Jack Birch & Nikki Wright delve into the world of Procurement. Watch the video below as they discuss how the Procurement function has evolved, what advice Nikki would give to aspiring CPOs and 10x Banking achieving B-Corp accreditation.
If you could share any advice for the aspiring CPO, what would it be?
“I talk about this with my team all the time and I think the biggest piece of advice I’d give – actually I’ll take two!
The first one being to understand what your company does, how they make money and determine how you can contribute to that. Procurement isn’t just about saving money, it isn’t about negotiating the lowest possible price, it’s about understanding how you contribute to that because that will then make you a better Procurement professional.
If you know where to pull your levers to help gross margin or the path to profitability , whatever it is that your company is striving towards, it allows you to tailor your approach.
The other piece of advice is to be selfish on your development. Look at where your career aspirations are and understand where you can get that experience in your exposure.
People regularly approach me to go on courses yet 70% of development actually comes from experience on the job – hands-on learning. 20% comes from exposure and just 5-15% comes from actual education.
You can learn from the people around you and then decide what path you want your career to take. Be self aware.”
