The Sourcing Hero

Ep 57: Turning Ideas Into Reality Through Procurement feat. Magda Theodate

Although most people accept that innovation is a good thing, we likely think about what it means very differently. Some of us hear a silent “digital” before the term, even though there are sources of innovation that extend far beyond the world of technology. In other cases, innovation just feels like change - and that may or may not be a pleasant experience. But, as this week’s guest tells us, it is not procurement’s job to accept the status quo.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Magda Theodate. Magda passed the Bar and became a lawyer before starting a career in procurement. Then she combined both capabilities by working first as a procurement legal consultant at the World Bank’s Africa Region, then as a procurement officer in its General Services Department. She went on to have quite an international career and has continued to specialize in public sector procurement, focusing on the importance of essential governance for developing nations.
In this conversation, Magda speaks frankly about innovation, both from a global perspective and from the perspective of professionals in procurement:
Why global procurement professionals might see the government as an essential player in digital innovation even if North Americans do not
Whether procurement knows what innovation is / looks like / means
How we can prepare ourselves to be ready for what real innovation entails
How our perspective on risk might hold us back from innovating
The skill sets, experiences, or dispositions best position someone to lead innovation

Ep 56: Collaborating with IT to Support the Business feat. Barry Rogers

For procurement, the effort to win over the business is a continual effort - one that is unlikely to ever be complete. And now that eCommerce and app-based home technologies have been broadly embraced, every distributed buyer in the enterprise thinks of themselves as an expert in IT and procurement. Is it possible for procurement to suggest otherwise without complicating those relationships?
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Barry Rogers. Barry is the Senior Manager of Strategic Sourcing and Procurement at New Relic, Inc., and his experience with IT procurement runs deep. He has worked for tech companies and around technology spend and suppliers for years - developing a valuable point of view.
In this conversation, Barry talks about how the business perceives procurement through the lens of their personal consumer experiences:
The expectation/alignment challenges created between procurement and the business because technology is so ‘easy’ to buy
How risk and compliance with data regulations enter into his work in the IT category
Ways in which procurement can partner with the business to improve the results of their planning process

Ep 55: Applying Procurement Where the Business Happens feat. Jeff Bever

Rather than just focusing on that old ‘seat at the table’ longing, today’s procurement professionals have a range of options for where to direct their skills and energy. Whether it is having the right conversations with the right people in the business, or leveraging their ability to solve problems collaboratively while applying time-tested category expertise, there is no substitute for truly capable people. 
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Jeff Bever. Jeff is the Senior Director of Strategic Sourcing and Procurement at Mars. He has over 20 years’ experience working as a transformational senior procurement executive across multiple industries. Most impressive is that he has managed to lead forward progress on efficiency, cost, and quality while also building an empowered team of people that are inspired and motivated by each other and the work that they do.
In this conversation, Jeff leans on his incredibly diverse procurement background to provide inspiration for how procurement can continue to drive individual and team evolution:
What procurement needs to change about their mindset if they want to better align their work with overarching enterprise priorities
The importance of having the right conversations with the right people to drive desired outcomes
How the approach to building and developing talent has to change to enable the current stage of procurement’s evolution

Ep 54: Building the Infrastructure Required for Success: Training, Tools, and Techniques feat. Martin Stevenson

When choosing strategies and tactics, one of the most important things to keep in mind is the end goal - in fact, this week’s guest advocates always starting with the end in mind. That ensures that a technique is never applied for its own sake, but rather for the outcomes it will deliver for the business or public agency.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Martin Stevenson. Martin is the very recently retired Enterprise Project and Procurement Manager for the California Department of Water Resources. Although he didn’t finish his career in procurement, he spent many decades there with State Control Agencies (DGS and CDT) and Engineering-based agencies (Caltrans and DWR). Martin has multiple procurement and project certifications - including Certified Public Procurement Officer, NIGP Certified Procurement Professional, ISM Certified Purchasing Manager, ISM Certified Professional in Supply Management, and Project Management Professional. 
In this conversation, Martin shares his point of view about how procurement professionals can be set up for success with the right training, tools, and techniques:
Where procurement professionals can turn for information and support If they want to develop themselves by developing their skills 
Why it is important to emphasize techniques rather than processes - and which techniques he thinks are most effective
How to ensure the technique procurement chooses is the right one for the situation
Why procurement needs to be exposed to many different ideas and concepts

Ep 53: Accessing Data Insights for Your Technology Spend feat. Victor Hou

Nearly everything in the modern enterprise is dependent upon technology. And as distributed buyers are empowered to sign up for their own subscriptions and services, the resulting landscape is complicated, much larger than anyone realizes, and rife with risk. 
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Victor Hou. Victor is a Managing Partner at Varisource, a data insight platform focused on technology spend. He has worked in and around enterprise IT services for years, and these days he is focused on helping procurement teams digitize their technology contracts, inventory, supplier performance, and spend into a single centralized dashboard so they can optimize their spend and supplier relationships.
In this conversation, Victor brings clarity to a category of spend that has been growing fast over the last few years, and shares his perspective on how procurement can take action to create more value:
When does a lack of transparency into IT spend and provider relationships create the greatest issues for procurement? 
What ‘shadow IT’ means and how it can elevate risk for the company 
How procurement can benchmark our current suppliers to ensure competitive deals with the right cost structure and performance incentives

Ep 52: Looking Towards the Dawn of TaaS: Travel as a Strategy feat. Scott Gillespie

All of us have watched different industry sectors with a kind of shock over the last two years, and business travel is one of them. For many procurement teams, travel spend is part of their scope of responsibilities, and the challenges associated with ensuring traveler safety and comfort while also managing costs and risk have been significant - but perhaps this is an inflection point suggesting that it is time to think about business travel in an entirely new way.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Scott Gillespie. Scott has been THE thought provoking advisor and innovator for the business travel industry for the last 25 years. He has pioneered concepts such as Total Cost of Travel and traveler friction, and was A. T. Kearney’s global expert on travel sourcing as far back as the 1990’s. Despite the challenges facing the travel industry today, Scott is a champion of goal-based travel management, justifiable travel, and eradicating traveler friction - not to mention the author of "Gillespie's Guide to Travel Innovation."
In this conversation, Scott shares his point of view on how business travel has changed and whether those changes will be temporary or long lasting:
How COVID-19 has shifted the objectives of business travel, and how executive leaders may be reexamining their “use of travel” as a result
Advice for companies revisiting their business travel policies and strategies
The metrics that will be most appropriate for measuring the ROI and business impact of travel going forward (Hint: the list doesn’t include savings…)

Ep 51: What’s the Trouble with the Food Supply Chain? feat. Barry Friends

For the last 2 years, supply chains have rarely not been front page news. And of all the supply chains, the food supply chain has been watched most closely. From labor shortages, to outbreaks at meat packing plants, and even the short-lived cream cheese panic of 2021, consumers now have a heightened awareness of the processes and companies required to stock grocery store shelves and restaurant storerooms.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Barry Friends. Barry is a food industry strategy professional with a background in distribution. In fact, in preparing for this interview, Barry and I figured out that we briefly overlapped at the same company in the early 2000s: Ahold USA, a large grocery retailer - and at the time commercial food service provider. Today he is a Partner and Foodservice Distribution Consultant at Pentallect. 
In this conversation, Barry Gives us a detailed understanding of what’s really going on in the food supply chain, when it started, and what changes we may need to make moving forward:
Whether COVID-19 is really the source of the disruption we see in today’s food supply chains
Why procurement professionals should be paying more attention to changes in others’ demand instead of just watching our own supply chains
The many reasons that suppliers are raising their prices - and if there is anything we can do about it

Ep 50: Being Intentional: Think, Plan, and Take Action feat. Helen Mackenzie

Procurement plays a unique role as ‘bridge’ in a company between establishing or abiding by financial controls and bringing creative solutions. Rather than being two separate ways of bringing spend under management - the logical and the creative - process discipline can actually form a solid foundation that procurement can layer creative work and ideas on top of.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Helen Mackenzie. Helen has been a friend for a long time, but in 2021 she officially became a member of the Art of Procurement team! With a background in procurement strategy and public procurement policy development, she brings a unique perspective - and a high degree of enthusiasm - to the field of procurement.
In this conversation, Helen explains what it means to be intentional about work, and how that differs from other approaches:
How is being intentional different than following a plan, getting work done, or being opportunistic?
What are the types of challenges and obstacles that arise when taking an intentional approach?
What do successful outcomes look like, including examples from real-life procurement projects Helen led with an intentional approach.