Future of Sourcing - Motivation https://futureofsourcing.com/tags/motivation en Women in Global Sourcing: Mary Zampino https://futureofsourcing.com/women-in-global-sourcing-mary-zampino <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/WIGS_Mary.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/WIGS_Mary.png" title="Women in Global Sourcing: Mary Zampino" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1407-Q1KgctYG-wc"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/WIGS_Mary.png?itok=n5fxjZzQ" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>Future of Sourcing Digital is pleased to welcome Mary Zampino to the &quot;Women in Global Sourcing&quot; stage. This series strives to highlight, celebrate and acknowledge women who are pioneers and leaders in the industry and who have been influential in moving the industry forward. Mary embodies this series in all that she does in her current role, her impressive past and her continued drive for education and learning.</p> <p>Mary is the Senior Director of Global Sourcing Intelligence at <a href="http://sig.org">SIG</a> and has over 20 years of experience in information technology and over 15 years of experience in sourcing. She holds a Bachelor&#39;s Degree in Information Science from the Florida State University and has completed certifications in Health Information Technology and Requirements Gathering.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div><em><strong>Tell us about your career path. How did you get into this field? Was it purposeful or by accident?&nbsp;</strong></em></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>During college I landed a job at a small software company and several of the network engineers there introduced me to coding (then called &quot;programming&quot;) and networking. I also honed my word processing skills and learned Microsoft Office. I became a whiz at documents and spreadsheets. That company moved to another city so I took a job with the state of Florida working desktop support in the statewide purchasing office. At that time, Florida was a pioneer in posting open bids, proposals and contracts on the internet. It was a very exciting time, as I was learning about the internet and public purchasing. One day, our chief procurement leader invited me to join him in a meeting with Governor Bush. I thought to myself, &quot;Wow, this industry has a lot of influence.&quot; The meeting was about increasing spend with minority vendors. Since I grew up in &ldquo;the sticks&rdquo; and saw how the system had left minorities often powerless, I had been looking for ways to make a difference. It dawned on me in that meeting that purchasing had a ton of power and could influence real change. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>After I graduated college, we moved to a bigger city and I eventually landed an interview at a start-up in 2001. Initially I was scared off by the words &quot;start-up&quot; as literally the infamous bust had just happened a few months before. But they wanted to fly me to Chicago for a day of interviews and, as it is my hometown, I went. All day long I went from one meeting to the next, during which they mapped out a brand new concept called Software-as-a-Service purchasing and talked about group purchasing and demand management. Over the next ten years I conducted thousands of reverse auctions, built a bid management system in our procure-to-pay suite, and learned how to write a good SOW (you can&#39;t auction what isn&#39;t defined). Since I worked for sourcing professionals as a provider, I had a crash course on every category out there &ndash; from printer paper to pad transformers and from facilities management to road construction. It was a fantastic job and I made a lot of great connections. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>One of those connections was a current member of SIG, who introduced me to our CEO, Dawn Tiura. We clicked right away, and I admired her vision and passion. For the last nine years I have been shaping the content for SIG&#39;s Global Summits, curating our resource center, conducting research, analyzing trends and documenting the findings. I also have the extreme privilege of managing peer discussions, so I get this exceptional insight into the issues and concerns of our members &ndash; and better yet, the proposed solutions! &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong><em>Would you follow that same path again if you had the choice?&nbsp;</em></strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>When I was in school, I was actively discouraged from participating in math and science classes. I excelled in history, literature and language arts. So I wasted a lot of time ignoring innate business and project management skills I didn&#39;t even really realize I had. However, when I started working and using practical skills, I began to appreciate more of my process-mapping, analytical skills. I really wish I had had more practical training before I had to start spending money on school. Because of my family&#39;s circumstances, I couldn&#39;t waste a penny &quot;finding my path.&quot; What I do appreciate is how I have spent time both as a buy-side practitioner in a contracting and a support role, and as a provider. The insight you have as a practitioner is critical to being a successful provider. If you can walk the talk, you are much more authentic. I learned this when I was conducting roadshows explaining reverse auctions to sourcing practitioners who had literally sourced billions of dollars in spend and dozens and dozens of categories in their decades-long careers. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong><em>What has been the single most significant development to impact your profession or area of business during your career and why?&nbsp;</em></strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>People. I have been very fortunate to work for and alongside some incredibly generous people. When I look back at the things that change my path, and opened up a new opportunity, it&#39;s because someone recognized my skills and hard work. I am very grateful to them all. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong><em>What&rsquo;s the biggest challenge facing your industry today &ndash; and how do you plan to solve it?&nbsp;</em></strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>I think the greatest issue facing this industry is a lack of investment in people. We need to create environments where sharing is rewarded and where people feel comfortable taking calculated risks and spending money that may not have an immediate return on investment. It&#39;s difficult with sourcing professionals because we are taught to keep ourselves anonymous, our strategies secret, our terms elusive &ndash; all in a bid to keep the upper hand. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong><em>What do you consider to be your greatest achievement career-wise?&nbsp;</em></strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>What I am most proud of today is the respect I have of my peers and my customers. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong><em>What&rsquo;s your biggest (as yet) unfulfilled ambition &ndash; and what are you doing to achieve it?&nbsp;</em></strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Personally, I want to write a book. Professionally, I want to convince every professional in sourcing &ndash; from people who buy stuff to the people who sell stuff &ndash; that sharing is critical to innovation and innovation is critical to relevancy. In every conversation I have, I try to demonstrate the importance of creating a trusted environment where we can constructively share ideas, insights, problems and solutions. Sourcing has an incredible opportunity to effect monumental change in addressing everything from slavery in supply chains to negative climate change. We owe it to the generations after us to harness that capability and bring people up from poverty, stop greenhouse emissions, build sustainable facilities and much more. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><em><strong>What three words do you think your colleagues and peers would use to describe you?&nbsp;</strong></em></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This feels awfully presumptuous, but I would hope that my colleagues would describe me as smart, kind and generous. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong><em>Finally, what piece of advice would you give to young women starting their careers in the field of sourcing, outsourcing and procurement?&nbsp;</em></strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Thank you so much for asking. In the first few years of your career, move around a lot. Make yourself uncomfortable. Look for the challenges and learn how people are solving them. Be generous with your time and your colleagues. Listen. Listen for the good ideas, listen for the winners and the losers. Do not dismiss anyone you meet and ask them all questions about what they do, how they do what they do and what they wish they could be doing. Build your network. Your next job will definitely come from your network. Make sure and meet people, keep appointments and show your gratitude for their time. Make time every week to work on your next big step &ndash; a certification, a degree, a new language, a new category, a new strategy, a new tool. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Of course, a word about being a woman. I wish things were different today, but I still walk into a room and see less people who look like me than not. This has been happening since I hung up my uniform and put on a suit. I still see instances where men snub their noses and assume since I am in heels I don&#39;t have a brain or a worthwhile thought. I still see instances where men get rewarded for hardly trying and women have to fight for every last drop. My advice &ndash; fight for your seat at the table. You won&#39;t be able to live with yourself if you don&#39;t. As you get older, you know what&#39;s worth fighting for and how to do it well. So keep up the practice.&nbsp;</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/leadership" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Leadership</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/career-building" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Career Building</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/innovation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Innovation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/motivation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Motivation</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/mentoring" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Mentoring</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Women in Global Sourcing: Mary Zampino - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/women-in-global-sourcing-mary-zampino"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 19 Mar 2019 20:41:40 +0000 Mary Zampino 1407 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/women-in-global-sourcing-mary-zampino#comments Women in Global Sourcing: Linda Behan https://futureofsourcing.com/women-in-global-sourcing-linda-behan <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/WIGS_Linda_Behan%20624x325.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/WIGS_Linda_Behan%20624x325.png" title="Women in Global Sourcing: Linda Behan" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1399-Q1KgctYG-wc"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/WIGS_Linda_Behan%20624x325.png?itok=dnhTGO1J" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>Future of Sourcing Digital is excited to continue our popular series titled &ldquo;Women in Global Sourcing.&rdquo; This series strives to highlight, celebrate and acknowledge women who are pioneers and leaders in the industry and who have been influential in moving the industry forward. It is our pleasure to feature <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-h-behan-9b46087/" target="_blank">Linda Behan</a> this week, of Iron Mountain.</p> <p>Linda Behan is a highly accomplished Senior Executive and Thought Leader with more than 30 years of global sourcing and procurement success across a range of industries including information management and storage, financial services, and technology with spend under management from 1-4 Billion annually. Leveraging extensive experience executing long-term strategic plans to achieve organizational transformations for global companies, she is a valuable asset for mid- to large-cap organizations looking to drive sustainable growth. Her broad areas of expertise include supply chain optimization, change management, cultural transformation, operational streamlining, and talent management.&nbsp; Linda has also been a valued member of the SIG community for more than 15 years, prior Board member, and sought after speaker at SIG events.&nbsp;</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div><strong><em>Tell us about your career path. How did you get into this field? Was it purposeful or by accident?</em></strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>I started my career in an entry level role at Fidelity Investments in the Real Estate division. Fidelity was growing rapidly, and the real estate division maintained a formal procurement organization to manage the construction and furniture buys. Young and curious, in addition to typing and amending the contracts I started to read them to better understand what they were and how they were structured. Over time, all of the other Fidelity division&rsquo;s procurement resources were centralized under the real estate team. &nbsp;With a strong understanding of the contracts and processes I jumped at the opportunity when an entry level procurement role became available. This was my first step into my procurement career and I kept on going.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><em><strong>Would you follow that same path again if you had the choice?</strong></em></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>While there are certainly many things I would have done differently along the way, I&rsquo;ve loved my journey. I feel incredibly fortunate to have broadened my knowledge and competencies in each role, building on the past, and learning as I go.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><em><strong>What has been the single most significant development to impact your profession or area of business during your career and why?</strong></em></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Information and technology. &nbsp;When I first started my career, there were no market intelligence resources or search engines. &nbsp;Requests for quotations, purchase orders, and payment processes were on paper delivered by mail, and contracts were stored in file cabinets. It&rsquo;s so exciting to see the evolution of Procure-to-Pay solutions that are truly user and supplier-centric, making it easy to do business, driving compliance, and transparency. There are market intelligence sources, analytical engines for aggregating opportunities across businesses/functions and regions, and P2P technologies that finally are Amazon like. &nbsp;These enabling technologies result in transaction efficiencies and speed to opportunity assessment. &nbsp;Reductions in transactions costs can be reinvested in strategic resources with broader impact. This is transformative.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><em><strong>What&rsquo;s the biggest challenge facing your industry today - and how do you plan to solve it?</strong></em></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Reputation. Procurement functions have evolved, but unfortunately many remain non-strategic. Our ability to deliver value to the organizations we support is predicated on being respected and proactively engaged. I am passionate about this and have authored whitepapers and spoken many times on this very &nbsp;topic. &nbsp;Poor stereotypes derail our positive impact we can make internally and externally. If you survey a room full of buy-side and sell-side participants and ask them what negative perceptions of procurement exist. Here&rsquo;s what you will unanimously hear. Procurement:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <ul> <li>Focuses solely on reducing unit price</li> <li>Holds rigidly to a process, making us &ldquo;bid everything&rdquo; and &ldquo;commoditize everything&rdquo;</li> <li>Operates in a silo, &nbsp;doing &ldquo;procurement stuff&rdquo;</li> <li>Is late to the engagement, &ldquo;slows us down&rdquo;</li> <li>Maintains inadequate subject matter expertise, &ldquo;doesn&rsquo;t know our business&rdquo; and/or &ldquo;doesn&rsquo;t know or understand our market</li> </ul> <p>These perceptions exist for a reason. It&rsquo;s important to understand why, and what we can and should do differently as a function to eliminate or transform them. &nbsp;I have a point of view on this concern and would love to share.</p> <div><em><strong>What do you consider to be your greatest achievement career-wise?</strong></em></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>My organization and those whom I have helped further their careers. This includes those that are with me today, and those that may have left to pursue their careers elsewhere. I try to remain in touch with everyone personally and professionally. &nbsp;Mentoring or guiding &nbsp;them through their careers has been incredibly rewarding. I am grateful to have near zero voluntary attrition and many of my team members have followed over my 20+year career. My team members are smart, dedicated, strategic professionals that I consider them my &ldquo;professional family&rdquo;. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Work is just one part of everyone&rsquo;s life. While critical it should never be everything. As a manager, remember that you work for your employees as much as they work for you. I afford everyone in my organization flexibility to work remotely. As a single mom, I did not have this opportunity afforded to me when raising my two girls. While recognizing that working wasn&rsquo;t an option, I still have deep regret for the time I was away when they were young. I don&rsquo;t want anyone on my team to have these regrets.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><em><strong>What&rsquo;s your biggest (as yet) unfulfilled ambition - and what are you doing to achieve it?</strong></em></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>I can&rsquo;t really say that I have one particular ambition that is unfulfilled. I think my answer is the same answer I provided at the dawn of my career to the question, &ldquo;Where do you want to be in five years?&rdquo; It has always been &ldquo;making a difference.&rdquo;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong><em>What three words do you think your colleagues and peers would use to describe you?</em></strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Insightful, supportive, strong.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong><em>Finally, what piece of advice would you give to young women starting their careers in the field of sourcing, outsourcing and procurement?</em></strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Probably the same advice I give everyone. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><u>Have integrity &ndash; beyond telling the truth:</u></div> <div>Treat people the way you want to be treated. Pronounce and take responsibility for your mistakes, (they are not bad &ndash; they are learning opportunities). Say what you think, not what you think people want to hear.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><u>Have a strong work ethic:</u><br />Work above and beyond your current responsibilities without complaint.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><u>Love and be inspired by what you do: Take pride in any job you do and seek to be the very best.</u></div> <div>Positive learning can be realized from even the worst environments and jobs. Ask questions.</div> <div>Think &ldquo;what if&rdquo;&hellip; not &ldquo;can&rsquo;t because&rdquo;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Other thoughts that may not seem so evident:</div> <ul> <li>Start saving for retirement as soon as you start working</li> <li>Always live within your means, there are very important professional reasons why this is important</li> <li>Say thank you when you receive feedback (good or otherwise)</li> <li>Say thank you when you receive a raise</li> <li>Maintain contacts in the industry&mdash;networking is the best way to stay relevant and also find the next job</li> </ul> <div>&nbsp;</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/leadership" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Leadership</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/career-building" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Career Building</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/chief-procurement-officer-cpo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Chief Procurement Officer (CPO)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/innovation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Innovation</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/motivation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Motivation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Women in Global Sourcing: Linda Behan - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/women-in-global-sourcing-linda-behan"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 05 Mar 2019 19:45:24 +0000 Linda Behan 1399 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/women-in-global-sourcing-linda-behan#comments