morokoff

AI Procurement

How can a company build its procurement and supply chain processes using the Sisū philosophy?

06.01.2025

deepseek.com

Integrating the Finnish concept of Sisū (pronounced see-soo)—the inner strength, grit, and relentless perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity—into procurement and supply chain processes offers a powerful framework for building extreme resilience, adaptability, and a culture of tenacity.

Unlike philosophies focused on balance or comfort, Sisū is about action, fortitude, and pushing through the impossible with quiet determination.

Core Principles of Sisū in a Business Context

1. Resilience Beyond Measure – The ability to endure and recover from severe setbacks.

2. Action-Oriented Grit – Not just enduring, but proactively pushing forward against odds.

3. Mental Toughness & Perseverance – Sustaining effort despite fatigue, failure, or ambiguity.

4. Silent Determination – Less talk, more doing; solving problems without fanfare.

5. Adaptability in Crisis – Transforming obstacles into opportunities through sheer will.

Practical Application to Procurement & Supply Chain

1. Supplier Relationships: Forged in Adversity

• Select for Resilience, Not Just Cost – Choose suppliers who have demonstrated their own sisū—survived crises, innovated under constraint, shown ethical grit. Audit not just for compliance, but for crisis character.
• Co-develop Contingency Plans with Grit – Work with key suppliers to create “unbreakable” protocols for black-swan events. Test them under simulated extreme stress (e.g., cyber-attack drills, sudden sanctions, natural disasters).
• Long-Term “All-Weather” Partnerships – Commit to suppliers who stay with you through volatility, rewarding loyalty and shared perseverance over opportunistic switching.

2. Inventory & Risk Strategy: The Preparedness of Sisū

• Strategic Redundancy as a Mindset – Hold critical buffers not as waste, but as determined preparedness. Identify single points of failure and build resilient alternatives—even if they cost more.
• Transparency and Honesty About Vulnerabilities – Foster a culture where teams can flag extreme risks without blame, then tackle them with collective grit.
• Decentralized Stocking for Autonomy – Empower regional teams to hold survival stock for local contingencies, trusting their on-ground sisū to manage it wisely.

3. Logistics & Crisis Response: The Action of Sisū

• Develop “First-Responder” Logistics Networks – Pre-qualify backup carriers, charter options, and unconventional routes. Train logistics teams in crisis decision-making under pressure.
• Embrace Extreme Flexibility – When a port shuts down, a sisū-inspired team doesn’t just wait—they reroute through smaller ports, use rail, break bulk, and work around the clock to keep goods moving.
• Invest in Low-Tech Redundancies – Sometimes grit means having a low-tech fallback when high-tech systems fail (e.g., paper-based tracking, local radio networks for coordination).

4. Team Culture & Mindset

• Train for Mental Toughness – Use stress inoculation: simulations, war games, and scenario planning that push teams to their limits in a controlled environment.
• Celebrate “Grit Stories,” Not Just Success Stories – Recognize teams who fought through a supply crisis, even if the outcome wasn’t perfect. Honor effort, ingenuity, and perseverance.
• Lead with Calm Determination – Leaders model sisū by staying focused and resilient during disruptions, avoiding panic, and projecting steadfast resolve.

5. Sustainable Grit: Endurance for the Long Haul

• Build Physical & Digital Durability – Source components and choose IT systems not just for efficiency, but for ruggedness and longevity. Favor repairability over disposability.
• Invest in Supplier Development in Tough Regions – Sometimes sisū means helping a strategic supplier in an emerging market overcome local infrastructural hurdles—building roads, securing power—to create an unshakeable partner.
• Promote Well-being to Sustain Grit – True sisū is not about burnout. It’s about cultivating deep reserves. Encourage recovery, mental health support, and work-life balance so teams can tap into their fortitude when truly needed.

Example: An Electronics Manufacturer Applying Sisū

• Supplier Selection: Chooses a ruggedized component supplier from a Nordic country known for surviving economic crises, rather than the cheapest Asian option. They pay a premium for supplier resilience.
• Risk Mitigation: Identifies a rare-earth mineral dependency. Instead of accepting the risk, the procurement team relentlessly pursues a recycling partnership and funds a startup exploring alternatives—a 10-year sisū project.
• Disruption Response: When a hurricane halts shipping, the logistics team works 72 hours straight, coordinating airlifts from three alternate airports, communicating via satellite phones when networks fail.
• Team Culture: Quarterly “stress tests” where teams are given an impossible supply chain problem to solve in 4 hours. No bonuses for winning—just respect for the grit shown.

Contrast with Other Philosophies

• Lagom (Balance): “Find the right amount.”
  Sisū (Grit): “Endure any amount, and push beyond.”
• Hygge (Comfort): “Create cozy security.”
  Sisū (Grit): “Operate effectively in discomfort.”
• Ikigai (Purpose): “Find joy in being.”
  Sisū (Grit): “Find strength in persisting.”

Sisū complements these—it’s the backbone that upholds balance, protects comfort, and serves purpose when the world gets tough.

Implementation Roadmap

1. Crisis Audit – Identify past breakdowns and ask, “Did we show sisū? Where did we break?”

2. Define “Grit Metrics” – Track recovery time from disruptions, supplier survival rates, employee resilience scores.

3. Train for Tenacity – Invest in crisis leadership programs, mental toughness workshops, and scenario-based drills.

4. Reward Resilience – Include sisū behaviors in performance reviews: “How did you handle a major setback this year?”

5. Communicate the Philosophy – Share stories of Finnish sisū (Winter War, etc.) to embed the concept in culture.

The Strategic Advantage of a Sisū Supply Chain

In an age of constant disruption—pandemics, climate events, trade wars, cyber-attacks—a supply chain built on sisū transforms vulnerability into durability. It becomes:

• Unbreakable by design – because it’s prepared to bend and not snap.
• A talent magnet – for problem-solvers who thrive on challenge.
• A competitive moat – because competitors with fragile, efficiency-only chains will fail in crises where your sisū-chain persists.
• Ultimately more sustainable – because what endures wastes less.

Sisū reminds us that the goal is not just to avoid failure, but to build the inner fortitude to withstand, adapt, and advance no matter what the world throws at the supply chain. It’s not a tactic, but a cultural DNA—the quiet confidence that when all else fails, your people and processes will find a way through.