Proc-N-Roll : Your guide to practical procurement!

What does it actually take to rocket-ship your career, build unshakable leadership skills, and completely transform your mindset? In this week's Proc and Roll, Conrad sits down with his former Adobe colleague, Adam Lancaster. Adam shares his wild journey from surviving a mountain lion attack to navigating the high-pressure environments of Intel and Adobe, and eventually becoming the number two...

Is your procurement process holding the business back? Everyone dreams of a two-day PR to PO cycle, but reality often averages 10 to 15 days. When the process is that slow, business stakeholders will bypass procurement entirely to get things done. In this week's Proc and Roll, Conrad, Natasha, and Zach break down exactly why cycle times drag and how to fix them. They unpack the massive delays...

In this week's PNR, Conrad, Zach, and Natasha roll up their sleeves to tackle one of the most critical elements of leadership: how we actually make decisions. Moving beyond high-level theory, the hosts reveal their personal, battle-tested decision-making frameworks. From using AI to analyze our own subconscious biases, to navigating hidden corporate agendas and short-term quarterly earnings pressu...

In this special in-studio jam session, Conrad sits down with Natasha Gurevich live at Graphite Headquarters. Fresh off her week at Sundance Mountain Resort for a senior leadership program, Natasha shares powerful reflections on executive integrity, the danger of corporate "storytelling," and why every leader needs a personal board of directors. Whether you are navigating volatile times,...

In this week's Proc N Roll, Conrad and Zach dive deep into the world of Artificial Intelligence and how it is revolutionizing the way procurement professionals work. They discuss how the "language barrier" of traditional coding is gone, meaning anyone can use plain English to build complex systems like a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) tool. The duo also debates the new "Bui...

In this episode of Proc and Roll, Conrad, Natasha, and Zach tackle one of the most critical questions facing leaders today: how should we use Artificial Intelligence in our decision-making process? The team debates the risks of "automation bias" and whether relying on AI is causing intellectual laziness in the workforce. Natasha argues that humans must always remain the "master&quot...

In this episode of Proc and Roll, Conrad, Natasha, and Zach dive deep into the cornerstone of true leadership: decision-making. Drawing inspiration from Ray Dalio's Principles , Jocko Willink's Extreme Ownership , and Jeff Bezos, the hosts unpack how top leaders make the right calls when the stakes are high. They debate the dangers of consensus, why RFPs often lead to mediocre choices, and...

In this special episode of Proc and Roll, Conrad sits down with Natasha Gurevich to reflect on their career journeys, transitioning from massive enterprise procurement leadership roles to the wild world of startup founders. Natasha reflects on her legendary career—including being Nike's first CPO, where she grew spend under management from $10 billion to $15 billion and delivered a massive 23x...

Conrad and Zach sit down with Bart Reekmans, a former Belgian Air Reserve Commando who transitioned into a powerhouse career as a global Chief Procurement Officer. With experience leading multi-billion-dollar procurement teams at GE, Suez, Honeywell, and WorldPac, Bart brings a wealth of knowledge on building elite teams and navigating extreme corporate cultures. Whether you are stepping into a ne...

Welcome to the kickoff of the Proc n Roll Leadership Series! Conrad, Natasha, and Zach pause the standard procurement talk to dive deep into the philosophy of leadership, the meaning of work, and the true purpose of life in an AI-driven future. If you've ever wondered about the real difference between a manager and a leader, or why landing that massive promotion didn't make you as happy as...

Are you prepared for a future where your company rewrites its software every single night? In this episode of Proc n Roll, Zach and Natasha sit down with Sanjay Srivastava—former Chief Digital Officer at Genpact, serial entrepreneur, and founder of the Executive Technology Board—for a masterclass on enterprise AI. Sanjay unpacks why the current breakneck pace of AI development is actually the slow...

Welcome to another Jam Session on Proc n Roll ! This week, Conrad sits down with Ajay Khosla from Google to dive deep into the reality of agentic procurement and enterprise AI. They discuss the rapid evolution from simple generative chatbots to powerful, proactive agents (like Open Claw) and how these tools are fundamentally changing the user experience in sourcing. Discover why the future of proc...

In this episode of Proc n Roll, Zach and Conrad sit down with Joël Collin-Demers, the digital procurement mentor and author of the Pure Procurement newsletter. Joël unpacks the new "buy-to-build" paradigm in procurement technology, explaining how to successfully blend pre-packaged software suites with customizable, AI-driven toolboxes. From deep dives into the Model Context Protocol (MCP...

In this jam session of Proc n Roll, Conrad sits down with Limor David-Sternfeld, a seasoned executive with a fascinating career journey that spans from the defense industry to leading global sourcing and procurement in the Bay Area's big tech sector. Limor shares her practical insights on navigating unfamiliar sourcing categories, the changing dynamics of enterprise tech, and what it truly mea...

In this week's Proc n Roll, the trio tackles a billion-dollar boardroom debate: Who exactly owns AI in the enterprise? With 87% of companies increasing AI budgets by 2026, but only 14% having a clear C-suite owner, the lack of defined leadership is creating uncertainty. Conrad, Natasha, and Zachary debate the tension between decentralized, bottom-up innovation and top-down corporate governance...

In this week's Proc n Roll, we are joined by procurement legend John Dixon, whose 40-year career includes serving as Chief Procurement Officer for global giants like AstraZeneca, GSK, Diageo, BP, and Rolls-Royce. John drops some serious truth bombs about the current state of our industry. He explains why procurement is facing a "perfect storm" of risk, cost, and AI, and why leaders n...

You think you know your spend? Natasha Gurevich once found a company with 57 separate contracts with the same hotel chain — because nobody had visibility across entities. In this Proc N Roll: Track, Conrad Smith breaks down the simplest data model every procurement team needs (transactions → suppliers → cost centers), Natasha reveals how fragmented visibility creates hidden waste, and together the...

In this episode of Proc N Roll, the "Three Amigos" reunite to tackle the wild frontier of AI in the workplace before diving deep into the architecture of procurement operating models. Are AI tools "employees" or just "agents"? The trio discusses the clash between tech developers and HR departments, and Conrad introduces us to James. his multilingual, highly efficient...

The procurement talent crisis isn't a hiring problem — it's a development problem. In this Proc N Roll: Track, Natasha Gurevich argues that as automation replaces purchasing tasks, leaders can't expect their teams to instantly become strategic thinkers. You have to build that muscle from within. She introduces the "work romance" model: pair experienced Gen X leaders who under...

Every procurement professional has met that stakeholder — the one who says "we're fine, thanks" and locks the door. In this Proc N Roll: Track, Natasha Gurevich shares the exact playbook she used to break into one of procurement's hardest categories: marketing. Step one: stop threatening an RFP and start sending a one-page market intel newsletter. Step two: show them the supplier...

Welcome back to Proc n Roll! In this week's episode, Conrad reconnects with long-time colleague and procurement powerhouse Omid Ghamami to discuss a fundamental shift in how we source. Are you spending 70% to 90% of your day firefighting supplier issues? Omid argues that this happens because procurement teams are stuck in a 1970s mindset, focusing entirely on buying "goods and services&qu...

If procurement only speaks the language of cost savings, it will never be astrategic partner. In this Proc N Roll: Track, former CPO Natasha Gurevich argues that real value looks different to every stakeholder — risk reduction for legal, speed to market for marketing, capacity assurance for supply chain — and that procurement leaders need to be brave enough to tell their teams, "Forget the sa...

Procurement teams love to talk about risk. Most of them never actually manage it. In this Proc N Roll: Track, Conrad Smith lays out the biggest failure he sees across dozens of procurement orgs every month — stopping at "awareness" and never moving to mitigation — and introduces the four-step framework that separates real programs from glorified questionnaires: Define. Measure. Manage. M...

Want honest feedback from your team? Stop asking people to judge you. In this Proc N Roll: Track, pro-CPO Natasha Gurevich shares the single question that transformed how she receives feedback from direct reports, peers, and skip-levels: "How have you experienced me?" Conrad Smith and Zachary Bachir unpack why human nature resists feedback — the "mammalian brain" at work — and...

In this week’s Proc N Roll, Conrad sits down with Stephany Lapierre, the visionary founder of Tealbook. They dive into the reality of modern procurement tech: why companies spend millions on "Ferraris" (expensive systems) only to fill the gas tanks with sugar and mud (bad data). Stephany shares her journey from founding Matchbook to fixing the foundational data issues that plague modern...