EP 38: Owning Your Strengths: The Competitive Advantage in Procurement Careers

In this episode of Procurement Pivots, we explore why owning your strengths is not simply a development exercise and how procurement professionals can use their strengths to accelerate their careers. This is a strategic advantage in your procurement career.

We often hear the advice to “know your strengths.” But many procurement professionals either underestimate what they bring, build their careers around strengths they do not enjoy using, or assume others automatically see their value.

In a competitive and evolving procurement landscape, technical competence alone is not enough. The real differentiator lies in how you bring your strengths to life, how clearly you communicate them, and whether you are intentionally building your career around them.

In this conversation, Donna and Laura explore how strengths shape confidence, influence and long-term career satisfaction. They discuss why understanding your strengths deeply matters, how overusing them can create blind spots, and how to close the gap between knowing your strengths and being known for them.

This episode shines a light on the practical and strategic role strengths play in career progression, visibility and opportunity within procurement.

In this episode we explore:

• Why strengths are foundational to career confidence
• How truly understanding your strengths creates clarity and momentum.
• The difference between being good at something and enjoying it
• Why competence alone is not enough to sustain long-term career growth.
• How strengths leave patterns across your career
• Identifying recurring themes, feedback and moments of success that reveal your true strengths.
• The visibility gap
• The difference between knowing your strengths and ensuring others recognise and value them.
• When strengths become overused
• How attention to detail, leadership, negotiation or relationship building can become liabilities under pressure.
• Gathering meaningful feedback
• Practical ways to uncover blind spots and ask the right question to understand how others see you at your best.

Takeaways

• A clearer understanding of how strengths influence career direction and progression in procurement.
• Practical tools to identify patterns and close the visibility gap.
• Encouragement to build a career around strengths you enjoy using, not just those you perform well.
• A reminder that owning your strengths is not self-promotion. It's strategic positioning.

Hosted by

Donna Bowden | Procurement Career Coach, Narrate Your Career

Laura Sellers | Executive and Leadership Coach, Coaching for Procurement

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Want to ask a question or share a topic you would like us to cover? Message us via the Procurement Pivots LinkedIn page or reach out to Donna or Laura directly.

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