From Poet to Procurement Value Alchemist: Building a Career Through Curiosity, Connection, and the Power of "Why Not?"

In this episode, host Stacy Joslin speaks with Alessandra “Alex” Tassini-Negri a Procurement Global Executive. Together, they explore the unconventional paths, unexpected opportunities, and defining moments that shape successful procurement careers and drive lasting procurement value. The discussion examines the value of challenging assumptions and staying open to opportunities beyond the original plan. Alex’s story is a powerful reminder that meaningful careers rarely follow a straight line. Instead, they are often shaped by curiosity, courage, and a willingness to ask, “why not?”

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Welcome to Procurability's Procurement Pathways. A journey into the dynamic world of procurement, told through the voices of its most trusted leaders. Here, every story, every lesson, and every hard-won insight reveals how personal passion fuels professional impact, and how those moments, taken together, shape the future of our field. Today's guest is procurement value alchemist Alessandra Tossini-Negri. Hello, Alex. Welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Thank you so much, Stacey.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

So excited to be here. I really appreciate you doing this. And like I just said before we started recording, it's so nice to make a new friend, and especially a friend that I feel like I've known for a long time. I don't know why, but it just feels like we've known each other for a while.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

You know what? I think the best conversations are the ones where you don't have to force it. And I think that's what we have, is we just started talking off the bat, and it just seemed to flow nicely. So let's do this thing. I cannot wait to get into the meat of it.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Well, let's start by learning a little bit about you. Tell us a little bit about you, and then I have a special request for a background story after that. And I think you know what it is, but give us a little bit of Alex.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

All right. No, that sounds great. So I am a Brasia Italicana. So I like to say that because it's the truth. You know, I'm Brazilian, I'm Italian, you know, I was born in the US of A. We've got soccer going on right now. I might as well just say that. You know, FIFA's in blue swimming. So, yep. So I'm rooting from all three. And unfortunately for me, Italy didn't make it. But um, in terms of my background career-wise, I've been I've been in this industry, in some facet of procurement from life cycle all the way through until the end game, since, oh my gosh, I'm gonna say over 25 years. And I absolutely love it across multiple different industries, obviously, right? I've been in telecom, I've been in gaming, I've been in manufacturing, I've been in steel. How crazy is that? I actually was in steel. Um I've been in steel, I've been in financial services, and I'm so excited to be able to actually talk about a little bit of what that entails and the journey itself, but an industry and a function that I absolutely love. And I wouldn't change one single aspect of it, not one.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

And that is an impressive statement given what I'm gonna ask you next. Oh, okay. In this podcast, I always ask how people got into the function. And in pretty much every case, yeah, no, in actually every case thus far, nobody has meant to be in procurement when they were in college. It's they we've all just kind of fallen into it in one way, shape, or form or another. Please tell us your story. I love this story.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

You know, it it's insane when you think about it, right? So my intention was actually to go into publishing and editing because I graduated in English writing poetry.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

So that's what I thought I was gonna do. And as I sit here and I think about how things evolved, it was a very, very different result, obviously. So going back to way back when, thinking about what the market was like, how difficult it was to get a job and so forth. Graduating from college, I kind of stopped and I said, okay, how do I do this in a way that I bring as much attention to my resume as much as possible as an individual? And I don't get overshadowed by the fact that I'm a female because my name, my full name is Alessandra Jayasita Sini Negri. So think about that for a second. I'm a female and I'm ethnic, right? So it was a little bit of a different world for sure. So thinking about that, I kind of said to myself, I'm gonna change my name. I'm gonna use something that people will not know what it is. So I don't, I don't know if it's a female or a male that I'm interacting with. So the first thing I did was I changed my name on my resume. And I said, Alex, instead, because I knew that would be an easy way. And so I'm like, okay, let's play this game, let's try and see what happens there. So it was a little bit of experimentation. And then I remember looking in the New York Times, and I'm looking for publishing and editing companies and so forth, and I found one and I put my finger on the New York Times. I had my resume on the right-hand side, along with a fax machine, and it was in the fax machine. And the moment I turned, I kid you not, my finger slipped. My finger slipped, and I know that sounds insane, but it did, I wasn't paying attention. I was more in tune with the fact that I needed to remember the phone, the fax number associated, right, than where my finger was. So when I turned around, I didn't look at the name because my finger was covering it. So all I saw was the fax number, and I typed in the fax number and I let my resume go. And the next morning I get a phone call and it's from a company called Allied Steel. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, wait, how did this happen? Like, I don't understand. Like, who who are these people? And at the same time, my creative brain's going, Why not? They called. I just want to hear someone's voice. I want to talk to someone, I want to get a job. Right? So my why not led to a full conversation, which actually included a few moments of, wait, you're female. And I remember saying to myself, Yes, I am, yes, is this a problem? And I remember getting on the phone with the president of the company, and he had the same exact reaction, wait, but you're female, Alex Tassinianek, you're a female. And I was, and I said to him, I said, Yes, absolutely. And I'm standing in my kitchen and my husband's in the kitchen with me. And I said, if you hold down one second, I'll verify that for you. And I literally took the phone away from myself. I looked head to toe. I came back and I said, I'm a female. Is that an issue for you? And the gentleman on the phone said, No, no, that's not what I meant. And I remember saying to myself, Oh, yes, you did. But that's okay. And he said, Can you come in and speak to me? And that led to a conversation in the room with the president and the vice president. And they turned around and they said to me, Take the corner office and do every discipline. And then you tell us which one you like. And my creative brain went ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Oh my God, I get to try everything. I'm like, this is the best scenario ever. And I figured out very, very quickly that I like marketing because it's got that little feel, you know, that you need to connect to people and make sure that the conversations are flowing and so forth. But the biggest thing I enjoyed when they asked me, I said, I love spending your money. I I literally just said that. I said there's something in me that loves negotiating it, buying it. And it was buying steel, right? Buying steel plate, buying aluminum, buying those things, brass. Like it was just such an amazing moment for me to realize that that's what makes my heart sing. That combination of a little marketing and a lot of buying. And that was my introduction into procurement. It was just me being open enough to say, why not? Why not? Okay, it wasn't what I thought it was gonna be. It wasn't what I intended to be doing, but something drove me in this direction and I was willing to just take that shot. And twenty five years later, here I am. Still doing some facet of procurement, right? And it's overall, but loving every moment of it because it's something that changes continually, and you learn continually, and you connect with people continually. So that's my story in a nutshell.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

And that's fantastic. And what you what you underline here is the importance of it being an art and a science. It is not a cookie-cutter profession, even in some of these steel, right? Even in that space, there's always a need for having an artistic side to what you're doing. So that that background you bring just gives you a lens that's really important. I also want to double down on the concept of connection, because that's something that came through in every one of the conversations we've had so far. Connecting with your stakeholders, connecting with the suppliers that you're working with, with your teams. How has that played into your professional life? And I want to start with the gentleman who gave you that job, because that was a connection. So you can say it all started with a you connection.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

It did. It did. And it was interesting, right? Because everybody has a different way of being. And there has to be some sort of a special sauce that happens. There has to be. And I think my straightforwardness and my honesty at that moment with him, it kind of jolted him into this moment of, wait, yeah, this is interesting. This could be something. And I'm really thankful for that. And till this day, I still think about them. I still think about them and the opportunity that they gave me to try something different, right? And to really kind of switch my brain a little bit. But the connection, it was really more about what do they need from me? And at that moment, all they wanted was somebody to be objective, open, honest, right? And help them be successful. And by connecting those dots for them and saying, okay, well, these areas, not really my thing. These two areas, definitely my thing. We created something that was amazing. Because I was able to join a little bit of this and a little bit of that to create a marketing campaign for them, right? To drive their business a little bit on that side. But at the same time, right, to be able to connect with specific vendors, find them additional sources, make sure that what they needed to do their fabrication projects was actually available to them just in time so that they didn't have to put as much money out. Right. So I was bringing value in multiple ways in price, in delivery, in when the payment was going to be made and so forth. And I was learning at the same time. It was that ultimate give-take relationship. And I that particular experience was such a catalyst for me. Because they were willing to listen, they were willing to be open-minded alongside me. So to your point, the creativity of it, even though I wasn't in editing and publishing as originally intended, right? I did learn English. I did learn how to communicate. And my communication skills got me through that point. And it really helped me to understand and be curious about what that business needed at that moment and what I can bring to the table that they needed.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Curiosity. Absolutely. And that ability to really get to that bottom layer of what the real business needs are. And there's a bravery involved in that.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

And it's different in every business.

SPEAKER_02 11:34

Yeah. Yeah. So a follow-up question on that. You you had the, I want to say that the it was part good fortune, but it was also part of your just elbow grease to go in there in that first instance and create an environment and an opportunity for yourself that became that catalyst. So if you hadn't been able to speak up and show their authentic you and do that, that person that that hired you, you know, wouldn't have said, oh, wow, she's really honest and it this is a breath of fresh air, right? So that all kind of serendipitously happened together. Have you been in environments where looking at the profession with that creative lens falls on deaf ears?

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Such a question. The way I'll answer it is to say this. I don't think it's that it falls on deaf ears. I think everybody has their own vision of what procurement can bring to the table. Some people want the transactional aspect of what procurement is, the compliance, the actual risk mitigation aspect of it, and so forth. Some people want the partner. And depending on where their journey is, it ends up in different places, right? So being able to come into an environment and learn, oh, okay, this is where they are, it really makes you more of that. Here's the first step we're gonna take, here's the second step we're gonna take. I'm gonna show you where we start and where we're going to be. And it's a journey that could take years. It could take years. So I'll give you a perfect example of a scenario like that. Um When I joined Dun and Bradstreet, that's a good one actually. When I joined Dun and Bradstreet, um there was no team. There was no team. They were looking for somebody to come in and work with their IT department. And they're like, nah, I just want somebody to come in and start embedding themselves with certain stakeholders in certain departments and identify potential opportunities and so forth. And at the time, ironically, you know, since there was no team, it was a okay, we're gonna build from the ground up, we're gonna set up some foundations, but we need to make connections, we need to have relationships, and we need to start showing people, yes, you're the SME. What can I do to help you make that even more powerful?

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

And procurement ended up with HR. So as part of the HR function, and then started building that relationship within HR. And HR needed help. HR needed help, and this was perfect. And started working on different projects to identify specific suppliers and professional services and so forth and so on. And they're like, ooh, I love this. And then it started building momentum. And people were like, hey, can I talk to you about XYZ? What do you think about this? And it started building that momentum within the organization to where I hired a new person. And then I hired a different person. So now I had somebody who was in charge of IT, and now I had somebody who was in charge of professional services, and now I had somebody who was in charge of this, and then I had vendor management, and it just continued to move with the business because there was nothing there before, but it was moving with the business based on what the business needs were at the particular time. It was almost like a uh how do you put it? Like a you start at ground zero and then that curiosity builds in. And then you show them what you can do and they go, wait, if she could do something like that, what are we missing out on? And then you're able to add that additional lens of, well, if I just bring one more person in who has this background, who understands this particular category, imagine what you can do then. Because you're a subject matter expert and I need you. Yes. But you also need your relationships. And I need to bring to the table what you don't know that's going to bring back value in all different aspects back to you so that you can keep your relationship, so that you can build on what the commitment is and the delivery is, and you can make the business more successful. Because that's the end game. But it is a proving ground in some organizations where you start with nothing and you build. And in some other organizations, you come in and there's a partial piece and you're building on that. But it's really trying to figure out how the business determines for themselves what is most important at that moment, and then showing them what comes next.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

That's beautiful. And there's a delivery mechanism to that too. I want to go back to the fact that you your educational background is in, well, let's say, you know, you wanted to be in publishing and you you were an English and poetry major, right? And I'm with you. We were both English majors undergrad. Um the ability to communicate effectively and get that messaging across becomes really, really important. And this is another conversation we've had around the soft skills of that. How has that ability, because I know you have a deep background in arts, how has that background supported your procurement profession?

SPEAKER_00 17:20

You know, the the biggest piece that I would say is the flex. When you're not preset, it brings about opportunities you would never expect.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Right?

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Having a mind that says, why not? Like I said in the beginning of this. Why not? That's interesting. Let's dig into that a little bit more, versus well, this is how it's always been done. And the procurement structure is X. When you do it with an open mind, you're capable of anything. Because yes, there is a procurement structure. Right? Everybody gets stuck in this procurement structure. But that doesn't mean that every single thing in that procurement structure applies to the scenario you're in. You have to pick what does and what doesn't. And then you know what? It's not gonna be play by play. It's not a copy-paste moment. It's a okay, but the general consensus consensus is X. And a good X a good way to look at that is to say, what is the company's risk appetite? Because the risk appetite in one industry can be completely different than one that's a regulated industry.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

True. Yes, yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

And then that helps you identify, okay, I could be more creative here. I need to have more structure here. And that gives you the insight that you need to have the conversations around that piece. How do I evolve my function into what the business needs going forward? Because the original structure was there to give me a jumping point. That's not the structure that needs to remain every single time I go into a new industry and a new position. Because that's not what the business needs.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

That's a huge point, I think. The structure is there as a springboard, as a jumping off point. It's not the boundary. Unless, of course, right? I re you're in a regulated industry. You know, I come from pharma. So it's it's, you know, there are certain things you can and cannot do. But around that, there is room to be creative. And that's as you've as you've seen in every industry that you've worked with, that's been part and parcel of how you work. So you've lived it.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

I have. I have, and I do it every single time. And I will tell you that I don't think I've ever gone from one to another and it's the same. But that's part of the fun, and that's part of the flex.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

It is part of the fun. And I would much rather be in a place where it's a little bit different every time, or there's an opportunity to build something based on what is the best opportunity to play in the white space a little bit, so to speak, versus to have that stringent, because there's no room for innovate innovation if you have that stringent.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

And with a creative mind, unfortunately for us, we don't know how to put barriers. So true. Like that's the moment you start putting us in a box. We're drilling little holes in it. Like we literally are. We're like, how do we get the space? How do we open the corner? Like, what do we do? Right? We don't know how to do that. We don't know how to do that.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Oh, that's that's so true. It's so true. It's you gotta find a way. You gotta find a way. I want to switch gears just a little bit and talk about community. Some of the things that I learned uh from you when we were, when we were doing prep was all about how you are supporting various subsections of the procurement function, whether it's small businesses or um various partnerships. You talk a lot about community. And one of the quotes that I already wrote down from you before the podcast even started was finding community moments that bring ultimate value. And I like what you said at that community moment. What is a community moment?

SPEAKER_00 21:26

There are so many different aspects to that, right? I mean, I personally love to look at community not just as this is where I work every single day. Because it's not, it's so much more than that. So my community is my team, first and foremost. My community is my family, my community is where I live, right? And the people around me. It's also my network. So we can talk about that all day long. But there are some aspects of this that I think we all need to avail ourselves of and with. So number one being you have to give back. You have to give back to the community, right? Whether that's in a sense of with my team, we could talk about this. Like with my team, it's all about how do I develop them to take that next step. I'm not always going to be here. They're always, you know, they're going to need to take whatever they've learned into their next position. So it's being a leader, it's taking them on the journey with you. It's not gatekeeping. Procurement is a community of very interesting people. And it's a small, tight community. People don't realize how small and tight we are. And we need to be able to support each other. In a growing market like the one we have today, in an evolving AI first, people in the loop. I mean, think about where we are right now. This is not procurement 30, 40 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 23:06

Oh, heavens no.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

This is procurement evolving into something new. So we need to be able to create systems where people can learn differently. We need to be able to develop those individuals and identify new talent, right? Because it's not always going to be where you think it is.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

And different talent.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

Right? You need to be able to say, okay, you're great at this, but maybe you're not great at that. But I'm going to leverage what you're great at. Because that's amazing and that's going to take you places. And then you also have to have the heart to also say to people, hmm, maybe this isn't where your heart sings. And maybe it needs to be somewhere else. Because sometimes people need to hear that too. And that's not an easy conversation, but that's your responsibility.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

Yes, I'm glad you said that. Because it's it goes back to this, I don't know if it's a yoga thing or it's a, you know, a self-help thing or whatever. But saying something to someone, first stop and think, is it kind? Is it true? Is it necessary? And it's like having, you know, I was saying to a friend yesterday, it's like having green stuff in your teeth. You know, if if you were talking to me, you would tell me I had something green in my teeth.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Oh, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

I just kind, it's true and it's necessary, right? And there's a, there's a, there's a way to do it tactfully, but also honestly, to sit with somebody on your team and say, this may be not be the right place for you, given your specific skill set. And there are two things that you've just said that have come up in other podcasts that I thought were leadership mic drops. So here you are, just like rocking out the leadership goal here. The first one was around that. And when you have a resource, instead of saying your skill set is not right for this role, go find another job somewhere else. Where can we use your skills?

SPEAKER_00 25:10

That's absolutely correct. Because you have to harness what the positive is, right? And whether that's within your department or whether that's in another department in the business, or whether that's outside, fine. But you as a leader should help that person get there. Regardless of whether or not their investment is going to be on your team for the time, you know, for the long run. Or not. It doesn't matter. Right? Because we have this ecosystem we have to create. So that is the team dynamic aspect of it. And then the secondary piece of this is we have to be able to impact the environments that we currently rely on to make us successful. So there's also the small business side of the house, there's the diversity side of the house. People have been talking about this for a very, very long time. Supplier diversity plays a role in that. And in other organizations that I've worked for, you know, supplier diversity has been a big ticket because you have to be able to give everyone the opportunity where it actually does make sense. And I say that purposefully. And the reason I say that is because of this. You can include someone and have no intention. That's just a name on a page. You need to make sure that that person, that that opportunity, that that business is ready and that it's viable for them. Because then that's an actual opportunity. That's something that they can look at, that they can read and they can go, I think I can play in this space. Or maybe they'll come back to you and they'll say, I can't right now. I can't play in this space, but maybe you can help me play in this space. And then you as a business, because you rely on different customers, on different businesses, on different everything, right? And your business relies upon your the success and what you deliver, you should be able to stop and say, hmm, maybe there's something here, maybe something in the future. Let's work together and see what that is. And once again, like I said before, in every business it's very, very different, right? We had a supplier diversity program at Dunning Brad Street. In other places, it's not, it's been more about small business as well. Like our latest, the little the latest company that I work for, it was more about small business. And the reason why we did small business was because we wanted to be as inclusive as inclusive as humanly possible. And the reason I say that is because you can say 5,000 times over veteran-owned, women-owned, LGBTQ, you can use disability, you can use all the different affinity groups associated, right? But then you're choosing. Then you're putting a marker on 5% here, 10% here, 20% here, so forth and so on. And I I don't have anything against it. But for me, it shouldn't be about that. It should be about the fact that all of them are small businesses, all of them deserve the opportunity. So if they are a small business, great. Then compete for the opportunity. Whatever that is. You are a small business. That's amazing. Let's talk.

SPEAKER_02 28:31

I agree with that. Yep. And as a b even if you're at a big company and maybe there's not an opportunity for a large hunk of business for a small business, how can you create something that is viable for them?

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Right. And there's so many different aspects of it, right? Um there's some areas of the business where that might not be possible, right? Because there's only a certain amount of suppliers that do a certain amount of things. So you have to be honest about that as well. And the risk appetite does bake into this moment. Small businesses, I see them as very agile. But you also have to be very realistic because they're realistic too. They know they only have a certain amount of bandwidth. They know that they only have a certain amount of resources that they could put on a particular project as an example, right? So even just their investment and what they could put down, what they could put out from a financial perspective is different than a bigger organization like an IBM or, you know, um, we could talk about Coupa or we can talk about like any of the other technology companies. You know, they don't have the deep pockets. They need help. They need help. And sometimes that means you start small. You're like, I'm gonna give you this little project. Let's see how you do on that little project. Okay, great. And then you just kind of move from there and you see where it's going. And sometimes they have more creativity and agility than the larger organizations. Who currently have, guess what? A structure and a framework on how they work. So the flex isn't necessarily as there as much as it would be with a smaller, hungrier, more agile organization like a small business.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

Absolutely. Yep. It's mentoring. So you've just talked about mentoring in two different ways: mentoring small businesses and mentoring people in their careers. Again, starting at a certain level and helping somebody grow into what they're going to be and giving them, carving out the opportunity for them to do that.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

Exactly. Exactly. With intention.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

Bingo. So we've talked about creativity in strategic procurement, in developing and executing opportunities for procurement transformation, for category management, all of the things in procurement. How does that approach speak to the ongoing conversation between value and savings?

SPEAKER_00 31:06

It's so interesting, right? I mean, I I think for such a long time procurement has been viewed as savings generation. People tend to forget that there is, when you think solely savings, dollars and cents, there is an automatic decrementing moment that happens year after year after year. Because businesses still have to make money. They still have to pay their payroll. The market today, perfect example, is on an uptick when it comes to costs. You have to have a scenario that works for both organizations. And if you don't, you're gonna end up losing critical suppliers that, you know, were part of your overall plan. So when you think about savings, you have to think about more than just the dollars and cents. You have to think about what is the commitment, what is the overall goal that you are trying to reach, what is it that you want delivered for your business and then the timing associated as well. What plays into that moment is relationship. You have to be in a relationship with a supplier and building something new. Right? In order for it to continue, it has to be sustainable. So when you're thinking about savings, that's great. You can talk about dollars and cents initially, but you should be talking about who's my representative on this account so that we can make sure that things go smoothly. You should be talking about your plans together. Year one looks like X, great. What does year two or year three look like for you? And building that in as well. It's not just mitigation, it's also what does the payment plan look like? I mean, I know people don't talk about this, but the float is important. The float is just as important. If you're getting paid 30, 45, 60, 90, you know, in some cases on a small business, and I'll bring that back as an example, they can't wait 90 days. They want their payment in 15 days, and that's a value to them. That keeps them in business so they can make their payroll. Yep. Right? But for bigger organizations, you could probably negotiate more, and then you can take that money and you can invest in your business even further.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

That's a great example.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

So thinking about the overall piece, right? What does that mean? I look at transportation all the time because my husband is in transportation, believe it or not, and logistics. And I hear him say all the time, he's like, stop talking about dollars and cents. You're killing me here. Because I could pay you X, Y, Z, and we can negotiate down to Y. But then they're not gonna put me at the top of their list when I need a delivery made. Yeah, that's right. He is absolutely right. Because where is the business gonna go? That supplier is going to go, that provider is gonna go to the person that they're gonna make the priority, the person that pays them the most. Because they're getting the most value for their money. And that person understands what their value is. And that's just as important. Yes, we need to have a business 100% in alignment with that. But you need to do it in a way where both businesses thrive. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so that relationship, huge to have the conversation. And then trying to be creative about what the models are, right? Putting in tiering. That's something people don't talk about a lot. They just talk about the bottom line, putting in tiering, talking about what time of the year is a better year to negotiate, right? Because it's not some people like software companies like the end of the year because then you know they're already locked in on their sales for the following year. But all of these things come into play. And these are not normal things that the business thinks about. Because guess what? The business is here to make the business successful. They are the SME. Right. Procurement is the partner that makes that possible.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

Right. And I think we can get so short-sighted when we focus on the C of A-Q-S-C-I-R, right? Because it's it's all of it. There's the value, there's the innovation, there's the there's the the intangible element of this that has to come into play, other than just how much it costs. Because you're to your point, if you if you overdo the cost or just focus on the cost, you are missing the forest. You can't see the forest for the trees. Right. We both worked in marketing. You know, if you start with cost, that conversation's over before it started, right?

SPEAKER_00 36:08

Exactly. And you also have to think about what is sustainable, right, for the business as well. So when procurement people think about these things, we think about everything. We're not just talking about suppliers here. We're talking about our own mechanisms internally. We're talking about how do we make the business, how do we fold them into the self-service moment where they can do certain things on their own?

SPEAKER_01 36:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

How do we make them powerful partners of ours so that we could focus on the big ticket items that also will help the business? But then we also create a loop of speed to business that occurs for the higher dollar, for the more important, we're in the middle of it with you. We're actually negotiating that, we're leading the conversations, you have the relationship, you're bringing that to the table. We're looking at the overall eco of how many different areas of the business are using this particular supplier so that we know exactly what we have to negotiate with. We know our leverage, we know our relationship, we know what we want to get to, what that overall scope is. And on top of everything else, we know what you can do for yourself so that you don't have to wait on us and where we're gonna get involved to really make that impact happen. Clarity. It's easy, it's simple, but it's not.

SPEAKER_02 37:26

Yes, easier said than done.

SPEAKER_00 37:28

Yeah. It truly is. It's a very interesting moment to be in because we connect the dots. That's what we do. We connect the dots between the supplier, between the business owner, between finance, between legal, between risk, between, you know, between our own people. It's all the departments working together to create the moment that really makes the overall value shine. And if you don't have all those connected tissues, if you don't have all those connected moments and conversations, and if you don't have your data in check, ugh, you're gonna have a really hard time knowing what's real and what's not. And knowing whether you actually got the value that you were trying to drive in the first place.

SPEAKER_02 38:34

Um and how some of those skill sets have changed. I think the one that you just talked about is consistent, right? And probably growing, that ability to make that connection, that seeing things at a higher level and putting all the pieces together. Above and beyond that, what does the new bench look like? And how two-part question. What does the new bench look like? And mentioning the words AI, right? How does AI play into that? Because you can't have a conversation today without talking about AI, apparently.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

Oh, it's so true. And look, it's evolving on a daily basis, right? It's evolving on a daily basis. One day the hot ticket is ChatGPT, next day the hot ticket is gonna be something else. It's clawed. You know, like it's all over the place. It's not really about that at the end of the day. It's really about how you use it in order to power and accelerate your ability to do what you do well. So it's no longer about the operational bits. It's no longer about the repeatable projects that you have and processes that you have. It's really about making things easy. The things you don't want to have to worry about. It could be as simple as you're gonna take AI, right? And the person knows how to do AI. So you have to develop people that way too. You know, you can't just say, hey, go use AI, have a good time. Right. No, no. Little by little baby steps. Some people are very comfortable with it, some people are not very comfortable with it. You have to give them the tools and the knowledge in order to use it and play. I always say play is the easiest way to learn, right? That's how we learned how we were little. Same thing here. So I had an individual who actually went in and he was like, hey, let me just see like how I can make this work. I'm gonna go in and I'm gonna put in a prompt. And that prompt is gonna give me X, Y, Z, and I'm gonna create a project from that. And then that prompt is gonna automate, once I add my information into the system, right? How to analyze my suppliers. Amazing. Let's do it. Let's see how it, let's make that a repeatable moment, right? Because you spend hours and hours and hours on a sourcing event. Hours and hours trying to analyze it. If you could just load that information, obviously, I'm not saying in your own chat, please, please don't do anything in AI that is not protected. Right. I was saying that right now. Please don't do anything like enterprise, right? Enterprise-wide, what is a what is available to you based on your company. But go in there and play and have a good time with it because you know what? What would have taken you eight hours to do or a week to analyze could potentially take you two hours. With you looking over it and going, yep, that's right, or no, that's wrong. And you have to have the human in the loop. But there are so many things that procurement can do. In the procurement cycle, from engagement, communications, change management, development, self-service, um, all the way through to sourcing events, identification of talent. I mean, there's the it's endless the possibilities here. But you are the expert. You are the expert. And so the new world expects us, right, to be smart about how we use ourselves as assets. And that's the key component. So when I think about the bench, the bench isn't just the expertise in a category. The bench goes back to that flex that I was talking to you about. And it's also the ability of leaders to take a look at not just within procurement knowledge, but outside of procurement knowledge. So I'll use an example of this. I always say, you know, you teach the teachables and then you hire for the criticals. Ooh. And that's been something I've said my entire career.

SPEAKER_02 42:47

I love that. I've never heard that. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 42:52

I mean, think about the piece. Like I had at one, at one company, I had a person who wasn't an EA. And I remember talking to her, and she said something to me about how she loves, you know, buying things. And I'm like, oh, then why are you an EA? Oh, because I got my foot in the door. Oh, great. Come on over, let me teach you. Right? Took her, put her in. She was highly successful. She stayed with me for years. Amazing. Right? Then you have other people. So on the commercial side of things, because we also deal with commercials, hi, procurement does negotiations and commercials. Salespeople do commercials as well. Welcome to the world. Why is that not a bench? So I had a person on more of the commercial side of the house, and I met with her about an opportunity on my team. And I had the choice between a person who knows the area really, really well, and I had a choice between that person and this person. And I kind of went, I'm Want you, I want your fire. I want your communication skills. I want how you go after it like that. I can teach you. But what you have is the ability to connect, the ability to drive, and the curiosity that you need to be successful. I'm taking you instead. And that person is doing phenomenally. We have to stop looking at just our little piece of the puzzle. And we have to look at what are the skill sets, right, that are gonna take procurement to the next level. And that may not be the general idea of what a procurement person is.

SPEAKER_02 44:47

Yes. It's the deeper piece. I I'm gonna say that again. I love this quote. This is an Alex trademarked TM. Little quote here. I'm I don't know if you heard it somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 44:59

I'll use a hashtag from now on. There it is. There's a hashtag. Teach the teachable, hire the critical.

SPEAKER_02 45:08

Exactly. I I I I that's how you build your bench. And I'm sitting here looking at our wonderful producer Graham. And this is a real life example for me because yes, there is production and marketing skill set, but the way of Graham in making people comfortable, in the approach to working with every varied individual we do on these podcasts, is the critical, right? It's not a teachable thing. It's how Graham is.

SPEAKER_00 45:49

And the heart emoji. The heart just came out.

SPEAKER_02 45:54

But it's true. It's it's it's you know, it's why we're working together again. Because that is that is critical. It is absolutely critical. Um, and it goes back again, circling back. What you just said circles back to the very first thing we said in this conversation. And that was that what that first manager saw in you. You didn't know procurement. But he was like the why not.

SPEAKER_00 46:15

It was the why not.

SPEAKER_02 46:16

Right. It was it was, hey, I'm gonna hire the critical and then I'll teach the teachable.

SPEAKER_00 46:20

Exactly. Exactly. And that's what everybody needs. And you start that in all different areas, right? You look for talent in other areas. Right. You also bring in, obviously, interns love interns. Interns are amazing. They bring a view that nobody else has, and they'll question every single little thing that you do if you give them the opportunity to do it. And how amazing, because then that triggers your brain to go, why didn't I think of that? Wait. Oh, that's interesting. And sometimes you need that. You need an outside perspective. That's why it doesn't always have to be a procurement person.

SPEAKER_02 46:57

It doesn't. And it you have to be open to the open to suggestion, though. And that's the other thing. You have to have the door open. When somebody's knocking, you have to, you know, be able to hear the knock, or you have to be able to let them walk through the door, whatever the better analogy is. I can't think of it. But absolutely. I have one more question for you, my friend. Okay. What is one thing you've learned on this varied and fascinating pathway of yours in procurement that would help another practitioner along their own pathway?

SPEAKER_00 47:31

Don't get stuck. Don't get stuck. Honestly. I really truly do believe that everything happens for a reason. And that something is put in your path, use a why not. I say it all the time. Why not? Why not? What do you have to lose? You're not a tree. You're not deeply rooted. Get up and go. If it's not making you happy, and your heart isn't singing, you're not learning, you're not developing as an individual, you're not making the impact that you want to make, move. That's it. Go. Life is too short.

SPEAKER_02 48:21

I'm gonna leave it right there because there's no better way to end this. Thank you, Alex.

SPEAKER_00 48:27

Thank you so much. This has been amazing and grandma. Thank you. Appreciate you too.

SPEAKER_02 48:34

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