“Hire the people. Build the processes. Learn about the product lifecycle. Start to get early wins with different products and project teams and then be engaged much more frequently. That summarizes the key learnings from how we adapted to support Google X.” —Vytas Sliesoraitis, Former Head of Procurement, Epic Games and Ironman
Could there be any better qualification to compete in Ironman events than a 20-plus-year career in procurement?
We find out in this week’s podcast, as host Philip Ideson is joined by procurement leader turned Ironman Vytas Sliesoraitis.
Vytas has a diverse procurement background that includes time in procurement at Intel in his native Brazil, leading procurement at Google X (Google’s R&D company), and Global Head of Procurement at Epic Games, the makers of Fortnite.
In this conversation, Vytas and Philip discuss many of the lessons learned from his long and varied career in procurement:
The balance he learned to achieve while in procurement at Intel, balancing global strategy with local nuance
Building trust based partnerships while establishing the procurement function at Google X
What made him want to train for Ironman competitions and the lessons he has learned that current procurement professionals can benefit from
