The Coupa Top 5: What do Good Leaders do Differently
What do leaders do differently? This week we shine the spotlight on a couple of leaders who found success along the road less traveled, and we take a look at how you too can rock social media like a CEO and how you can make sure your cloud and procurement initiatives succeed.
Interview: 'We were mavericks,' says Barrie Wills, former purchasing director, DeLorean Motor Cars Limited – Supply Management
DeLorean Motor Cars Limited went from birth to burial in four and a half years. For Barrie Wills, it was an amazing ride, providing the opportunity to set up his own purchasing team from scratch. That resulted in some remarkable deals, pioneered an approach to engineering and design not seen outside Japan, and spawned a string of success stories for the buyers who went on to become purchasing managers and directors at top car companies across the globe. Wills says it was the most exciting time in his career, and now has written a book about it, John Z, the DeLorean and Me, which will be published in the fall. Supply Management’s Rebecca Ellinor Tyler interviews Wills for a sneak peek.
The strategist CFO: A conversation with ADP’s Jan Siegmund – McKinsey.com
Broader expectations of the role are leading to some unconventional CFOs—executives with deep experience outside the traditional finance, comptroller, and accounting career paths. ADP’s Jan Siegmund came to the CFO role from another C-level role, Chief Strategy Officer. In this interview, he discusses his experience making that transition, why it’s worked well for ADP, and how he survived the first hundred days of stepping into the role from an alternate route.
How Smart CEOs Use Social Tools to Their Advantage – Harvard Business Review
We spent last week looking at how procurement can use social media for supply chain intelligence. Procurement folks and others could also take a page from how smart CEOs are using social tools. Savvy leaders make the most of digital technology to to tune in to global conversations, leverage their networks and deepen the dialog in order to galvanize their organization around a shared understanding of the business. 
Why Cloud Computing Implementations Typically Fail – CIO.com
While the headline sounds alarming, there’s a simple fix to avoid failed cloud implementations: Planning. Businesses need to treat the cloud exactly the same as any technology enhancement. Get specific about security. Get detailed about business objectives. Get smart about planning. With those rungs in place, you’ll find climbing to the ladder to the cloud a breeze.
Hackett’s 2015 Procurement Key Issues – Purchasing Insight
Last month, Hackett, the authority on P2P, published their 2015 Key Issues study, an annual review of the priorities facing procurement organizations. The study has drawn quite a bit of comment. Reading between the lines, Pete Loughlin over at Purchasing Insight says that while some of the challenges Hackett calls out sound familiar, there could be an underlying malaise: Low technology adoption. While businesses have adopted source-to-pay tools and see them as having value, the execution has been poor and levels of deployment are still relatively low. The good news: there’s plenty of room to improve and to leverage technology to deliver business benefit.
