When Stephanie Forbes talks about transformation, she speaks from decades inside billion-dollar programs across energy, construction, and manufacturing. Today, as founder of The Forbes Group, she helps organizations close the widening gap between operational complexity and strategic intent. Her philosophy remains grounded in one truth: change always starts with people.
"People are very resistant to change," she says. "If you want to implement something like a new ERP, you can have huge resistance to change." Her model begins with identifying early adopters, cautious followers, and what she calls "resistant avoiders." Leadership, she insists, is about bringing each group along without letting negativity derail the mission.
That people-centric view defines The Forbes Group, which advises companies on vendor management, sustainability governance, supplier and internal audits, and regulatory reporting. The firm's signature offering - value-chain strategy - aligns front-line processes with high-level corporate objectives, ensuring that "what's placed on your ERP matches the company's strategic plan."
The GAINS Framework and the End-in-Mind Philosophy
Forbes is best known for what she calls her "end-in-mind" methodology: designing projects backward from a clearly defined finish line. "If you can't describe it in those really tiny finite terms, then there's probably something wrong with what you're trying to do," she says.
That mindset shapes her firm's proprietary GAINS Framework: Gaps Identification, Audit, Internal Systems Optimization, Negotiations, and Supplier Compliance. The process begins with a diagnostic audit, moves through team engagement and strategy development, and ends in implementation support and ongoing evaluation. Each step builds measurable accountability into transformation initiatives - what Forbes calls "execution discipline."
The approach works. In one mid-market manufacturing client's ERP recovery, The Forbes Group applied the GAINS Framework after two stalled attempts by other vendors. Within six months, the company achieved full data reconciliation and cut its implementation timeline by nearly a third. "Execution isn't about intensity," Forbes says. "It's about clarity and completion."
Where Technology Ends and Leadership Begins
Forbes embraces automation but draws a firm line between efficiency and foresight. "Computers are not super great at planning for things they haven't been put through an algorithm. And humans are quite creative," she says. Tasks like invoice matching or order processing can be automated, but risk assessment and scenario planning require human judgment.
Her caution echoes across industry research showing that while AI can improve forecasting accuracy and supplier matching, it can also amplify hidden biases if leaders treat it as autonomous. Forbes warns that delegating strategic thinking to algorithms is the fastest route to blind-spot risk. "The technology is only as smart as the people guiding it," she notes. Her firm trains clients to pair machine efficiency with human oversight - turning data into insight without losing context.
Ethics and Resilience in the Supply Chain
Forbes's stance on ethics is equally pragmatic. She points to the Democratic Republic of Congo's cobalt mines and South America's lithium fields as stark reminders that technology alone can't solve systemic human and environmental challenges. "You can't automate accountability," she says. "Digitization helps track and verify - but ethics are about who's enforcing the standards, and whether companies are truly following the rules."
That principle drives The Forbes Group's Value Chain Protection service, which embeds fraud-mitigation protocols, supplier-governance checks, and traceability measures directly into sourcing frameworks. These controls help clients strengthen ESG compliance, reduce exposure to forced-labour and corruption risks, and reinforce resilience - particularly across industries like energy, automotive, and advanced manufacturing, where the materials of the future come with the ethical challenges of today.
Empowering SMEs and Local Economies
The forthcoming book Global Wealth, Local Impact: How Supply Chains Build Thriving Companies, Cultures, and Countries expands Forbes's core idea that national prosperity mirrors the efficiency of its value chains. "GDP of nations is a direct metric of how well goods and services flow," she explains.
That flow depends not only on technology but on the small and medium-sized enterprises that form its backbone. "Most of our business globally is small and medium enterprises," she says. "Most small and medium enterprises are pragmatic by nature. They don't need another academic model, they need tools that work in the real world. That's where a book, a framework, and a clear process can make all the difference."
Forbes's Canadian SME feature underscores this point: SMEs need pragmatic tools to meet sustainability and Scope 3 reporting demands. Her four-step model - invest in digital tracking, engage suppliers early, adopt a phased approach, and turn compliance into strategy - turns regulation into competitive advantage. "Local efficiency becomes local wealth," she says. "Every time goods and services change hands efficiently, value multiplies inside a community."
Leading With Accountability
Forbes's leadership approach is personal. "I spent 15 years in therapy," she shares. "I didn't want to be this person that can't move forward." That work informs how she leads others through professional unlearning. Success, for her, is when "work doesn't feel like work" and when people thrive rather than merely perform.
Her legacy, she says, is about empowerment. "You've got this. I will help you, but you've got this." It's a line that resonates beyond coaching sessions and boardrooms - a mantra for anyone driving change in uncertain times.
The Forbes Group Outlook
With projects spanning North America and Europe and a May 2026 book release ahead, Forbes is clear on her mission: aligning business efficiency with human progress. In an age where technology promises everything but often delivers complexity, she offers a blueprint grounded in execution, ethics, and empathy.
"The more resilient our value chains become," she says, "the more resilient our people and communities will be."
