mirror. What stares back is a strong, noble, confident Malinois, perfectly poised, perfectly aligned, seemingly evolved.

But the mirror is cracked. And the reflection is not real.

This is what we encounter in many organisations trying to transform their supply chains: 👉 They’re not seeing reality. They’re seeing a distorted version of it, shaped by three powerful but flawed lenses. Let us explore these distortions.

🔹 Scruffy Dog 1: The Internal Authority Lens

“We know what’s best — we’ve been doing this for years.”

This is the most common and the most deceiving distortion. Organisations often believe that because they’ve survived complex challenges, implemented large systems, and “know their business,” they hold the truth about what will work. They are proud of their experience — and rightly so. However, experience can often turn into insulation.

Yes, they possess deep knowledge. But that knowledge is often wrapped in:

• Organisational history

• Political compromise

• Operational scar tissue

• Personal egos and power bases

• Inherited constraints and assumptions

  
  

What they call “best practice” is frequently just familiar practice, shaped by survival, not strategy.

Worse still, there’s often a belief in exceptionalism:

• “We’re different.”

• “Our business is more complex.”

• “External approaches don’t really apply here.”

  
  

They’re not just wearing tinted lenses; they’ve handcrafted bespoke blinders to protect their internal narrative. They celebrate them, mistaking comfort for clarity, and tradition for truth.

🧱 The result? They protect the past and call it vision. This leads to defensive transformation, slow change, and safe decisions dressed up as strategy.

🔸 Scruffy Dog 2: The Consulting Confidence Lens

“We’ll guide your transformation.”

The next dog in the mirror? Dressed to impress with a sharp blazer and a sharper pitch deck. Consultants can offer huge value, no question about it. They come in with the promise of clarity, objectivity, and industry perspective, and sometimes, they deliver just that.

But too often, their “independent advice” is shaped by:

• Standardised frameworks

• Proprietary models (coming with a huge price tag)

• A need to land the next phase of the engagement

  
  

What looks like a tailored strategy is often a pre-fabricated methodology, dressed up in your logo. It’s not always obvious. But behind the polish, what’s presented as your transformation journey is often a repackaged version of theirs, optimised for repeatable revenue.

And underneath the polish? A business model that thrives on dependency, complexity, and long-term embedment of their resources in your organisation.

🧾 The result? Generic playbooks and high billables. You follow a plan designed for their efficiency, not necessarily your transformation.

💻 Scruffy Dog 3: The Technology Filter Lens

“This platform will revolutionise your operations.”

Finally, we have the glossy, digital optimist. Technology vendors often position themselves as transformation partners. But their truth is narrower.

The tech vendor promises speed, intelligence, and integration. But here’s the thing:

• They’re not selling what your business needs. They’re selling what their platform does.

• Their “best practice” is pre-coded. Their implementation roadmap is fixed. Their flexibility? Often overpromised and underdelivered.

  
  

They sell what they have:

• Their “best practice” is what’s built into the system.

• Their implementation methodology is what gets you live, not necessarily what gets you aligned.

• Their ROI story is what keeps you buying more features, not necessarily unlocking value.

  
  

You don’t buy a solution; you buy their version of the process.

🔄 The result? You bend your business to fit the system and lose your strategic intent in the configuration screens. Organisations change to fit the system, instead of choosing systems that unlock their change.

🪞 The Outcome: A Broken Mirror

Each dog believes in their reflection. Each lens distorts the truth. Each crack fractures the whole picture. Individually, they’re dangerous. Together, they create a full-blown illusion, one where everyone sees confidence, alignment, and capability… but what’s reflected is misguided, misaligned, and often mis-sold.

It’s a transformation theatre — polished, impressive, but disconnected from what really needs to change.

👉 Energy is misdirected.

👉 Resources are sunk.

👉 True transformation stalls.

✨ So What’s Real?

Real transformation doesn’t start with action. It begins with clarity, not activity. It starts with clear seeing. It begins when leaders have the courage to challenge the lens, not just adjust the view.

Ask yourself:

• Are we prioritising truth over ego and tradition?

• Are we paying for impact, or packaged confidence?

• Are we shaping our systems, or surrendering to them?

• Are we really that unique, or just afraid to be challenged?

  
  

True change starts not with strategy decks or training schedules, but with the courage to confront the distortion.

👁️ Final Thought

Before you optimise, digitise, or train, clean the mirror. Because if the lens is cracked, so is every assumption, decision, and dollar that follows.

👉 This is what we do with organisations every day — help them pause, see clearly, cut through distortion, and build what’s truly needed from the inside out.

If that resonates, let’s talk.

Jolanda Pretorius jolanda@end2endsc.co.za