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The Brave New Business Journal
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Issue 04 · Industrial Practice · US and European Supply Chain
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Anne Becheru · Tuesday, 26 May 2026 · 5 minute read
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47 operators replied to Issue 03. Their questions shape this one.
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Happy you landed back
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Here is the deal we make with you every Tuesday. Five minutes, and you walk away
with the recipe to put your voice out there this week, starting from the macros
that just moved under your feet. Not a strategy deck. A recipe.
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The reason it matters this week specifically: the leadership slot in your category
is open right now. Someone in your lane is about to become the operator that
procurement officers, LPs and CEOs picture first. We would rather it be you.
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Quick check on the doubt that probably greeted you this morning. No, your operation
is not too small. No, your niche is not too narrow. And no, you are not too
unimportant to start posting. The “who am I to say this out loud” question is the
one that keeps the operators who should be leading their category quietly
subordinate to peers with half their credentials. Drop it before you scroll down.
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This week
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The main events that broke in supply chain last week, and what they
mean for your Q3 plan.
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How to turn each one into a post, in three sentences or fewer, on your
own lane.
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A hot read that dropped from McKinsey this week, with the part you
actually need pulled out for you.
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The YouTube playbook from Paddy Galloway, the strategist behind some of
the biggest channels on the platform, translated for operators.
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01 · One thing to try this week
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Write the post. Not the polished one.
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The dated, named, numbered version of what you saw last week on your own lane.
Three sentences will do. A specific moment. A specific number. A specific customer
category.
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Most of your peers will post nothing. That is the gap. That is the entire
opportunity.
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Pick one of the five items below. Pair it with one of your own lanes. Post by
Friday. Then reply to this email and tell me what came back. The best replies feed
Issue 05, out next week.
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02 · What broke last week
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Five signals, sources dated, Q3 implications live.
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The evidence behind the thesis. Five things, two or three sentences each, sources
dated.
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01 · Freight rates
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Drewry up 15 percent on the Asia-to-Europe leg. Shanghai to Rotterdam jumped
to $2,773 per FEU on the 21 May print, the third weekly composite increase in
a row. ONE has announced a $2,000 per 40ft peak season surcharge on eastbound
transpacific from 1 June.
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Source: Drewry WCI, 22 May.
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02 · PMI divergence
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The Atlantic just split in two. US Manufacturing PMI hit a 48-month high at
55.3 on precautionary stockpiling. Eurozone Composite PMI fell to 47.5, a
31-month low, on the energy shock. Same war, opposite operational signals.
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Source: S&P Global Flash PMI, 21 May.
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03 · Rate trajectory
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Both central banks flipped on cuts. The ECB is now 86 percent priced for a
25bp hike to 2.25 percent on 11 June. Even the dovish Fed Governor
Christopher Waller said last week he can no longer rule out rate hikes. Your
Q3 contract math, built off a flat or lower rate baseline, is stale.
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Source: BBH Drivers for the Week of 25 May; Econostream, 22 May.
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04 · Strait of Hormuz
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The disconnect: US firing “self-defense” strikes while announcing the deal is
days away. US strikes hit Iranian missile sites plus six fast boats in Bandar
Abbas (CENTCOM, 25 May). Oil down 5.80 percent to roughly $91 on the same
day. Strait reopening estimated at around 30 days post-deal per Nikkei.
Maersk Alliance Fairfax exited the Gulf under “Project Freedom” US military
escort.
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Source: CENTCOM via NBC News, 25 May 2026; WSJ Oil Slides as Ships Move
Toward Hormuz, 25 May 2026.
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05 · EU fertiliser duties
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The EU Council cut the fertiliser bill. On Friday 22 May it suspended customs
duties on urea and ammonia for one year, worth €60 million in relief. Your
European agri-input customers just got a competitiveness window your US
competitors did not.
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Source: Council of the EU; Eunews and Agriland, 22 May.
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03 · The read worth your Saturday morning
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McKinsey: $14 trillion of trade corridor value is on the table for 2035.
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McKinsey Quarterly, 19 May 2026: Five steps to turning geopolitical volatility
into an advantage. The McKinsey Global Institute puts $14 trillion of trade
corridor value on the table for 2035, about 31 percent of total projected trade.
Every one of the five items above is a node inside that number.
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Read the 10-page article here: mckinsey.com → Five steps to
turning geopolitical volatility into an advantage
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04 · What we heard on this week’s audit calls
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Three operators, one question: how do I post without scaring the board or boring
the audience?
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Last week’s Issue 03 audit gift filled all five slots by Friday. Three of those
conversations landed on the same problem.
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They walked in with the same question: how do I post without scaring the board or
boring the audience? One of them put it bluntly: if I only get one like per post, I
will wreck the algorithm. (You will not. You are nowhere near the threshold where
that matters.)
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Then came the real objection: my audience is not on LinkedIn. My people are
door-to-door. They are in warehouses.
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Since when do warehouses not have internet?
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LinkedIn is now a reference layer, the same as a Google search, the same as asking
GPT. When someone knocks on a door, the first thing that happens is not a
handshake. It is a search. And that search is the credibility filter. It runs
before you say a word.
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So it is a first impression you do not get to control in the room. You either show
up as a misread you will spend the whole meeting washing off, or you show up clean.
Pressed white shirt, right category, nothing to explain away.
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That is why we are now working with two companies to position their reps as the
credible voices for the brand. Not the logo doing the talking. The people who
actually knock.
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If you have a story like this, reply to this email. Tell me if you want to stay
anonymous. The breakthroughs that make it into Issue 05 come from operators three
weeks into a decision, not three minutes.
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05 · The nudge
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One action with a hard deadline this week.
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Deadline: Monday 1 June
2026, 23:59 CET. The EU Commission’s EUDR delegated act consultation
closes. If you export cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soya, wood, or
their derivatives into the EU, file your comment through the EU Have Your Say
portal before then.
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1.
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Read the World Resources Institute summary: wri.org → Explain the EU
Deforestation Regulation
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2.
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Decide whether your portfolio gains or loses from the proposed scope changes.
Leather and retreated tires are out. Instant coffee and certain palm oil
derivatives are potentially in.
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3.
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File before the deadline.
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Six days. One filing. The kind of move your competitors will not bother with.
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06 · We did the homework for you
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Paddy Galloway’s 12 rules, translated for operators.
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Posting is the hard part. Knowing what makes a post land is not, because someone
already cracked it.
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Paddy Galloway is the YouTube strategist who has worked with MrBeast and some of
the biggest channels on the platform, billions of views between them. He has spent
years studying what turns a small, technical niche into a real audience, and almost
none of it is about the camera or the budget.
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We pulled his core playbook into one graphic and translated it for supply chain
operators. Three rules carry most of the weight. The niche is never too small.
Write for three audiences at once: the expert, the outsider, and the peer. And the
title earns the click long before the production does.
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Steal the framework. Point it at your own lane. Post by Friday.
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Until next week.
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The week has already moved under your Q3 plan. The operators who post the dated,
named, numbered version of what they are seeing pull away from those who do not.
Pick your topic. Share it. Reply with what came back.
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Anne Becheru
Founder, Brave New Media
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We don’t do gurus. We do growth.
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Sources
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S&P Global Flash PMI press releases, 21 May 2026 (US Manufacturing 55.3,
Eurozone Composite 47.5).
Drewry World Container Index, 22 May 2026 print covering week ending 21 May
(composite $2,712, +6.22%, Shanghai-Rotterdam $2,773 +15%).
ECB 11 June pricing per BBH Drivers for the Week of 25 May, Capital Street FX (23
May), Econostream Media (22 May). Fed and Waller commentary per BBH and the Federal
Reserve speeches archive.
Persian Gulf and Hormuz coverage per Argus Media (19 May), Claims Journal (19 May),
Mallory Group Iran War News (22 May), NYT (22 May), Vortexa via Roic AI (18 May),
RBC commentary via Exchange Rates UK (18 May). CENTCOM via NBC News, 25 May 2026;
WSJ Oil Slides as Ships Move Toward Hormuz, 25 May 2026.
EU Council suspension of customs duties on urea and ammonia per Eunews (22 May) and
Agriland (22 May).
McKinsey Quarterly, Five steps to turning geopolitical volatility into an
advantage, 19 May 2026 (Levy, Greenberg, Watters, Singhal, Haider).
EUDR delegated act consultation per the EU Have Your Say portal; World Resources
Institute explainer.
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