The Sourcing Hero

Ep 163: Keeping Up with Changing Workforce Opportunities feat. Mika Cross

While most people hungered for a return to ‘normal’ after the pandemic shut downs, many of the workforce trends that companies experimented with offer lasting lessons and value. From flexible work schedules to innovative sources of talent, the opportunities for hiring managers and prospective employees are as diverse as the roles that need to be filled.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Mika Cross. Mika is a U.S. Army Veteran and a workforce futurist. She was focused on distributed team workforce requirements two decades before the world went home to work in 2020 - in the aftermath of 9/11 - and continues to follow the associated trends today.
In this interview, Mika shares her expertise at the intersection of workforce requirements, distributed talent, and company culture:
Some of the ‘diverse’ categories of people that employers might want to know more about and include in their workforce
The lurking danger of ‘good intentions.’
How taking an expanded view of talent sources and work arrangements can help employers, individuals, and communities
Considerations around company culture that managers should be aware of as the shape and style of their workforce changes
Links:
Mika Cross on LinkedIn

Ep 162: Remembering the Port of Baltimore feat. Kris Lance

At 1:30 am on March 26th, the container ship Dali struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge and sent it falling into the Patapsco River. Six members of a construction crew lost their lives and the port of Baltimore has been partially closed since. 
Dueling investigations are underway, with the FBI working to determine whether any federal laws were broken and the NTSB looking to reconstruct the accident and learn from it. The ship is still in place, with the bridge on its bow and the crew onboard, and The Army Corps of Engineers hopes to have the port of Baltimore fully open by late May.
How is this tragic situation affecting each of us - all of us?
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 month’s discussion, Kris and Kelly talk about the varied responses to the bridge collapse and what we can take away from the situation as a whole: 
Whether the legal steps taken by the ship’s owner and management company are examples of the actions that give big business a bad name
How humans tend to respond to the fast dissemination of news and the updates that follow
Why some people may have lost their way based on their focus in the aftermath of the collapse
Links:
Kris Lance on LinkedIn
Subscribe to “The Sidekick”
Episode 158: All Eyes Should Remain on the Red Sea with Kris Lance
Episode 154: The Sourcing Hero Gets a Sidekick with Kris Lance
Episode 150: 2024: The Year of the Dragon? with Kris Lance
Episode 145: Looking Back and Looking Ahead with Kris Lance

Ep 161: The Truth About Procurement Transformation feat. Nataša Cikač

Recognizing the need for procurement transformation sometimes comes from within procurement, and in other cases it is driven by management-level goals and expectations. Regardless of where the idea for transformation begins, few stones in the organization will be left unturned by the time it is over.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Nataša Cikač. Nataša is the CEO of Cronata, a Croatia-based company that provides procurement transformation support and coaching.
In this interview, Nataša shares her perspective on effective procurement transformation - including a story or two:
Some of the things that might cause a management team to start thinking about procurement transformation
Why it is so important to document expectations before the transformation project gets underway
The power of recognizing and articulating the ‘why’ for the change in addition to the need for change
Links:
Nataša Cikač on LinkedIn

Ep 160: Leadership Advice from the Battlefield to the Boardroom feat. Tom Williams

Few environments require leadership in higher concentration than the military. And yet the development of leadership skills is still a highly personal journey - where each individual has to find their own style and improve it over time through training, observation, and repetition.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Tom Williams. Tom enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2013 as an Airborne Intelligence Analyst. He has served in locations from the Middle East to the Arctic, displaying exceptional dedication and forming his own unique philosophy on leadership.
In this interview, Tom shares the lessons he has learned about leadership while serving as a member of the U.S. Army:
How to be recognized as a high-performance contributor
Some of the core things good leaders do that make them memorable
How people can train themselves to become better leaders
Links:
War Forged Leadership

Ep 159: All Travel is Personal feat. J. Grant Caplan

It goes without saying that travel has changed since the pandemic - although not in the way most of us might assume. There have certainly been adjustments to logistics and expectations, but, most of all, companies are doing a better job of recognizing the wellness considerations intertwined with business travel, and finding purposeful ways to accommodate their travelers without onerous increases to the budget
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes J. Grant Caplan. Grant is the President of Procurigence, a managed travel consulting and conference resource firm specializing in optimizing spend. He is a relationship driven professional who finds a natural fit in a role that requires calm heads and an emphasis on hospitality.
In this interview, Grant shares his extensive experience as a managed travel consultant and active road warrior:
A brief ‘state of the state’ of business travel
How the role of internal travel manager changed along with corporate perspective on the best use of travel
Why travel policy is just as important as planning and logistics
How meetings spend is unique from overall travel
Links:
Grant Caplan on LinkedIn

Ep 158: All Eyes Should Remain on the Red Sea feat. Kris Lance

Human nature has a way of becoming numb to that which we absorb as part of the status quo. Sadly, this doesn’t just pertain to the weather; it also applies to human suffering and warfare, especially if it is far away. Today this applies in the form of the Red Sea attacks that continue,  and which have escalated, turning global supply chains into a literal battlefield.
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 month’s discussion, Kris and Kelly talk about how continued instability in the Red Sea will affect us, and our supply chains, close to home: 
Why challenges in the Suez and Panama canals serve as proof that all people and businesses need a “Plan C”
How it should change our perspective on the Red Sea as a geopolitical hotzone to know that ships are being sunk and people are losing their lives
Why we may all be about to get the call to stand up and serve as Sourcing Heroes
Links:
Kris Lance on LinkedIn
Subscribe to “The Sidekick”
Episode 154: The Sourcing Hero Gets a Sidekick with Kris Lance
Episode 150: 2024: The Year of the Dragon? with Kris Lance
Episode 145: Looking Back and Looking Ahead with Kris Lance
Episode 142: 2023 Listener Favorites with Kris Lance

Ep 157: Telling a Compelling Procurement Story feat. Alex Ball

Marketing requires a combination of data and storytelling to motivate people to take a desired action, whether that is making a purchase, supporting a cause, or providing their email address. Procurement can leverage a marketing-esque combination of information and storytelling to build consensus, increase influence, and even control the narrative when plans go awry. 
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Alex Ball. Alex has spent most of his career in marketing and demand generation, helping companies connect with and engage their target personas. He has also had the opportunity to work with procurement and has seen some ways that his marketing knowledge can be applied inside of companies to increase procurement’s influence. 
In this interview, Alex applies his experience in marketing to some of the most common situations and challenges faced by procurement:
Sharing information beyond the numbers to better represent procurement’s true impact
Winning over skeptics and new team members to the advantages of working with procurement
Adding healthy self-promotion of procurement’s internal messaging without coming across as arrogant or boastful
 
Links:
Alex Ball on LinkedIn

Ep 156: Accelerating the Data Feedback Loop feat. Emilie Schario

In 1748, Benjamin Franklin wrote “Time is money.” All of the changes and advancements we have seen in nearly 300 years have not managed to render that advice obsolete. Certainly, time has inherent value (whether measured in dollars or otherwise), but time can also cost money - through delays, misalignment, and poor decision making.
 
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Emilie Schario. Emilie is the Founder and CEO of Turbine. A data engineer by training, she is now applying her skills to the supply chain space. Emilie has seen the difference that shortening the data feedback cycle can make, whether in marketing or inventory management. 
 
In this interview, Emilie illustrates some of the ways that time continues to be money for today’s businesses, and how speeding up data can be a source of savings and value:
Why typical business processes can lead to information delays of almost 2 months
What accelerating the data feedback loop allows decision makers to do
One of the top things that surprises most companies about their own spend
Links:
Emilie Schario on LinkedIn