The Sourcing Hero
Together, Una and Art of Procurement are excited to bring you epic stories of beating the odds and rising up in procurement. Hear from leading sourcing and supply chain professionals as they share expert insight and tales of business heroism, all in the name of creating exceptional value within procurement. Follow the team: Anthony Clervi -> https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyclervi/ Kris Lance -> https://www.linkedin.com/in/kris-lance-1b9015175/ Kelly Barner -> https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-barner-6884443/
Episodes
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
Ep 133: Fostering a Sense of Belonging feat. Michaela Payton
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
It is always hard to be the ‘new kid’ whether in a neighborhood, at the office, or across the world. Learning to fit in, and finding a place to belong is as much a journey of self-discovery as it is a pursuit of acceptance. Going on this journey, and connecting with others in the process, can enhance personal happiness as well as professional performance.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Michaela Payton. Michaela is an Indirect Senior Procurement Manager at Lidl’s U.S. National Contracts Service Center. She grew up in Germany and has spent time living in California, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Virginia (with a brief time back in Germany in between).
In this interview, Michaela shares what she has learned on her personal and professional journey about what it means to truly belong:
Learning how and where you belong each time your join a new community of any kind
The cultural aspects of communications, including adapting to the customs of each community
Why actively investing in creating a sense of belonging gives us an opportunity to deepen our empathy towards others
Links:
Michaela Payton on LinkedIn
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Ep 132: The Innovative Power of Raw Curiosity feat. Wes Davis
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
In 1918, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and naturalist writer John Burroughs took one of many long distance road trips together. The combination of their unique forms of genius, especially when viewed against the backdrop of WWI and the Influenza pandemic, makes it possible to see just how critical their curiosity was to every form of success they achieved.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Wes Davis. Wes has a Ph.D. in English Literature from Princeton University and taught at Yale for nearly a decade. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and The Nation. Wes is also the author of multiple books, one of which is the recently released ‘American Journey: On the Road with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and John Burroughs’ - and that book will be the focus of our conversation today.
In this interview, Wes talks about some of the unique characteristics of these consequential historical figures and sheds light on how we can learn from their mindset today:
Why the ability of Ford and Edison to thrive in the industrial and natural worlds was part of their collective genius
How unique and changeable the social and business landscape was in the early 20th century
Whether Ford, Firestone, and Edison were, in fact, Sourcing Heroes in their own right
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Ep 131: Walking the Walk to Embrace Generative AI feat. Kevin Frechette
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Generative AI like ChatGPT has taken the world by storm. Imaginations have been seized, and people have responded with every emotion from excitement to fear to confusion. But procurement has seen the world respond to new technology like this before - remember Blockchain? Will this time be different?
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Kevin Frechette. Kevin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Fairmarkit. One of the things he focuses on in his conversations with procurement professionals and teams is understanding how procurement can be transformed using data, automation, analytics, AI, and machine learning.
In this interview, Kevin shares what he is seeing and hearing as procurement works to figure out how to create value with the help of generative AI:
Whether generative AI will keep its prominent position in the tech landscape or fade back into the background
How companies should discuss the inclusion of AI in their products, lead with AI’s instant cool factor or leading with user experience
Concerns from information security teams and how that may affect procurement’s current adoption trajectory
Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
Ep 130: Building and Understanding Trust feat. Kris Lance
Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
New research from MIT shows that trusting employees are 260% more motivated to work, have 41% lower rates of absenteeism, and are 50% less likely to look for another job. But… one in four workers do not trust their employer. Trust is the easiest thing in the world to lose and the hardest to get back - and it plays an important role in every type of relationship.
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 discuss the trust from a number of perspectives:
Why an employee might (or might not) trust their employer
What the most trusted brands in America have in common in 2023
How to foster trust in supplier relationships through shared cultural values
Links:
Kris Lance on LinkedIn
Episode 125: When Implanted Neuro Chips Are Top of Mind with Kris Lance
Episode 121: Agriculture as a Political Hot Topic with Kris Lance
Episode 117: Title 42 Comes to an End with Kris Lance
Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
Ep 129: Transforming the Digital Customer Experience feat. Jay Dettling
Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
All companies (and procurement organizations for that matter) have a customer experience. Investing in frictionless processes, digital technologies, and value delivery is critical - but before any of that happens, it is essential to get to know the customer better, to understand what they want and what they need.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Jay Dettling. Jay is the CEO of Hero Digital, a customer experience company. His background is in building and growing companies by bringing transformation and partnerships to the forefront.
In this interview, Jay talks about the importance of customer experience to a company’s customer acquisition and retention:
What he means when he talks about the fast-growing practice are of customer experience management
How we can better understand the human needs of our customers
Ways that a customer experience can contribute to (or detract from) a company’s competitive differentiators
His advice for organizations that want to understand the customer experience they are currently offering and find ways to improve it
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Ep 128: Large Sports & Entertainment Venue Services Procurement feat. Matt Mehler
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Most of us have attended a concert or sporting event at a large venue at some point in our lives. Maybe you saw a hockey game, or a Billy Joel Concert, or a comedian. Regardless, you probably didn’t stop to think about the procurement effort required to bring that event to life and create an exceptional audience experience.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Matt Mehler. Matt is a procurement professional with 20 years of experience in some pretty unique categories of spend and service locations. He specializes in managing services at large venues such as Madison Square Garden in New York City.
In this interview, Matt talks about the unique service requirements of large sports and entertainment venues:
How sourcing services for a large facility like Madison Square Garden is different than sourcing for hundreds of distributed locations
The categories of services that are unique to large venues and the relationships he built with those providers
How services spend offers a key opportunity for companies to hit their supplier diversity and sustainability targets
Wednesday Aug 09, 2023
Ep 127: Be a Business Silo Solver feat. Danelle M. Brown
Wednesday Aug 09, 2023
Wednesday Aug 09, 2023
It takes a wide range of skills, experiences, and backgrounds to put a company in a leadership position, and yet most professionals feel most comfortable talking to their peers - people from the same function who share their perspectives, motivations and language. If we can keep our minds open to new ideas and possibilities, however, there is no limit to what we can achieve.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Danelle M. Brown. Danelle has over two decades worth of experience in design and sustainability, a combination that is highly effective in today’s business climate. Perhaps more interestingly, her graduate degree is in the history of STEM, a specialized program that combined science and technology with liberal arts and the humanities.
In this interview, Danelle brings together a wide range of topics and teachings to illustrate:
The importance of “silo solving”
Why procurement and supply chain professionals may not have to decode the whole alphabet of sustainability frameworks to have a positive impact
How much it is possible to achieve through continued learning and development
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Ep 126: Making Procurement Research Actionable feat. Denis Wolowiecki
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
According to CAPS Research, two thirds of Chief Procurement Officers and Chief Supply Chain Officers - the top spend management executive in a company - sit two levels below the CEO. This limits procurement’s potential impact, but it also prevents companies from realizing a key source of competitive advantage.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Denis Wolowiecki. Denis is the Executive Managing Director at CAPS Research. CAPS stands for Center for Advanced Procurement Strategy and is a B2B nonprofit research center affiliated with both Arizona State University and ISM – the Institute for Supply Management.
In this interview, Denis talks about the role that research and collaboration plan in the continued evolution of procurement:
What most procurement executives and teams need from today’s research programs
Why a mastery of procurement fundamentals could not be more critical to success
The greatest challenges procurement organizations face when they attempt to shake off legacy ways of doing things
Gaps that exist between the public-facing PR efforts around ESG programs and the inward facing execution effort