How do you create a podcast? What is the production process? How do you select guests? How do I get on the show? What is the "business" of Art of Procurement and what are your revenue streams? These are all questions that I am often asked, whether it be at a conference, when talking to potential guests and partners, or just during my day to day conversations with procurement professionals around the world. And so today we go behind the scenes of Art of Procurement as I attempt to answer as many ...
Aug 27, 2018•28 min•Ep. 199
What can we do to protect ourselves against tariffs, and what options do we have when tariffs are levied on the products or materials that I buy? These are two questions that I have received regularly from listeners over the past couple of months, against the backdrop both of increasing trade tensions, and the ongoing uncertainty around Brexit. And so to help answer those questions, I reached out to Bill Michels. Bill is a recognized expert in Purchasing and Supply Chain Management and has worke...
Aug 20, 2018•37 min•Ep. 198
Today I welcome onto the show Ted Olshefski. Ted is responsible for Direct Procurement at Panasonic North America. I've come to know Ted well over the past 18 months or so, and I'm delighted to finally be able to welcome him to the show! I had the opportunity to sit down with Ted in preparation for his upcoming presentation at ProcureCon Direct 2018 in San Diego on the topic of single source suppliers. Our discussion turned into an introduction to some of the considerations at play when developi...
Aug 13, 2018•28 min•Ep. 197
Gordon Donovan is one of the leading thinkers in procurement on the topic of skill and behavior development, and I'm also honored to call him a good friend! In today's podcast, we continue our recent theme of procurement capability development with a focus on how we can actually scale the behaviors that we want to drive in our teams. We start by talking more broadly about capability development, before arrowing in on capability frameworks. A good capability framework is as much of an art than a ...
Aug 06, 2018•53 min•Ep. 196
The deal is done, the contract signed, and the supplier starts supplying. Then the invoices roll in. But how much time do we invest in making sure that the supplier is invoicing the right amount? In a world of competing priorities, I am afraid to admit that I trusted my suppliers to be billing the correct amounts. Yet, mistakes happen. In fact, as today's guest Ben Evans shared, between 40%-60% of suppliers whose invoices his firm, Auditec, review contain material billing errors. Categories with...
Jul 30, 2018•54 min•Ep. 195
I'm joined on the pod this week by Odelle (Brown) Bell, Managing Director of 8 Consulting. Odelle is well known within procurement across Australia and New Zealand, having previously owned and led the procurement recruiting firm Evolve People. Now at 8 Consulting, Odelle is focused on helping her clients cultivate workplaces that enable greater employee engagement - and ultimately more impactful teams. Our conversation spanned the topic of workplace behaviors and effectiveness. Odelle is a big b...
Jul 23, 2018•59 min•Ep. 194
This episode marks our first serious foray into understanding why people do the things they do. Our guest, Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy and founder of Ogilvy Change looks at consumer behavior, media and communications through the twin lenses of Behavioral Economics and Evolutionary Psychology. We sought Rory out because we believe the implications of his work go well beyond how to better sell consumer products and services. His is a powerful perspective for us to incorporate into our...
Jul 16, 2018•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 193
Today's guest on the pod is Jonathan O'Brien. Jonathan is the CEO and a founding member of Positive Purchasing. He has over 25 years' experience of working with household name companies around the world to help transform procurement capability. Jonathan works with executive teams to shape and implement procurement strategies, he also trains, coaches and develops procurement teams to perform and realize their potential. Many listeners may recognize Jonathan as the author of a number of procuremen...
Jul 09, 2018•41 min•Ep. 192
Back in 2016, I interviewed Jimmy Ankleseria over the course of two podcasts, on the topic of strategic cost management. They were very popular at the time, and contain a number of timeless insights into how we can be more strategic about understanding and managing the input costs of the products and services we buy. With today being a holiday week here in the US, I have combined the original two shows - which clocked in at over 2 hours - into a single 40-minute episode. Listen in to hear Jimmy ...
Jul 02, 2018•48 min•Ep. 191
The quality and accessibility of master data is a critical but often overlooked pillar of all successful procurement teams. Complex and difficult to master, it's often left to the side while we pursue "easier" transformation and improvement initiatives. Technology is now opening up a new world of possibilities for converting seemingly disparate data into useable intelligence by taking new approaches - leading to more effective sourcing and category strategies. I'm joined on the show today to dis...
Jun 25, 2018•55 min•Ep. 190
I'm joined once again on the show by Jeanette Nyden. Jeanette is a well-renowned contracts and negotiations specialist, who approaches her work with a focus on building win-win, sustainable, agreements. I interviewed Jeanette recently – AOP173 – where we discussed the topic of contract negotiations. If you haven't had the opportunity to listen in to that interview, you should check it out! But, in the time we had scheduled to chat, we didn't get to all of my questions. And so I invited Jeanette ...
Jun 11, 2018•38 min•Ep. 188
Today I am joined on the show by Charlotte de Brabandt. As you will hear in the show, Charlotte was recently honored by ISM, as part of their 30 Under 30 Awards program, as the Megawatt winner, and for good reason! In her day job, Charlotte leads Energy Procurement for Johnson & Johnson. But that only tells half the story! Charlotte is also a prolific public speaker, TEDx organizer, charity worker, and she is passionate about the intersection of procurement, technology and the future of jobs...
Jun 04, 2018•37 min•Ep. 187
Today I am joined on the show by Shawn Burton. Shawn is General Counsel of Business & General Aviation and Integrated Systems at GE. Shawn was connected to me via a former AOP guest Nick Seiersen and has recently published an article in Harvard Business Review on the virtues of plain language contracting. While we did discuss plain language contracting, and the change and disruption underway in the legal profession – which I thought was a great way to be able to better understand and empathi...
May 28, 2018•54 min•Ep. 186
This week on the show, the tables are turned! AOP alumni and Negotiations Ninja host Mark Raffan just interviewed me for an episode of his podcast on the topic of procurement cost savings. I enjoyed the conversation with Mark, and so we decided to simultaneously publish both on Art of Procurement and Negotiations Ninja. In our conversation, Mark dug into that omnipresent procurement metric of cost savings. I share details of how I have seen most organizations calculate savings, and what is typic...
May 23, 2018•37 min•Ep. 185
I spent a couple of days on the road last week at the Coupa Inspire 2018 conference in San Francisco. Inspire is an event I always try and make – to get insights into Coupa's latest offerings, to catch up with peers, friends and clients, and to be inspired by fantastic keynote speakers which this year included Alison Levine and Arnold Schwarzenegger. While on site, I had the opportunity to sit down and record today's podcast with Coupa CEO, and AOP alumni, Rob Bernshteyn. Over the past couple of...
May 14, 2018•22 min•Ep. 184
Over the course of the last 15 years, Tom Beaty has grown Insight Sourcing Group (ISG) from a one-man operation to one of the leading procurement and sourcing consulting firms. Ranked by Inc Magazine among the fastest-growing private companies in America for the last 10 years, ISG is regularly recognized as one of the nation's best boutique consulting firms to work for. In today's episode, recorded live at the SIG Spring Summit, I start by asking Tom what he is seeing in the field today in terms...
May 07, 2018•33 min•Ep. 183
My guest on the show today is Brian Bancroft. This is Brian's second appearance on the show. We originally sat down back in episode 126, and I enjoyed the conversation so much that I have been eager to find an opportunity for us to record another pod. Brian has a wealth of experience across, and outside of the procurement function, and has enjoyed roles including as Senior Director for Indirect Procurement and Shared Services, and then CPO of Asia Pacific and Africa regions for Kellogg's, and mo...
Apr 30, 2018•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 182
Digitization is a hot topic in procurement today, and while it will undoubtedly have a big impact on the future of our profession, it is often difficult to separate the hype from the reality. There are few organizations better positioned to help me explore this topic than HfS Research – a company I have followed for a long time – and their Chief Strategy Officer, Saurabh Gupta. In today's episode, Saurabh provides a "Three Horizon" roadmap. Horizon One technologies are those that must be explore...
Apr 16, 2018•50 min•Ep. 180
I have long admired Vodafone as being a pioneer in both embracing and supporting supplier enabled innovation and last year Vodafone partnered with the government of Luxembourg to launch what I believe is an innovative approach to working with smaller, growing, companies that they named Tomorrow Street. I wanted to learn more about Vodafone's approach, and so I invited Warrick Cramer, the CEO of Tomorrow Street, and Mark Perera, the CEO of Old St Labs and a Tomorrow Street partner, to join me on ...
Apr 09, 2018•59 min•Ep. 179
Today's show comes to you straight from the SIG Spring Summit last week in Washington DC, and features Danny Ertel, the founding partner at Vantage Partners. Danny's practice focuses on helping buyers and providers of services enter into, manage, and when necessary, remediate their relationships. Danny is a lawyer by training, and prior to founding Vantage Partners, he served in a number of high profile roles including as a law clerk to Justice Blackmun on the U.S. Supreme Court and as a Senior ...
Apr 02, 2018•32 min•Ep. 178
My guest on the show today is Walt Charles, the Chief Procurement Officer at Biogen. Walt will be well known to a number of listeners – he is a long time CPO with such illustrious companies as Johnson & Johnson's Consumer Division, Kellogg's, Kraft Foods, and now at Biogen. As you will hear in the interview, Walt is very passionate about the potential power of procurement, but also believes that some of our more traditional approaches – such as the parent principle - may no longer be fit for...
Mar 26, 2018•58 min•Ep. 177
Back in September 2016, Kelly Barner and I opened the mic for 40 revolutionaries to share their thoughts on the future of procurement as part of The Procurement Revolution event. One of the conversations that we enjoyed the most was with Jack Miles, the former CPO of CIBC, AIG, Computer Associates and the Secretary of State for the Florida Department of Management Services. Our topic of conversation with Jack is just as relevant today as it was 18 months ago. We focused on the topic of mindset, ...
Mar 19, 2018•55 min•Ep. 176
I was delighted to welcome onto the show this week Jocelyn Stahl, the Director of Indirect Sourcing for The Hershey Company. The Hershey Company are on an ongoing transformation journey to build an Indirect Procurement organization that embodies the ideals of being a catalyst. In our conversation, recorded live at ProcureCon, I ask Jocelyn to share the work that she and her team are doing to create a culture that respectfully challenges the status quo while maintaining a laser focus on the needs...
Mar 12, 2018•26 min•Ep. 175
In the episode this week, I want to talk a little bit about the idea of stepping back and challenging things that we do every day, or the things that have become "generally accepted procurement thinking". I won't be seeking to suggest we are doing things wrong, or that things need to be fixed. No, my intent is to help us all, collectively, get our creative juices flowing! I kick things off by challenging three of our commonly held beliefs and strategies: supplier consolidation, high spend equals...
Mar 05, 2018•44 min•Ep. 174
I'm joined today by Jeanette Nyden. Jeanette is a well renowned contracts and negotiations specialist, who approaches her work with a focus on building win-win, sustainable, agreements. In fact, Jeanette was a co-author with Kate Vitasek and David Frydlinger of Getting to We: Negotiating Agreements for Highly Collaborative Relationships. Today's podcast is the first of a two-part series that I am recording with Jeanette that will deep dive into negotiating balanced deals. Jeanette has a fascinat...
Feb 26, 2018•52 min•Ep. 173
This week, I am joined by negotiation ninja Mark Raffan. Mark leads a negotiations training business – both for buyers and sales professionals – and recently launched his own podcast – Negotiations Ninja – which I highly recommend that you check out. We had a wide-ranging discussion on all things negotiation - from negotiation strategies and approaches, to the common pitfalls that negotiators face. What was particularly insightful was hearing how a salesperson is taught to negotiate so that we c...
Feb 19, 2018•52 min•Ep. 172
My guest is Joseph Richardson. Joseph is the President and CEO of Professional Purchasing Partners which he founded in 2014, after a long spell as a practitioner. Joseph's most recent buy-side roll was as a Head of Indirect Procurement in the Oil and Gas industry. In our discussion, we touch on a wide range of topics, from the evolution of procurement to value beyond savings, and much more. One of the points that really resonated with me is when we talked about the notion of best-in-class procur...
Feb 12, 2018•32 min•Ep. 171
My guest on the Art of Procurement this week is my friend Johan-Peter, or JP, Teppala. JP is the CEO of the US operations of Sievo, a Finland-based procurement analytics company, encompassing spend analysis, spend forecasting, savings management and contract management. The core of our conversation today focuses on how procurement can be the driver of what JP termed "radical transparency" through data. We discuss three key themes: Transparency through spend analysis Transparency through realized...
Feb 05, 2018•45 min•Ep. 170
Hitting publish on the show is a culmination of a lot of thinking and reflection as I look to continue the evolution of Art of Procurement. I reflect on where we have come from, but more importantly look to the future and the building blocks of what my team and I have termed Art of Procurement 3.0. In today's episode, I start by sharing the importance of finding your Why, and the process that I went through to articulate my own. I then explore why I believe Art of Procurement must continue to ev...
Jan 29, 2018•24 min•Ep. 169
How can we work collaboratively with our suppliers to manage and mitigate risk? That is the question I put to today's guests on the Art of Procurement, Margaret Gilbert and Anthony English. Margaret is the Director of Corporate Contracts Management, where she works with buyers and suppliers in all areas of procurement and contracting. Anthony has enjoyed a long career as an IT consultant working as a supplier inside both large and small organizations, and together they are co-authors of 'Contrac...
Jan 22, 2018•31 min•Ep. 168
