Page 28 - CPOmagazine_11

Tania Seary

CEO and Founder at Procurious

“I strongly

encourage our

profession to

embrace cognitive

procurement”

many business people around the In today’s business environment,
PO Magazine: Why
did you decide to world still have a fairly outdated getting the training we need is tough.
create a social net- view of the procurement profession Large companies have cut budgets
C work for procurement – stuck in the back room, proces- so severely that there is rarely any
professionals? sing purchase orders in their brown money to attend the really great
cardigans! procurement conferences and specia-
Tania Seary: Many procurement lised training.
professionals are working in isola- I wanted to create a new brand for
tion, unaware that there is a whole the profession, one that reflected Not only is funding non-existent.
universe of knowledge and professio- how exciting procurement & supply Many procurement teams have
nals available to help them do their chain really is. been forced to downsize to such an
jobs better and learn more effectively. extent that they can’t afford to have
I believe in the power of networking “Procurement has multiple people out of the office at
– for yourself, your contacts and a new face. It’s the same time.
the profession – and that a healthy
professional network is a major con- now younger, more You may remember a time when
tributor to career success. ambitious and more MBAs were funded, elaborate corpo-
global than ever rate leadership development pro-
During my 20 years in procurement grams were in place, and attending
I have seen the quality and calibre of before” conferences were all part of the job.
professionals dramatically improve.
Our market research for Procu- C.M: What’s the importance But this is the reality of the modern
rious revealed that the majority of you give to knowledge and economy. This is the business envi-
procurement professionals are highly training for procurement pro- ronment within which we are trying
educated, have large disposable fessionals? to develop, as well as nurture other
incomes, and have a huge influence future leaders.
on corporate spend. T.S.: “The only common deno-
minator in your career is you”. We need to throw out our old
Procurement has a new face. It’s A Global CEO gave this career perceptions of professional develo-
now younger, more ambitious and advice to me years ago and it has pment and training and adapt to the
more global than ever before. But always stuck with me. brave new world. This is all about
...
28