Proc-N-Roll : Your guide to practical procurement!

Graphite Connect and Candor Procurement

Welcome to Proc n Roll, where nearly 70 years of combined procurement expertise come together. Join Natasha, the PRO CPO with experience at IBM, McKesson, Salesforce, and Nike; Zach, the procurement guru from London; and Conrad, the visionary innovator behind transformational procurement at Intel and Adobe. We dive into the latest trends shaping the procurement landscape while breaking down the essential building blocks for success. Whether you’re new to procurement or a seasoned expert, our discussions will inspire you and keep you grounded in real-world value.

  1. How to Win Over a Stakeholder Who Doesn't Want Your Help

    -6 ДН.

    How to Win Over a Stakeholder Who Doesn't Want Your Help

    Every procurement professional has met that stakeholder — the one who says "we're fine, thanks" and locks the door. In this Proc N Roll: Track, Natasha Gurevich shares the exact playbook she used to break into one of procurement's hardest categories: marketing. Step one: stop threatening an RFP and start sending a one-page market intel newsletter. Step two: show them the supplier pie chart they've never seen — 4,000 suppliers, 10 of them doing 80% of the work. Conrad Smith adds a reframe from Google's procurement model and delivers one of the best analogies in the series: "It's almost impossible not to love somebody that loves your kids." This Track is pulled from https://open.spotify.com/episode/6nXrAVjJUnjBxdpTQrXaVF?si=XP_TfoImTQuAaTsDIwQe6w About Proc N Roll:Your guide to practical procurement, where we make procurement rock and roll.Hosted by Conrad Smith (Founder of Graphite Connect, former CPO at Adobe, and Intel), Natasha Gurevich (former CPO at Nike, Salesforce, McKesson, and IBM), and Zachary Bachir. Three procurement veterans with almost 70 years of combined practical experience, unpacking the trends, skills, and real-world lessons that shape the profession.

    10 мин.
  2. What Are We Trying to Achieve? The Shift to Outcome-Based Procurement

    7 МАЯ

    What Are We Trying to Achieve? The Shift to Outcome-Based Procurement

    Welcome back to Proc n Roll! In this week's episode, Conrad reconnects with long-time colleague and procurement powerhouse Omid Ghamami to discuss a fundamental shift in how we source. Are you spending 70% to 90% of your day firefighting supplier issues? Omid argues that this happens because procurement teams are stuck in a 1970s mindset, focusing entirely on buying "goods and services" instead of contracting for business outcomes. Omid shares incredible stories—from the LED traffic light disaster to the $30 million payroll blunder—that illustrate exactly why focusing on activities instead of results costs organizations millions. Tune in to learn why your legal team isn't actually protecting you commercially, why "ignorance" is your greatest procurement weapon, and how to stop asking for permission so you can crown yourself as a true business leader. Timestamps: (00:55) – Welcome & Reconnecting 30 Years Later 04:40 – The Accidental Career: Nobody Plans for Procurement (08:16) – Stop Parasitic Negotiations: The Hidden 18% Cost (12:39) – Why We Buy The Wrong Things: Custom vs. Standard (15:33) – The Brutal Truth: Why Stakeholders Don't Engage Us Early (21:23) – The Problem with "Goods and Services" Contracts (25:59) – Embrace Ignorance: Your Greatest Procurement Tool (32:57) – The Know, Like, and Trust Triangle (42:27) – The San Francisco $30M Payroll Blunder (46:19) – Response Time vs. Resolution Time (The Baseball Game Story) (51:05) – The Wisconsin LED Traffic Light Disaster (55:13) – Why Legal Isn't Protecting You Commercially (01:01:46) – Leadership Lesson: Crown Yourself About Proc n Roll Proc n Roll is your guide to practical procurement. Join Conrad, Zach, and Natasha as we tackle real-world challenges for procurement leaders. From building operating models to leveraging data and AI strategy, we bring you no-nonsense insights to help you transform your organization! Be sure to hit that like button, comment your thoughts, and subscribe so you never miss an episode.

    1 ч. 5 мин.
  3. Forget the Savings Number for 12 Months The CPO Mindset Shift

    5 МАЯ

    Forget the Savings Number for 12 Months The CPO Mindset Shift

    If procurement only speaks the language of cost savings, it will never be astrategic partner. In this Proc N Roll: Track, former CPO Natasha Gurevich argues that real value looks different to every stakeholder — risk reduction for legal, speed to market for marketing, capacity assurance for supply chain — and that procurement leaders need to be brave enough to tell their teams, "Forget the savings number for 12 months. Just do the right thing for the business." Conrad Smith shares how he stopped reporting savings to his CFO for nearly two years at Adobe, and the trio unpacks the three pillars required to shift from savings to value: talent, stakeholder relationships, and supplier relationships. This Track is pulled from https://open.spotify.com/episode/7CHXHUFK1sMqA6Cct1b2iz?si=eFBJEG3sQGGKgSLzRqo_Ag About Proc N Roll:Your guide to practical procurement, where we make procurement rock and roll.Hosted by Conrad Smith (Founder of Graphite Connect, former CPO at Adobe, and Intel), Natasha Gurevich (former CPO at Nike, Salesforce, McKesson, and IBM), and Zachary Bachir. Three procurement veterans with almost 70 years of combined practical experience, unpacking the trends, skills, and real-world lessons that shape the profession.

    10 мин.
  4. Why Most Procurement Risk Programs Fail (And the 4 Step Fix)

    30 АПР.

    Why Most Procurement Risk Programs Fail (And the 4 Step Fix)

    Procurement teams love to talk about risk. Most of them never actually manage it. In this Proc N Roll: Track, Conrad Smith lays out the biggest failure he sees across dozens of procurement orgs every month — stopping at "awareness" and never moving to mitigation — and introduces the four-step framework that separates real programs from glorified questionnaires: Define. Measure. Manage. Monitor. Natasha Gurevich reinforces the enterprise mindset with her "20 burning platforms" principle: you can't fix everything, so pick the riskiest risks and actually work them. This Track is pulled from https://open.spotify.com/episode/0JvE9vi3x5eYWldEvhQNWl?si=uUFbJcaTSKKuitN7utuSCA About Proc N Roll:Your guide to practical procurement, where we make procurement rock and roll.Hosted by Conrad Smith (Founder of Graphite Connect, former CPO at Adobe, and Intel), Natasha Gurevich (former CPO at Nike, Salesforce, McKesson, and IBM), and Zachary Bachir. Three procurement veterans with almost 70 years of combined practical experience, unpacking the trends, skills, and real-world lessons that shape the profession.

    12 мин.
  5. The Feedback Question That Disarms Every Conversation

    28 АПР.

    The Feedback Question That Disarms Every Conversation

    Want honest feedback from your team? Stop asking people to judge you. In this Proc N Roll: Track, pro-CPO Natasha Gurevich shares the single question that transformed how she receives feedback from direct reports, peers, and skip-levels: "How have you experienced me?" Conrad Smith and Zachary Bachir unpack why human nature resists feedback — the "mammalian brain" at work — and how leaders can build a culture where critical input becomes routine, not rare. This Track is pulled from https://open.spotify.com/episode/1r4JLHcYnMAk6Fps0Aw5Sc?si=JKC2fPO5QaGoQY5sRcCg-w About Proc N Roll:Your guide to practical procurement, where we make procurement rock and roll.Hosted by Conrad Smith (Founder of Graphite Connect, former CPO at Adobe, and Intel), Natasha Gurevich (former CPO at Nike, Salesforce, McKesson, and IBM), and Zachary Bachir. Three procurement veterans with almost 70 years of combined practical experience, unpacking the trends, skills, and real-world lessons that shape the profession.

    10 мин.
  6. The True Cost of Dirty Data in Procurement

    22 АПР.

    The True Cost of Dirty Data in Procurement

    In this week’s Proc N Roll, Conrad sits down with Stephany Lapierre, the visionary founder of Tealbook. They dive into the reality of modern procurement tech: why companies spend millions on "Ferraris" (expensive systems) only to fill the gas tanks with sugar and mud (bad data). Stephany shares her journey from founding Matchbook to fixing the foundational data issues that plague modern source-to-pay processes. If you want to know why portal fatigue is holding your suppliers back, why LLMs won't magically clean your data, and how to pare down a massive vision into digestible steps to get stakeholder buy-in, this episode is a must-listen! Timestamps: (00:53) – Welcome & The Ferrari Analogy (02:21) – Stephany's Journey: From Matchbook to Procurement Data (07:15) – The "Scott" Problem: Data Gatekeepers of the 90s vs. Now (13:42) – The Myth of the "Source of Truth" (15:55) – The Million-Dollar Data Cleanup Nightmare (26:41) – Entity Resolution: Which Stephanie are we actually paying? (28:34) – Will AI Fix Bad Data? (Spoiler: No) (31:17) – Lightning Round: Improving Supplier Onboarding (34:11) – Leadership Lessons: Paring Down the Big Vision About Proc & Roll  Proc n Roll is your go-to podcast for practical, no-nonsense insights into the world of procurement. Hosted by Conrad Smith, Zachary Bachir, and Natasha Gurevich. Whether you are looking to build a better operating model, adopt the latest in AI and tech, or transform your career path, we bring you the strategies and stories that matter.

    39 мин.
  7. Be an Intrapreneur: Applying Startup Principles to Procurement

    15 АПР.

    Be an Intrapreneur: Applying Startup Principles to Procurement

    Welcome to another episode of Proc n Roll! Today, Conrad sits down with Peter Teresi, founder and CEO of Certificial, to explore what it really takes to build the mindset of an innovator. Peter shares his journey from the early days of MSNBC to revolutionizing data standards in the insurance industry. The two founders also dive deep into the power of intrapreneurship. Peter highlights how a side project, building an API solution to operationalize standard adoption at ACORD, grew into the wildly successful ACORD Solutions Group. Leading that flourishing subsidiary as CEO gave Peter the exact confidence he needed to finally take the plunge and launch his own startup, Certificial. If you want to learn the difference between simple efficiency and true transformation, how to turn an internal side project into a global success, and why you need to master the "30-Hour Rule" to carve out time for innovation, this episode has you covered. Timestamps: (00:53) – Episode Intro & Welcome (02:30) – Peter's early tech roots at Microsoft & the launch of MSNBC (07:23) – Moving past paper forms: What ACORD really does with data standards (11:18) – How to build an "Innovation Mindset" and identify real problems (17:25) – Conrad's missed opportunities (and the blank space that led to Graphite) (20:57) – The origin of Certificial: From broken resumes to transforming COIs (24:56) – Efficiency vs. Transformation: Why the "Easy Pass" model isn't enough (38:02) – The reality of executing an idea and why investors bet on the person (42:33) – The 30-Hour Rule: Why you must make time to innovate in your day job (44:59) – Peter’s time-machine leadership advice and the importance of hiring the right team About Proc n Roll Proc n Roll is your go-to podcast for practical, no-nonsense insights into the world of procurement. Hosted by Conrad Smith, Zachary Bachir, and Natasha Gurevich. Whether you are looking to build a better operating model, adopt the latest in AI and tech, or transform your career path, we bring you the strategies and stories that matter. Be sure to hit that like button, comment your thoughts, and subscribe so you never miss an episode!

    49 мин.

  8. 8 АПР.

    The Big 50: Practical Steps to Building the Procurement Model of the Future

    Welcome to a milestone Episode 50 of Proc & Roll! Conrad, Natasha, and Zachary follow up on our previous high-level discussion to give you a practical, step-by-step guide to building your procurement operating model. https://open.spotify.com/episode/4lpDVChcoaCLtbsVWxYJsE?si=ijC9umgZSMuOFuawyzRtEw We kick things off with our real-world AI agent experiments—including Conrad’s AI Chief of Staff, "James"—and a heartwarming story of servant leadership from an Atlanta TSA worker. Then, we strip away the theory: how do you actually build a procurement framework? Learn why you must map the enterprise "skeleton" before drawing an org chart, how to structure your spend verticals vs. process horizontals, and why aligning with core business goals is your only path to success. Episode Timestamps: (01:00) - Intro, haircuts, and celebrating Episode 50!(03:37) - AI Top of Mind: Conrad's AI agent updates the corporate org chart.(08:08) - Overcoming AI intimidation: Natasha’s plan to automate admin tasks.(13:40) - The Atlanta TSA Hero: A powerful lesson in servant leadership.(17:20) - Deep Dive: Practical steps for building your procurement operating model.(21:29) - Step One: Understanding the enterprise structure (the "skeleton").(23:43) - Aligning your operating outcomes with core business goals.(26:59) - Exploring central, local, and center-led service delivery models.(36:00) - Natasha’s framework: Spend verticals vs. Process horizontals.(41:35) - How AI agents will impact future FTE headcount and strategic roles.(47:12) - Operating Model vs. Org Chart: Why the skeleton must come first. About Proc & Roll: Welcome to Proc & Roll, a practical guide that focuses on everything procurement. We dive deep into the operating models, technologies, and strategies that are reshaping the sourcing and supply chain industries. Subscribe for tactical advice, unfiltered opinions, and interviews with the brightest minds in procurement.

    52 мин.
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Welcome to Proc n Roll, where nearly 70 years of combined procurement expertise come together. Join Natasha, the PRO CPO with experience at IBM, McKesson, Salesforce, and Nike; Zach, the procurement guru from London; and Conrad, the visionary innovator behind transformational procurement at Intel and Adobe. We dive into the latest trends shaping the procurement landscape while breaking down the essential building blocks for success. Whether you’re new to procurement or a seasoned expert, our discussions will inspire you and keep you grounded in real-world value.

Информация

  • Автор
    Graphite Connect and Candor Procurement
  • Годы выхода
    2025 - 2026
  • Выпуски
    57
  • Ограничения
    Без ненормативной лексики
  • Авторские права
    © Graphite Connect and Candor Procurement
  • Сайт подкаста
    Proc-N-Roll : Your guide to practical procurement!