Art of Procurement

"Persuasion is about your intent. If your intent is solely to win at the other person's expense, that's manipulation. If you want the other party to also benefit from the conversation, then that's collaborative, and that's ethical persuasion." - Martin John

Procurement leaders know that success often depends on more than just negotiating skills or cost models; it demands the ability to influence people at ...

"Direct materials is the most under-innovated, untouched by modern technology of any spend area." - Spencer Penn, Co-Founder and CEO, LightSource

Direct spend makes up the lion's share of the procurement budget, but all too often, it's still managed in spreadsheets and disconnected tools. Today's volatile supply market and relentless cost pressures demand more. 

What is holding companies back ...

"AI has fantastic value when you look at spend analytics, sourcing decisions, and process efficiency, but to replace the infancy stage that allows you to have a relationship with stakeholders, I think, is a mistake." – Brad Keighley

Digitization and automation promise so much for procurement, but what gets lost if we let technology run the show? As organizations scale and regulatory pressure mounts, the ab...

"Efficiency should fund the future, not erase the people needed to deliver it." – Philip Ideson, Founder and Managing Director of Art of Procurement

2026 is going to be another year of volatility, but it will also be a year of immense opportunity for procurement pragmatists, the ones who are willing to do the work to build the future rather than just waiting for it to arrive.

In a tradition th...

"The first time that you speak with a supplier shouldn't be in a time of crisis. Our best customers work with us regularly, and we're constantly hearing from them." - Rick Bond, Chief Revenue Officer, Safeware

When a crisis hits, procurement must move at lightning speed… but without cutting corners. 

How do public agencies build systems that are nimble, compliant, and ready for anything? The a...

After 23 episodes of dissecting procurement's incentive flaws, behavioral blind spots, and structural contradictions, the "Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement" podcast team closes season one with something different: reflection, humor, a little chaos, and a first look at what comes next.

In this episode, Rich Ham seizes the mic for a surprise "hostile takeover," pulling Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner in...

"If you don't go on the journey, you risk being left behind. The key is to try, learn, and apply AI in a way that creates real value." - Fang Chang, EVP and Chief Product Officer at SAP

AI isn't just another feature on your tech checklist. It's changing the way procurement teams deliver impact… but only for those bold enough to rethink from the ground up. 

In this podcast episode, host Philip ...

After nearly a year of exploring procurement's incentive paradox from every angle, Philip Ideson, Rich Ham, and Kelly Barner reconvene to connect the dots between three of the series' most thought-provoking guests: Jason Brown, David Loseby, and Omid Ghamami.

Each offered a distinct lens on the same fundamental question: What does performance really mean in procurement today?

Jason Brown frame...

"Your contracts are your source of truth. You should have a tool that can go through the contracts and help you understand the impact and make an assessment, all in one place." -Toby Laforest, Senior Director PMM - Market Insights and Solutions at Ironclad 

Procurement leaders can no longer afford to wait for requests to land in their inbox. Facing regulatory change, market volatility, and growing demand f...

"Taking the time to get input, to get the feedback and listen to the needs might add a few weeks up front, but ultimately, you're going to have a better, stronger solution and support and alignment." - Jesse Jacoby, Founder and Managing Principal, Emergent, LLC

Procurement and business leaders face a tangled web: legacy systems, evolving digital capabilities, and rising pressure to do more with less. 

How do you design an operating...

"We want our customers to be able to put their own internal procurement rules into our Amazon Business marketplace, so they can feel secure and still get that great experience."
- Todd Heimes, Vice President and General Manager, Amazon Business Worldwide 

Right now, procurement leaders are balancing pressure to deliver savings, manage risk, and remove barriers for business users. As organizations get more ...

Procurement's problem isn't speed. It's form. 

They've gotten great at automating and accelerating weak processes while quietly rewarding the "good contract, bad deal" mentality that ultimately undercuts their own efforts.

In this podcast episode of "Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement," Omid Ghamami, president of the Procurement and Supply Chain Management Institute and former Intel purcha...

"If your only role is cost management and processes, that's scary to me. The value of procurement is so much more than that." – Etosha Thurman, Chief Marketing Officer, Finance and Spend Management at SAP

AI is rapidly changing procurement's mandate and the expectations that business leaders now have. 

Technology is no longer just digitizing processes; it's opening the door to new operating mo...

"The value isn't in giving them the coffee beans and hoping they take that away and make a cup of coffee – what they need is a drink. So instead of giving them the data, do the extra steps and pull out the insights for them." - Satvinder Panesar, Data and Analytics Strategy Director, AstraZeneca

Procurement leaders are surrounded by data, but turning numbers into true business impact is a new kind of chall...

"The value you bring as a procurement function has transcended being a cost saver. They are now a discussion partner with other functions and bring value in the form of intelligence." - Adrian Vicol, Data Strategy Lead & Data Architect, Siemens Energy

Procurement leaders are facing more complex questions about data than ever before. As organizations move toward AI and automation, the need for clean, reliab...

Procurement's toughest problems rarely come from spreadsheets or contracts. 

They come from people.

In this episode of "Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement," David Loseby – professor, former CPO, and self-described "pracademic" – joins Philip Ideson and Rich Ham to explore why procurement's incentive systems often fail not because they're wrong on paper, but because they ignore how people a...

"Fraudulent conduct robs the government – at all levels, local, state, or federal – of the benefit of competition. Competition is free and open; it is the Magna Carta of the American economic system, and robbing the government of that benefit is inherently wrongful." 

Public sector procurement faces mounting challenges, not least of which is the threat of collusion and fraud that quietly erodes budgets and...

"Too many procurement professionals have developed a push energy. If you take that same approach with internal stakeholders, it won't work. We need to develop pull energy — asking questions, listening, and creating a shared vision." - Giuseppe Conti, Professor, Author of Negotiation + Influence = Success: Quick Lessons to Help You Win in Corporate Life

Procurement leaders know how much the field has change...

Procurement doesn't just have a measurement problem. It has a motivation problem.

Behind every misaligned target, every "savings" claim, and every missed opportunity is the same invisible culprit: incentives that quietly tell people to do the wrong things well.

In this episode of Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement, Jason Brown, accounting professor at Indiana University and longtime corpor...