Becoming Commercial Architects with Amazon Fresh’s Head of Procurement, Rob Turner – Episode 65

Episode show notes

“You need to become the commercial architect, as opposed to the person that sends out the RFP and spends hours on Excel trying to analyse the responses of those prices.”

As procurement professionals venture further into becoming commercial leads looking to drive value, the skillset sought from those entering the role is ever-shifting.

Amassing a huge arsenal of skills throughout his illustrious career with John Lewis, PepsiCo, and now Amazon Fresh, Rob Turner is well positioned to observe that evolution.

Rob joins us on Talent Talks this week to consider how to successfully incorporate stakeholder needs, the growing divide between tech-driven & non-tech-driven businesses, whether remote roles can create effective teams, and much more.

This episode of Talent Talks covers:

• How Rob’s curious mind aided him throughout his varied career journey
• The importance of being flexible and open to change
• Becoming a commercial architect with more high-level considerations
• The evolution of essential skills with growth of tech-driven procurement
• Barriers and opportunities in the procurement market
• Whether you can fully achieve buy-in from your team in a fully remote role

This episode of Talent Talks is sponsored by 4C Associates – a leading European procurement and supply chain consultancy, who work collaboratively with forward-thinking clients to deliver real business value across a wide range of transformation and cost optimisation service offerings. Visit https://www.4cassociates.com/ for more information.

“My role was to exploit European energy markets that were liberalising at the time. So something pretty fascinating. It wasn’t traditional procurement, but entered me into the world of procurement, where I learned very rapidly the advantage of having a curious mind, diving deep in data and analytics, and the benefits that can bring you.” – 3:00 – Rob Turner

“One of the key things I think in senior procurement roles is an ability to manage relationships, manage them well, and listen. So from the start, try to understand the things that are important to another space, and have them involved in the solution.” – 10:40 – Rob Turner

“The worst thing you can do is go to somebody and say, ‘I’ve looked into the spend data and your contract compliance, this isn’t as good as it ought to be’. You think you’re helping to achieve such and such, but you’re actually not. The best start to the conversation is, ‘What’s troubling you in your world?’” – 15:40 – Rob Turner

“No matter your level, there’s always going to be something you can discover. The profession is always going to change and develop. Business priorities change, technology changes, customer expectations change, so you’ve got to adapt or become irrelevant. Being open to change and being curious are the biggest learnings I had earlier on.” – 18:10 – Rob Turner

“The development of tech presents a challenge both in terms of individuals that are thinking about their development, but also in terms of creating gaps in experience when we go out to market and look for particular individuals.” – 25:35 – Rob Turner

“You need to become the commercial architect in that space, as opposed to the person that sends out the RFP and spends hours on Excel trying to analyse the responses of those prices. That’s the difference. That’s what people have got to start trying to be aware of, and keep up with.” – 26:55 – Rob Turner

“You have to build, at the very foundation, the ability to be vulnerable with each other, in order that you align to your top level goal. The biggest fractures around alignment to what you’re trying to achieve happen because somebody hasn’t felt safe saying they disagree with it. You can’t create that kind of dynamic if you’re all sat behind a screen.” – 38:30 – Rob Turner