“I am sure we shall all go back to our serious tasks with a clearer brain and more deeply grateful for life and this beautiful world in which we live.” John Burroughs, American Journey (p. 71)   Sometimes a book is memorable because of the experience of reading it, sometimes because of when you read it, and other times it is because of the cha...

“If you are going to talk business, you need to talk numbers. Avoiding this, it is like coming here to the U.S., as I did over two decades ago and not learning English.”  - Scaling Supply Chains with Maria, p. 28   There are a few books in procurement and supply chain that use a narrative structure to hold the teachings together. And whil...

“The best leaders are the ones who have the sense to surround themselves with outstanding people and have the self-restraint not to meddle in how they do their jobs.” - Your Leadership Legacy, p. 79   I had the opportunity to meet Lieutenant Colonel Oakland McCullouch when I interviewed him for an episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast. The adva...

For me, reading a book about entrepreneurship is an odd experience. I did start and run my own business, and now I am a Partner at Art of Procurement… but none of it was on purpose. I typically operate on the assumption that other entrepreneurs deliberately left corporate jobs to strike out on their own, and that they already had a plan as well as ...

“Business leaders have only so many days in a year, and every action has a clock attached to it.”  - Flow, p. 30   The central premise of Flow by Dr. Robert Handfield and Tom Linton is that supply chain flows (including cash, inventory, and information – as equals) operate just like the physical laws of nature. Faster flows are better, an...

“When the CPO and procurement team participate in every critical stage of a product’s evolution – from concept development and the award of supplier contracts to the start of production and through the end of production – they can significantly lower costs and ensure that the company benefits from the accumulated knowledge and expertise of supplier...

“They all believe they are sourcing strategically; therefore, management does not see the need to provide the proper people, technology, time, and training to effectively manage spend and look for cost reduction opportunities.”  - Managing Indirect Spend, p. xiii   One of the best practices I have developed over my years of reviewing busi...

“Bad best practice is a terrible thing, because it blocks real best practice from being put in place. And it’s a remarkably common phenomenon. Many times, companies truly believe they have done all the right things. In other instances, CPOs dress up their achievements as a defense mechanism against eternal consultants or other perceived threats. In...

“Simply put, business happens. Things change, including the underlying deal covered by the contract.”  - Contracting in the New Economy, p. 46   I’ve read most of the Vested books, so I came to read Contracting in the New Economy Using Relational Contracts to Boost Trust and Collaboration in Strategic Business Relationships by David ...

“The traditional procurement environment dies hard. My advice is to change everything. Job title, roles, nomenclature, even work area change helps. If you are dedicated to cross functional teams a true purchasing professional will be out of the purchasing area most of the time. Do not let purchasing folks regress to old habits. It takes a person at...

“Technology is the easy part. It is always the people who apply the tools who make a difference.”  - Jacob Gorm Larsen, A Practical Guide to E-Auctions for Procurement, p. 7   When Jacob Gorm Larsen asked me if I would read his new book on e-Auctions, 2 thoughts immediately went through my mind. I haven’t thought about auctions in an eter...

“In many cities of the country there’s a fear of the streets especially if there’s disorder and things are in disarray. In many organizations there is a fear of management. No small part of this is due to employees not understanding the actions of management… Prevention of disorder and actually fixing things that employees say are wrong goes a very...

“We are rarely totally engaged or present. We are digitally distracted. And, as I said earlier, on an ongoing basis we have tuned out what’s happening around us.”  - Julienne B. Ryan, p. 22   The Learned-it-in-Queens Communications Playbook was written somewhat prophetically and ahead of its time. The main idea shared by author Julienne B...

“The funny thing about truth is you cannot change it. When something is true, it is true.”  - Dan Andrew, p. 20 First Trust: Your Guide from Rags to Riches for an Abundant Life and Career by Daniel L. Andrew is a very unique book. It is the only book I have ever reviewed that I couldn’t comment on without explaining myself. Maybe that is part ...

“No industry or country is immune from bad buying; it exists in every nation in the world, and in almost every organization.” - Peter Smith, p. xi Bad Buying: How organisations waste billions through failures, frauds and f*ck-ups by Peter Smith offers so many prime examples of ‘bad’ buying, that if you weren’t in procurement, you might question whe...