I Hate to Negotiate: Confessions of a Procurement Professional

My personality type is INFP. I'm the team player, the quiet and supportive one. The feeler. So it's only natural to plunk me down at a negotiation table to go all "rabid raccoon" against my overpriced potential supplier, right? Not so much. Throughout my entire career, I have approached the possibility of hard negotiation with…

Cost Reduction Hacks for the Budget-Strapped Business

The scene: A corporate conference room at nine AM.  The sun is shining through those odd meeting room blinds that no one seems to know how to maneuver. The cast: One consultant and three members of the company procurement team, all poring over one very densely populated spreadsheet. The question: How do we as a…

Sourcing Innovation: Circumventing the Box

Inspired by Stacey Skrysak's recent post dealing with prematurity and infant loss, which touches a special heartstring for us at the WDG, we've dug out this piece from a few years ago, which celebrates the way innovation in procurement and supply chain can literally make a difference in the health of the teeniest of the…