Publisher’s Note: While the days are starting to blend together, it is actually Thursday or Throwback Thursday as we call it on these pages. Given the number of conversations I have been having with CPOs as part of my annual CPO Rising research study and as part of our CPO Rising 2K20 Virtual Series, I was reminded of today’s article which was an excerpt from my research report, Becoming a Chief Procurement Officer which published in 2011. It was an influential report then and was one of our top-selling reports (back when we sold them). I was also reminded how the report was notably used/plagiarized by an industry blog and used to support the launch of that group’s CPO-themed sub-domain a few years later – shame on them. But, I digress… 

Becoming a CPO

The following is an excerpt from one of our recent reports, which looks at the key qualifications, experience and characteristics needed to ascend to the role of Chief Procurement Officer – The report – – is available by clicking on the title (registration required).

“Being a Chief Procurement Officer has been one of the most interesting, diverse, challenging and satisfying professional activities for me. Supply chain and procurement touches everything in a company….. There are so many possibilities [for procurement] to create value.”  ~ Head of Global Supply Chain & Procurement (CPO), Oil Services Company

There are many factors that impact the role and duties of a Chief Procurement Officer including the industry, region, company size, executive orientation, and organizational design and reporting structure of the procurement department. External factors like the economy, business and global trends, and the supply base also shape the position. Broadly, the professional specifications of a CPO role (and the underlying skills required to perform in it) can be quite diverse. For example, CPOs of small procurement organizations often find themselves needing to perform in the role as a “player-coach” – someone who serves as the leader and “face” of the operation but also needs to do some of the team’s “heavy-lifting.” On the other hand, the CPOs of large, complex, global procurement operations require a breadth of skills and experience that can rival those needed for any other C-Level position, so much so, that many of these CPO positions offer annual compensation packages in and around the seven figure mark. While large differences can and do exist between CPO roles, there are also a common set of operating responsibilities and skills that are shared by a majority of CPOs in place today. Interestingly, while the path to a procurement leadership role is often enabled by technical and functional prowess, it is a CPO’s leadership, communication, and relationship-building skills coupled with a clear understanding of business fundamentals and an ability to offer insight in support of the development of business strategy that enables them to thrive and succeed in the role.

This article originally published on 12/14/2011.

RELATED RESEARCH with CPO participant listed

CPO Leadership in Times of Crisis with Uldis Sipols

CPO Strategies: Paving the Road to Recovery with Anders Lillevik

CPO Playbook: Leveraging Your Network To Ensure Supply in the Age of Corona with Greg Tennyson

A New World (of) Orders: Rethinking the Supply Chain with Gregg Brandyberry

CPO Rising: The State of Procurement in 2020 based upon the responses of more than 300 CPOs

The CPO Rising 2K20 Virtual Summit – The Resiliency Imperative with Shelley Stewart and a few other CPOs

Tagged in: Ardent Partners Research, CPO, CPO Shop Talk, CPOs on the Rise