WINNING: ONE EXPERT’S PLAYBOOK FOR CORPORATE CULTURE SUCCESS By Andy Beth Miller Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., the former CEO of IBM, knows the importance of corporate culture. In fact, according to Gerstner, it’s where the game of success is won or lost. Gerstner stated, “Until I came to IBM, I probably would have told you that culture was just one among several important elements in any organization’s makeup and success — along with vision, strategy, marketing, financials, and the like...I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn’t just one aspect of the game, it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.” We can all read this inspirational quote and think to ourselves…Great! Sign me up! I want in that game! However, we’ll quickly realize that we are just one player, and in order to win, which according to Gerstner means creating value, we must have a winning team by our side and a fearless and motivated coach leading the way. Enter Matt Anders, Executive Director of Technology Sourcing at AT&T Warner Media, who graciously sat down with us and walked us through some fundamentals of how to create a successful procurement-minded corporate culture, while also giving us an inside look at his playbook, which details just what your ensemble team needs to do in order to get in the game, stay in the game, and ultimately, win. I decided to start off by asking about the basics, and simply asked Anders to, in a nutshell, break down what a “procurement-minded corporate culture” is exactly. He graciously obliged, echoing Gerstner’s thoughts, and it all points back to value. “A ‘procurement-minded corporate culture’ is one where each and every
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transaction is done with thoughtful consideration of the value brought by the supplier,” he shared. Now, this may sound simple enough, but Anders quickly points to a common pitfall that often trips up corporations, sidelining them from connecting with the touchdown zone of optimum value products because they get stuck in the comfort zone. “Too often, corporations either find themselves buying from certain suppliers out of habit, or get caught up in rigid procurement processes that become a bit mindless,” Anders explained. In this case, the path of least resistance is not necessarily the right route to take. And, the more we talk, the more it seems that the road to achieving a thriving and successful procurement-centered culture is not only narrow, but it can be quite tricky to navigate. Anders quickly shares another useful piece of advice, this time, regarding the maximization of ROIs, which in this analogy, can be seen as getting the most mileage out of every gallon of fuel you’re purchasing and putting in your car. “Every business has capital constraints, and third-party spend will consume a large portion of those finite resources. In order to thrive and grow, they need to maximize the return on the money they spend.” Anders already has me thoroughly convinced, and I’m ready to jump in, but like any coach worth his salt, Anders keeps me on the sidelines a little longer in order to make sure I’m familiar with the rules of the
