Rio Tinto CPO: How To Fail Forward In Procurement

“No one is an Olympic caliber downhill skier from the outset!” Ramsay Chu, CPO Rio Tinto. That’s why procurement pros have to learn to Fail Forward! 

What better way to advance your procurement career than gaining inside information from the very best in the business.

If you only knew your CPO’s top priorities, what they’re looking for in new hires or how they see the procurement function evolving, you’d be perfectly placed to dazzle them with your foresight and intuition. Sound appealing, if not a little far fetched?

It shouldn’t do because Career Boot Camp 2017 launches today and promises to deliver with insights into all of the above.

Five days, five CPOs, five fifteen-minute podcasts to help you upgrade your procurement career. 

Featuring tips and guidance from the best in the business, each of our  CPOs will dedicate their week to coaching you on becoming the best procurement leader you can be!

There are a hundred and one reasons to tune in each day this week week but Rio Tinto CPO Ramsay Chu’s podcast is as good as any.

Need a little convinving before you sign up? Check out our teaser trailer below to hear what Ramsay had to say in reponse to our quick-fire questions.

Why Should Procurement Pros Fail-Forward?

As a CPO, it’s crucial to foster an entrepreneurial spirit within your procurement team, no matter how large the organisation. Ramsay explained to us that this happens when businesses create a safe environment for their employees to be creative.

” While that seems really abstract, I think a much simpler way to do it would be to create an environment where we can allow team members the emotional safety to speak up, develop the courage to share an idea that may not be part of the norm, and, more importantly, allow them to feel comfortable to fail.

“Trying and failing is really at the core of entrepreneurship.

“We think about some of the most transformative evolutions that any of us have personally experienced in our professional or personal careers. I can tell you that it’s almost always fraught with a history of failure and that failure is at the core of developing the entrepreneurial spirit.

“To use a more personal ideology, I think it would be very much akin to skiing. The best skiers have fallen many times. No one is an Olympic caliber downhill skier from the outset. It’s not a natural or innate talent that anyone’s born with. They get better by learning, pushing themselves to the limits, oftentimes falling, picking themselves up, and moving on.

“I think the fear of failure oftentimes casts a very long shadow, and potentially impairs our ability to really think big.”

Tech skills? Pfft! We can teach that stuff!

We were also eager to pick Ramsay’s brains on the procurement talent Rio Tinto is snapping up.  As the procurement function evolves, new skillsets are required.

Ramsay acknowledged that skillsets have historically been centered around supply chain, finance, operations or engineering, all, as he describes them “technical dicisplines.”

“What we’re trying to do [at Rio Tinto]  is find people that absolutely have what I would consider more specific experience in some of the more intellectual or emotional disciplines, in the form of either liberal arts or communications. Ultimately, it’s the ability to solve problems that I think will help and drive transformation within a company. It all comes down to having the capability to engage, to understand, collaborate, more importantly, to influence.

“We’ve had some great success with people that are creative writers, a couple of people with philosophy majors, and even a couple of communications experts. We have to be focused now on behaviors, and ultimately we can teach them those technical skills. It’s very likely and possible that we can take a philosophy major and teach them supply chain. It sometimes is harder to teach somebody that’s been rooted in the engineering discipline to think differently, so to speak, or create a different behavior.”

Listen to Ramsay’s full podcast when you sign up to Procurious. Career Boot Camp 2017 launches on 4th September, featuring podcasts with 5 global CPOs. Sign up here (It’s FREE!) 

Already a member of Procurious? You’re automatically enrolled for Career Boot Camp! Click here to listen to Ramsay’s podcast in full.