In this episode of What the Duck?!" Craig Smith from the Procurement Foundry community, explores the unique challenges of managing direct material supply chains solo or in a small team. Known as a 'Lone Wolf,' Craig recounts his transition from marketing to procurement, highlighting the value of seeking assistance and continuous learning. The episode covers effective task prioritization in resource-scarce environments, leveraging technology for process efficiency, and the importance of cultivating robust relationships with internal teams and vendors.

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS

Networking and Community Building

Lone Wolf Concept in Procurement

Craig's Shift from Studying Marketing to Building a Career in Procurement

The Significance of Seeking Help and Learning from Others

The Need for Effective Prioritization of Tasks and Projects in Procurement, 

Leveraging technology and tools to Streamline Procurement Processes 

Internal and Vendor Relationship Building

Personal and Professional Goals

MOMENTS TO DUCK AROUND

“CRAIG: On the Concept of the ‘Lone Wolf’

So it's really about small procurement and sourcing or vendor management teams that are a bunch of us are a team of one, and then others have smaller two to three people-sized teams of running the procurement organization within their different entities."

CRAIG: On the Significance of Learning on the Job

"Ask for help. The both position, those first two positions, and companies where I started off in the career had really good engineers that loved to whiteboard, either you know technical diagrams or things like that and explain to me about the products or the services or the components that I was helping to procure.

Connect with Craig and learn what he’s been duckin’ around with:

Craig Smith | DHI Group Inc.

Connect with Sarah and find out more about what the duck she’s up to

LinkedIn |Twitter |SourceDay |SourceDay.com

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