As we are working “in the weeds”, every day, we often lose sight of how critical our function is. We, at The Mpower Group, do a lot of Strategic Sourcing and Supply Chain Management training as one of our service offerings because WE KNOW the value of a strong Supply Chain. I guess it has just taken the rest of the world a little time to catch up . . . . . .
When not focused on my work with The Mpower Group, I spend some of my time learning and playing the bagpipes. When I share this with people, they usually have many questions about the pipes. But, I think the similarities between playing the bagpipes and…
Let’s do a hypothetical test. You are in a room with 5 other colleagues from your company and you are all involved in implementing the latest S&OP software(or any new process or tool or initiative) and I asked your team to come up with the top 10 issues and challenges that you have faced. Now let’s assume that run a similar exercise with five other companies and with five other teams working on a similar initiative. What do you think will be the result? Will the lists be the same? Totally different?
It’s actually sitting right under our nose . . . . . . but we manage to snub our nose at this function time and time again. It’s Purchasing – not Strategic Sourcing, not Category Management, not Global Sourcing, not the forever –exalted Supply Chain (and it’s ever changing scope /definition) but simply Purchasing! And I say Purchasing with all the professional respect this group deserves BUT seldom receives.
…You don’t have a snowball’s chance in &^$$ of getting the right answers. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had this discussion with CEOs and other senior executives. Or, as my friend Pete often says – “The most common source of mistakes in management decisions is the emphasis on finding the right answer, rather than the right question”. Or, as my other buddy Al says – “The formulation of a problem is far more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill”. Those would be Peter Drucker and Albert Einstein.