Monthly Archives: July 2011

Where Can CPOs Congregate?

CPOs need to network with their peers. As Steven Deverill of Langley Search and Selection points out in this recent CPO Agenda article on being “in with the in crowd”, the CPO position can be quite isolated, and networking with other CPOs is a source of support and information. It enables them to keep connected, be grounded, and hear what other organisations are doing.

Networking is one of the best ways that CPOS have for gaining ideas, benchmarking information and performance of your supply base and your team too. As Deverill points out, you can benchmark source plans or best practice and utilise industry specific and expert knowledge from your suppliers so you can get better deals. But there really aren’t that many places CPOs can go and be among their peers. SI only knows of a few industry events / groups dedicated to CPOs. And they don’t meet often. Some only once a year.

  • The Aberdeen Group CPO Summits
  • The ProcureCon CPO Roundtables
  • The CPO Agenda Executive Debates
  • The Procurement Leaders Forums
  • The CAPS Research International Executive Roundtables
  • The Mpower Group NPX Exchanges
  • The Tompkins Associates Supply Chain Consortiums

Now, CPOs can try to fill in the gap with online networking, but, as the article points out, there’s no substitute for face to face. And, at least in SIs view, CPOs should be taking a day at least quarterly to meet with their peers and get a good grip on the state of the global marketplace. So what’s a CPO to do. Are there any local organizations that cater specifically to CPOs? Or do CPOs have to belong to multiple organizations so they can attend a subset of the events above, throughout the year, to meet with their peers. Any thoughts?

Good Networking Tips from the CPO Agenda

A recent article over on the CPO Agenda on how to get “in with the in crowd” had some great tips on networking, especially for those new to the on-line networking scene. Diving right in, they were:

Start Social
Social networking platforms allow you to reach out to people you haven’t seen or spoken to in a while that you used to work with. It’s often easiest to start networking with people you already know.

Choose Your Platforms Carefully
The article points out that LinkedIn is the most effective and valuable site for professionals, not Facebook, which is great for friends and family, but not business. SI agrees and is quite happy to see that there are experts who know the difference. It also gets Twitter right. Use it to follow companies to get information on changes to the business, best practice, or new legislation but don’t expect much more from it.

Systemize Your Contacts Strategy
Start by making a list of people you have not connected with in a while who have been helpful to you or who you have respect for and create a plan to keep in touch with them regularly.

Step Outside of Your Comfort Zone to Meet New People
Start by offering to do projects that are outside of your normal scope of work that will help you meet new people and suppliers, but for which you will have support from your team, who can often make the initial introductions.

Only Attend Events You are Interested In
Not only are many events a waste of time, but many don’t draw the crowd they advertise. Plus, even if the event draws a decent mix of professionals, if the event holds no interest to you, people will sense it and may assume that they have no interest to you, which will destroy any chances you have for good networking. Also, try to select an event where people you know typically go as well and arrange to meet up with them while there. Not only will it insure that the event is not a total waste of time, but your connections can introduce you to new people.

And, when using LinkedIn:

Have a Good Profile
It’s important to have a strong and authentic profile that allows people to see how you have developed throughout your career. And don’t forget the picture.

Connect Wisely
Although you want a strong network of at least 100 people, don’t connect with this anybody and everybody. First of all, you can only maintain real relationships with so many people. (British anthropologist Robin Dunbar puts the upper limit at 150 friends based on our brain size.) Secondly, you don’t want to look like a connection whore, err, super networker. In-depth network analyses show that they are not the source of online conversations. They are the sink hole where everything ends up.

Remember Online Etiquette
Simply put, it’s not okay to send direct messages or ask for favours from people you don’t know and haven’t met. You should be introduced first.

It is Better to Give than Receive
Build a reputation as a giver to a community. However, don’t just share interesting articles that are relevant to your network. Also take the time to explain why and add to the conversation.

Want a Skilled Workforce? Train It!

I thoroughly enjoyed this recent article in Industry Week on “Crafting a Skilled Workforce” that describes Blum Inc’s Apprenticeship 2000 program that develops many of the skilled manufacturing technicians that Blum may otherwise be unable to find. While the four-year program costs Blum $100,000 per apprentice on average, 80% of graduates, who are guaranteed a job with a minimum salary of $34,000 a year on graduation, stay with Blum. In otherwords, for ony $125,000, Blum obtains a highly capable manufacturing technician, with journeyman certification from the North Carolina Department of Labour, who will provide the company with years of valuable service. Given that recruitment of even an entry-level technologist can easily exceed $10K to $15K, and that training of a new recruit can take 6 months or more and tens of thousands of dollars of time of a senior mentor, and that there’s no guarantee that the technologist will have the skills, work out, or stay with the company any length of time, investing $125K to produce a highly skilled employee with company loyalty is a small, and brilliant investment.

As SI has said before, Apprenticeship is the Answer.

Maybe Some Bribes Should Be Legalized

Especially since it’s already legal to bribe corporations, and public sector entities. But let’s back up for a minute.

A recent article in The Economist that asks who to punish notes that India’s chief economic adviser wants to (partially) legalize some kinds of bribe-giving. And while your first thought might be bribes are bad, m’kay, it’s actually not a bad idea.

First of all, as Kaushik Basu (who is the chief economic advisor to India’s finance ministry) points out, it’s hard to combat bribery and corruption when the law treats both bribe-giving and bribe-taking as crimes. If someone needs a basic service to be performed on their behalf, and they believe they can only get it by giving a bribe, they will pay the bribe. And they won’t report it because then they can be prosecuted.

Secondly, the bribes he is proposing to legalize are “harassment bribes”, made by a person to get things done to which he is legally entitled. Like filing a police report or getting his tax return processed. Furthermore, Mr. Basu is also proposing that it would still be illegal for the individual demanding the bribe to perform the service to take the bribe. The bribe-giver would be able to file a complaint, and if proven, would be entitled to a refund while the corrupt official would be punished. Moreover, bribes made to bend rules in one’s favour would continue to be illegal for both parties.

This isn’t a bad proposal. First of all, it will make a corrupt official think twice before asking for a bribe knowing that it is much more likely he’ll be reported since it will no longer be a crime for the bribe-giver to give a bribe to facilitate a service to which he is entitled.

Secondly, most “civilized” countries have already legalized such bribes when made to a corporation or a public body. We just call them service payments. Don’t want your package to take four days to go from point A to point B when you know it only takes one, pay an expediting fee. Want more leg room, and actual food, on your flight? Pay an upgrade fee and sit in first class. Don’t want to wait 6 weeks for your passport renewal? Pay the expedite fee and get it in 3 weeks. In each case, you’re getting the exact same service. The only difference is time. Pay less, and you are put in the bottom of the queue. Pay more, and you are moved to the top of the queue. And instead of paying a person directly, you’re paying an organization, which then pays it’s shareholders and executives more money. And even though you don’t pay an individual directly, the individual who sells you the upgrade still benefits. They get to keep their jobs, which they would lose the minute revenue and/or profit drops below a certain threshhold.

Finally, in some countries, low level public servants, just like waitstaff in “civilized countries”, are not paid a living wage and need bribes to support their families. Making facilitation payments legal makes sense in those countries where foreigners have no choice but to pay bribes if they want to do business. One way or another, service has to be paid for. And if someone is truly corrupt, you want to make it possible for those impacted to complain without repercussion (unless they are seeking to break the law themselves). Mr. Basu’s proposal may not be perfect, but it certainly is clever.