The Sourcing Hero

Ep 112: Tough Times Don’t Last But Tough People Do feat. Kris Lance

The costs of poor physical and mental health are all around us. Despite having the highest per capita spending on health care in the industrialized world AND the highest health care spending as a percentage of GDP, the United States has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the highest maternal and infant mortality, and the highest death rate from COVID-19. According to Gallup, “Nearly one-fifth of U.S. workers (19%) rate their mental health as fair or poor.” 
 
This is a crisis that affects us all.
 
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes back Kris Lance, Senior Director at Una, for a recurring monthly conversation about current news stories. Kris has experience in multiple industries and has his finger on the pulse of the trends and topics that procurement, sourcing, and supply chain professionals need to be aware of.
  
In this conversation, Kris and Kelly share their thoughts about the importance of physical and mental wellbeing:
How our physical health can cross over and impact our mental and emotional wellbeing - and vice versa
The role that stress management plays in each person’s ability to be successful at work 
Common sense practices that may improve physical and/or mental health (listeners won’t believe Kris’ second piece of advice!)

Ep 111: Taking Intelligent Risks feat. Mark Trowbridge

We’ve all been mired in years of paralyzing risk and disruption… but could risk taking be just what this moment calls for? Yes - as long as the risks are ‘intelligent risks.’ 
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Mark Trowbridge. Mark is an experienced procurement leader with a broad area of focus including sourcing, supply management, contracts management, supplier relationship management, risk management, and inventory management. He is also a published author and speaker whose business travels have taken him throughout North America, Europe, Asia, Malaysia, and the Middle East. 
In this interview, Mark explains what ‘intelligent risks’ are and how procurement can prepare themselves to take them:
The important role that data, insight, and research play in procurement’s ability to decide if risks are intelligent or not
How procurement’s relationships with suppliers can either allow them to or prevent them from taking intelligent risks
The culture of accountability and continuous learning that has to exist for intelligent risk taking to thrive

Ep 110: Telling a Business Story Beyond the Numbers feat. Christian Frantz Hansen

Procurement has been working to build stronger, more partnership-based relationships inside the business, and yet we still struggle to maintain trust. Fortunately, we are not alone on this journey… other functions, finance in particular, struggle with the same.
 
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner is joined by Christian Frantz Hansen. Christian works at the Business Partnering Institute, where he helps clients (most of whom are in finance) improve the strength of their business relationships. Procurement listeners will be pleasantly surprised at how many things procurement and finance have in common.
   
In this conversation, Christian talks about everything from mindset to ‘positive surprises:’:
Why it is so hard for different functional teams (like finance, procurement, HR, etc) to work collaboratively
What an effective internal business partnership looks like
Whether it is possible to hold people accountable and also earn (and keep) their trust
How to make sure we present information in the best possible way to each unique audience

Ep 109: Delivering Exceptional Value Through Business Relationships feat. Heather Fotch

When someone asks you to define ‘trust,’ what comes to mind? Words like safety, confidence, and dependability are likely to rise in your thoughts. Trust in business is based on the same empathetic human principles as it is in our personal lives, and yet building close relationships in a professional capacity remains a challenge for many people in different functional roles.
 
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Heather Fotch, a.k.a. The Toner Queen. As the Founder and CEO at Quality Imaging Solutions, you may know Heather for providing a concierge approach to indirect spend reduction and cost avoidance on printer toner cartridge supplies, consumables, and hardware… or you may simply recognize her well-crafted professional brand. Either way, Heather stands out.
 
In this interview, Heather discusses what she has learned about getting stakeholder buy-in from her years of experience working with procurement in a sales role:
The challenges that procurement and sales professionals (surprisingly) have in common
How to build close working relationships without sacrificing authenticity or being overly aggressive
What a solution-oriented collaborative approach looks like
Whether ‘exceptional civility’ is an approach that procurement professionals should learn more about

Ep 108: Considering the Transparency and Control of Digital Currency feat. Kris Lance

The banking system has been in the news quite a bit recently, and not for good reasons. Everyone has learned a lot about the liquidity and transactions that make the financial system - and our economy - work. Two initiatives that have received far less coverage are FedNow and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), both of which raise important questions about the role of regulation in banking and payments.
 
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes back Kris Lance, Senior Director at Una, for a recurring monthly conversation about current news stories. Kris has experience in multiple industries and has his finger on the pulse of the trends and topics that procurement, sourcing, and supply chain professionals need to be aware of.
  
In this interview, Kris and Kelly discuss FedNow and CBDCs and ask some of the big questions that don't yet seem to have answers:
Whether the federal government is working with or ‘against’ large banks in rolling out instant digital payment capabilities
The ‘retail option’ which would allow individual consumers and small businesses to bank directly with the government 
How transparency can lead to increased control, sometimes good and sometimes not

Ep 107: Pursuing Your Full Potential With Gratitude feat. David Meltzer

How connected do you feel to the people around you? What about yourself - when was the last time you paused to think about which philosophical choices are good and which are bad? 
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner is joined by David Meltzer. David is the Co-Founder of Sports 1 Marketing, a consultant and business coach, keynote speaker, and a three-time best-selling author. His mission is to “make a lot of money, help a lot of people, and have a lot of fun…” so it may not come as a surprise to learn that he was the CEO of the Leigh Steinberg Sports & Entertainment agency - the inspiration for the movie Jerry Maguire.
In this conversation, David talks about his vision for success and fulfillment and how it can make a difference in people’s lives:
Why gratitude, empathy, accountability, and effective communication— are the four principles he uses to communicate and mentor others
Which of the four is the hardest for most people to abide by consistently
How each of us can be a hero to those we come into contact with

Ep 106: The Power of Procurement for Small Business feat. Chandhrika Venkataraman

Most procurement professionals work for organizations that predate their decision to join the company. Starting procurement from scratch in a small or mid-sized business is a unique journey, with many decisions that need to be made about when and how, and with many potential answers to the question, “Why?’
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Chandhrika Venkataraman. Chandhrika is the Founder of Source Refresh, LLC, a boutique consultancy that creates data-backed sourcing models for SMEs, startups, minority-owned businesses, and nonprofits. She is also the host of her own podcast, the Source Refresh podcast. 
In this interview, Chandhrika shares her honest - and in some cases controversial - thoughts based on her experience working with small business:
When in a company’s growth journey they should consider putting formal procurement in place
What part of the procurement process should they start with 
How procurement organizations in small companies should decide who their strategic suppliers are

Ep 105: Mining the Gaps for Strategic Supply Chain Value feat. Steve Clarke

The simplest solution to a problem is most likely the best one. Cutting through the noise to find root causes can be challenging, however, especially when there seems to be an overly complicated digital answer to every business question. 
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Steve Clarke. Steve is the Founder of BioSupply Consulting and the author of “Mine The Gaps,” a new book based on a framework he developed to help supply chain organizations achieve their strategic objectives with the least amount of effort and cost in the shortest amount of time.   
In this conversation, Steve shares stories where simple solutions were able to be applied because talented team members stayed focused on their strategic objectives:
The types of data procurement and supply chain professionals should prioritize so that they can deliver quick wins
What it means to call out “metrics that make people do dumb things” and the consequences of not identifying them in time
How decision makers can avoid wasting lots of money on technology they are not prepared to benefit from