"Procurement Confidential: The Real Story of How Buying and Selling Actually Gets Done In the Corporate World" is finally being published and offered for sale this month. With co-author Robert Handfield, the Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management at North Carolina State University, we peel back the onion and expose how procurement decisions are really made and the forces at bay that motivate buyers, sellers and supply chain chain professionals to do what they do. Combined, we've been in this business for 70+ years, and it's time to tell the truth about what really goes on. You won't find these truths in LinkedIn, or Procurement or Supply Chain publications, I can assure you. We expose why most efforts at SRM are a joke, why "savings" motivates people to make bad decisions, and why culture eats strategy for lunch...and that's just for starters.
So what were my motivations to write this book? Was it to make money? Was it to feed my ego and try to keep my name out there in the procurement world? Was it to bask in the glory of being an "author" and add that to my list of accomplishments before I leave this earth? Was it to air my grievances and get it off my chest so that I can claim the moral high ground by devaluing others in the profession? Or was it that I just want people to know the truth so that they can be successful in the procurement and supply chain world and make things better?
The answers are Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes and Yes. Of course, if I make some money, that would be nice, but my approach is not very smart because I will probably piss off the people that dole out the money to procurement consultants (biting the hand that feeds you is rarely a good strategy in the consulting world). Ego - I mean, who doesn't like a little recognition every now & then. Being an author - I always wanted to be one, ever since I flunked the writing section of my Law Boards (well, technically you don't flunk them, but you limit your opportunities for acceptance at the higher rated schools). Claiming the moral high ground - yeah, I tend to do that - all liberals do, but so do conservatives and centrists and anarchists and authoritarians. Help others to be successful - you may not believe this, but that actually motivates me more than any of the other things I stated here.
Anyway, if you really want to know the truth, grow your career, and are willing to invest about 180 pages of reading and write off a $25-$45 business expense, please BUY THIS BOOK! After all, if someone tells you it's not about the money, you can be sure of one thing - it's about the money!
