The Sourcing Hero

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

Ep 104: Leveraging the Power of a Procurement Task Force feat. Harold Hendrickx

With the last few years being as unpredictable as they have been, procurement has experienced a number of mindset shifts - all of which have increased our agility and resilience. In fact, procurement has undergone so many changes that comparisons to the approaches and team models seen in military settings are not out of line. 
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Harold Hendrickx. Harold is a fractional CPO and the founder of TransExecutive, a company that deploys the Procurement Task Force model to help procurement teams enable, optimize, transform, and rapidly deliver value. He spent 20 years as a senior officer in the Royal Netherlands Air Force and NATO, where he experienced many of the frameworks and models he now applies to procurement.
In this conversation, Harold makes a number of connections between his military experience and what is required of procurement teams:
How procurement leaders can purposefully bring together different people and skills while still fostering trust and cooperation
The investment that must be made in leadership if the associated team is to achieve their objective
His recommendations for procurement leaders and teams who find themselves in unpredictable situations

Ep 103: Seeing Opportunity Through an Executive Lens feat. Jeff Davis

Everyone wants to know what the CEO is thinking. What keeps CEOs up at night? How do they hear the messages being shared with them by different functional leaders and the market at large? This all varies by CEO and is likely to be influenced by their functional background experience, general outlook on macro conditions, and relationships with other C-level leaders.
 
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Jeff Davis. Jeff is the Owner of Bridgestone Holdings, a real estate and property management company with a focus on multifamily apartments - 2,000 doors and counting! Jeff also has experience in global supply chain management, inflation-related disruptions, and changes in consumer demand.
   
In this conversation, Jeff helps us think through how CEOs see the world and why it is so important for supply chain leaders. He considers:
Some of the unique ways that supply chain professionals approach business challenges and decisions
How that compares to (or contrasts with) how other C-Level executives view the world
Whether most CEOs are ‘glass is half full,’ ‘glass is half empty,’ or somewhere in between - and what happens when the CEO is wrong???