The CPO: Transforming Procurement in the Real World by Christian Schuh Michael F. Strohmer Stephen Easton Armin Scharlach Peter Scharbert

The CPO: Transforming Procurement in the Real World by Christian Schuh Michael F. Strohmer Stephen Easton Armin Scharlach Peter Scharbert

Author:Christian Schuh, Michael F. Strohmer, Stephen Easton, Armin Scharlach, Peter Scharbert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Apress®
Published: 2012-11-14T16:00:00+00:00


Ross invites me to the podium with a handshake, patting me on the back: “Tom, it’s all yours now.” He walks to the back, taking a seat somewhere in the crowd. Now I’m alone in front of the group, unsure whether I’m overwhelmed or insecure. But the adrenaline rushing in my veins takes control, and I look over at John who is now sitting in the front and nodding. I look at the audience, take a deep breath, and start:

“Thank you, Ross. Dear colleagues, after such a speech, it is difficult to find the right words. I’m impressed. I am deeply impressed with two things: first, this amazing group of people. Thank you for coming to this place literally from all over the world. I know that many of you had to put down other priorities to make this happen. Again, thank you very much for this, and welcome! Second, I am impressed with Ross’s great, great demonstration of commitment to us as a procurement team, and to our new role within Heartland. This is more than most procurement organizations out there in the world can ever dream. It’s a huge responsibility, and it’s a big opportunity for us at the same time. Seeing you all here together, I am sure we can do it.”

I remind them that Ross mentioned three things that, going forward, Heartland needs to do better than in the past: managing product strategy, our way of working, teaming up more effectively. I tell them this means

(1) Fulfilling our new, big role with regard to cost reduction, innovation, and many other types of value contribution.

(2) Collaborating and learning from each other, and from others both inside and outside Heartland.

(3) Growing together as a team and building strong networks, again inside and outside Heartland.

“With this strategy summit,” I say, “we want a great leap ahead on this agenda. So, what exactly is it that we plan to do here? Well, let me do this in reverse order.” I then lay out the next three days, beginning by saying that the job of fulfilling our new role as procurement professionals within Heartland will start as soon as we get back from the summit. We will, however, take some time on Day 3 to develop the first cornerstones of our future category strategies.

I tell them that our new job of learning from others will happen on Day 3, with presentations by some of the most successful and respected CPOs in the world. These three heavyweights from very different industries will talk to the group about their challenges in transforming procurement in their companies and how they mastered them.

Then I tell them that laying the fundamentals for better collaboration with our internal customers will start tomorrow, Day 2, when some of the key stakeholders from other parts of the company will join the summit. This, I say, will be a great opportunity to get closer to them as a cross-functional team, and to create a better mutual understanding of joint needs, expectations, ambitions.



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