Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Most supply chains don’t fail because of shocks.
They fail because excess sits untouched until it becomes a problem.
Surplus inventory, idle equipment, empty warehouses. These aren’t edge cases. They’re the predictable by-products of forecasting, growth bets, and uncertainty. What’s rarely discussed is how quickly excess turns into financial drag, sustainability risk, and bad decisions when organisations freeze.
My guest is Gordon Zellner, CEO and founder of Evergreen Trading. Gordon operates at the intersection of supply chain, finance, and media procurement, helping companies convert excess assets into usable capital rather than writing them off or sending them to landfill. His work spans consumer goods, telecoms, retail, real estate, and yes, occasionally corporate jets.
This matters now because volatility has become structural. Cost pressure, climate scrutiny, capital discipline, and regulatory exposure are converging at the same time. Holding surplus “just in case” quietly erodes resilience. Disposing of it badly creates reputational and sustainability risk. Doing nothing is often the most expensive option.
Several moments in this discussion changed how I think about excess. One was the idea of corporate paralysis in uncertain periods, where organisations delay decisions until value has already decayed. Another was reframing media not as a marketing line item, but as a procurement category and financial instrument that can close valuation gaps. And the biggest shift was Gordon’s distinction between vertical thinking and horizontal thinking, solving excess within silos versus rerouting value across the organisation.
This episode is for supply chain, procurement, operations, finance, and sustainability leaders dealing with surplus, write-offs, stranded assets, or pressure to “do the right thing” without blowing the budget.
If you’re handling this in the real world, I’d like to hear how you’re approaching it.
🔗 Podcast site: resilientsupplychainpodcast.com
🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations on resilience, risk, and decision-making
⏱️ Chapters below for direct access to key decisions and failure points
2️⃣ 💡 Chapters / Timestamps
00:00 – When “excess” shows up as three corporate jets
00:01 – Why all supply chains inevitably create surplus
00:04 – The real cost of waiting for markets to recover
00:06 – When sustainability defaults to landfill
00:09 – Why uncertainty causes corporate paralysis
00:10 – Media as a procurement category, not marketing spend
00:12 – Buying media futures to close value gaps
00:16 – What happens when excess is genuinely unusual
00:19 – Limited-time offers, bad forecasts, and baked-in surplus
00:22 – Measuring success beyond one-off transactions
00:26 – Vertical vs horizontal problem-solving
00:29 – Why doing something different is the only option
Most supply chains don’t fail because of shocks.
They fail because excess sits untouched until it becomes a problem.
Surplus inventory, idle equipment, empty warehouses. These aren’t edge cases. They’re the predictable by-products of forecasting, growth bets, and uncertainty. What’s rarely discussed is how quickly excess turns into financial drag, sustainability risk, and bad decisions when organisations freeze.
My guest is Gordon Zellner, CEO and founder of Evergreen Trading. Gordon operates at the intersection of supply chain, finance, and media procurement, helping companies convert excess assets into usable capital rather than writing them off or sending them to landfill. His work spans consumer goods, telecoms, retail, real estate, and yes, occasionally corporate jets.
This matters now because volatility has become structural. Cost pressure, climate scrutiny, capital discipline, and regulatory exposure are converging at the same time. Holding surplus “just in case” quietly erodes resilience. Disposing of it badly creates reputational and sustainability risk. Doing nothing is often the most expensive option.
Several moments in this discussion changed how I think about excess. One was the idea of corporate paralysis in uncertain periods, where organisations delay decisions until value has already decayed. Another was reframing media not as a marketing line item, but as a procurement category and financial instrument that can close valuation gaps. And the biggest shift was Gordon’s distinction between vertical thinking and horizontal thinking, solving excess within silos versus rerouting value across the organisation.
This episode is for supply chain, procurement, operations, finance, and sustainability leaders dealing with surplus, write-offs, stranded assets, or pressure to “do the right thing” without blowing the budget.
If you’re handling this in the real world, I’d like to hear how you’re approaching it.
🔗 Podcast site: resilientsupplychainpodcast.com
🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations on resilience, risk, and decision-making
⏱️ Chapters below for direct access to key decisions and failure points
2️⃣ 💡 Chapters / Timestamps
00:00 – When “excess” shows up as three corporate jets
00:01 – Why all supply chains inevitably create surplus
00:04 – The real cost of waiting for markets to recover
00:06 – When sustainability defaults to landfill
00:09 – Why uncertainty causes corporate paralysis
00:10 – Media as a procurement category, not marketing spend
00:12 – Buying media futures to close value gaps
00:16 – What happens when excess is genuinely unusual
00:19 – Limited-time offers, bad forecasts, and baked-in surplus
00:22 – Measuring success beyond one-off transactions
00:26 – Vertical vs horizontal problem-solving
00:29 – Why doing something different is the only option
