275: A CPO’s First 100 Days - Repositioning the Role of Procurement w/ Simon Whatson

You have just been appointed to a new CPO position. Your executive leadership team is looking at you to make an immediate impact while setting up procurement as a driver of sustainable, long term value. You know that your first 100 days in the role may make or break your career. What do you do? Where do you start?

In this special 5-part series, made possible through a partnership with Efficio, we will provide you with the roadmap you need to hit the ground running.

For the opening episode of the series, I spoke with Simon Whatson, a Principal at Efficio, about the importance of repositioning procurement. This is a key initial consideration, because you will likely face challenges as you work to convince skeptical stakeholders that this time it will all be different.

In addition, Simon and I discussed:

• The importance of procurement / enterprise alignment
• The hardest parts of leading change in procurement
• How a forward-looking vision for procurement should be different by industry
• Why procurement needs to take an honest look in the mirror before investing in branding