Supply Management for the Executive Suite

One of the greatest opportunities for supply management professionals is connecting with their company’s top management. Doing so can help create an awareness of supply management’s potential, and thereby improve the odds of gaining top management’s buy-in and support. Without senior management’s active support, you’ll often find yourself relegated to a back office, tactical role, without adequate resources.

Success in this regard involves a number of factors, as we have covered in the past: such factors as arranging for an independent assessment and transformation roadmap, directly aligning your program with what is important to the C-Suite (e.g. EPS, ROIC, Cash Flow, and risk management), and “speaking like a CFO.”

I am periodically asked for recommendations for a simple first step – something you can hand your CEO or CFO to start the conversation. There is always “Straight to the Bottom Line” co-authored by Rudzki, Smock, Katzorke and Stewart. Six years after its initial printing the book is still a best seller among the executive crowd and the procurement audience, and is an ISM recommended reading.

More recently, there is “Next Level Supply Management Excellence” – co-authored by Rudzki and Trent, with 14 contributing experts. It is the highly-endorsed sequel to “Straight to the Bottom Line®”.

Another option can be found at Chief Executive magazine’s website. That site featured a byline article that I wrote for the executive audience. It is short and to-the-point. You can access it here:

http://chiefexecutive.net/supply-management-the-ae

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