The Sourcing Hero

Ep 131: Walking the Walk to Embrace Generative AI feat. Kevin Frechette

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

Ep 130: Building and Understanding Trust feat. Kris Lance

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

Ep 129: Transforming the Digital Customer Experience feat. Jay Dettling

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

Ep 128: Large Sports & Entertainment Venue Services Procurement feat. Matt Mehler

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

Ep 127: Be a Business Silo Solver feat. Danelle M. Brown

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

Ep 126: Making Procurement Research Actionable feat. Denis Wolowiecki

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

Ep 125: When Implanted Neuro Chips Are Top of Mind feat. Kris Lance

Elon musk is the founder of Tesla and SpaceX and the owner of Twitter. He is as eccentric as he is wealthy. He also happens to be one of the founders of Neuralink, a neurotechnology company that recently received FDA approval to implant chips into human brains. The stated use case is restoring autonomy to people with physical impairments, but the potential applications are as broad as the ethical questions raised by this new capability.
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 multiple levels of concerns and considerations associated with such a groundbreaking technology:
How an individual’s risk tolerance plays into the decision to participate in medical innovation
The possibility of regulation should such a treatment be approved for widespread use
The importance of courage - whether in pursuit of a daring goal or in allowing for differences of opinion

Ep 124: The Latest Trends in Contingent Workforce Management feat. Julia Braun

Contingent workforce is certainly not a new category of spend for procurement to manage, but it is a category that has gone through substantial changes over the last few years. Every major trend in talent, from The Great Resignation to layoffs and hiring freezes to quiet quitting, affects how companies balance and blend their sources of talent.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Julia Braun. Julia has over 25 years of experience across all indirect spend categories, managed and outsourced services, with a focus on negotiations for software, cloud services, and professional services. Today she is the Director of Enterprise Procurement for Highspot.
In this interview, Julia shares her perspective on the macro trends, best practices, and tech advancements that are affecting contingent workforce management:
How the category is being affected by larger labor trends like hiring freezes and layoffs
Whether managing this spend is an opportunity to bring procurement into closer collaboration with Human Resources
How contingent workforce allows procurement to advance multiple DEI initiatives
The prevailing trends around tech in the sourcing and management of contingent workforce spend