Welcome to 2023! The holidays are over and a whole new year is stretched out before us.
The start of a new year is an opportunity to start over. While the possibilities are endless, overcoming the inertia of pausing for the holidays can feel overwhelming. If you have already listened to Philip Ideson’s podcast from Monday, you know that procurement has a lot of work to do to make an impact in today’s rapidly changing environment.
We’ve curated a list of podcasts from last year to get you thinking. These are conversations that address the process of embracing change and introduce us to new points of view.
[Pod] Putting Experiential Procurement into Practice w/ Tim Jones
“One of the most dangerous phrases in the procurement dictionary is ‘maverick spend.’ It implies people are ignoring us or doing the wrong thing, when in reality, they’re just a bunch of users we’ve let down and who are so exhausted by the bureaucracy we’ve created around them that they found a better way to get their business done.” – Tim Jones, Head of Strategic Sourcing at Stripe
[Pod] Fulfilling Procurement’s Digital Destiny w/ Johann Raunig
“There’s nothing worse than a procurement department or a procurement organization going to the board and saying, ‘For the next two or three years, I will only take care of myself, my processes, my tools, and approach.’” – Johann Raunig, Partner at McKinsey
[Pod] Accelerating the Conversation About Supplier Diversity w/ Kelly Barner
“We might pat ourselves on the back and say, ‘know what? We had a KPI that said that we were going to invite one diverse supplier to every single sourcing project or RFP that we did. And we did it. Go us!’ But the operational reality of that is that you wasted the time and effort of every business you only invited because they were diverse.” – Kelly Barner, Head of Content and Operations at Art of Procurement
[Pod] Finding the Motivation to Attempt New Things w/ Thomas Udesen
“What I find so fascinating about procurement is that it’s endless. I think the opportunities are lying in front of you. It’s up to your own curiosity and capabilities and ingenuity to make the most out of that.” – Thomas Udesen, Chief Procurement Officer at Bayer and the Co-Founder of the Sustainable Procurement Pledge
[Pod] The Big Debate: Procurement vs. Sales w/ Donna Donato, Chris Donato, and Megan Dimmer
“The more sales knows and the better we feel about the relationship, the more we’re going to fight to give you the best price.” – Chris Donato, Founder & CEO, esellas
[Pod] Hour of Change and Challenge: 10X the Impact of Procurement
“The most important thing we do is drive outcomes for the business. That should come first. What are the outcomes that our business is trying to achieve? How are we tying with those regardless of what procurement’s focus may have been in the past or the way that procurement measures itself?” – Philip Ideson, Founder and Managing Director at Art of Procurement
[Pod] Magic v. Logic: The Power of Storytelling w/ Simon Geale
“The average person has 6,200 thoughts a day, and probably about 5,000 of those are going through your head in the five minutes before you’re due to speak. If you go into a room and you haven’t prepared, you are essentially relying on your natural ability and everything else is up for chance.” – Simon Geale, Executive Vice President at Proxima
#TakeAction Tip: Accessing new ideas is a key input to the creative process, but it is just one part. Finding inspiration requires you to read or hear new information and then allow it to spark ideas of your own. Better still, expand the conversation to include others on your team. Everyone processes information differently – and that is a strength. Leverage as many perspectives as you can, discuss and debate, and then put those ideas into action!
