by Janice Marquardt | Jul 28, 2026 | Supply Chain Career
My first boss in procurement used to tell me, “You can go to lunch with a supplier. But you have to be able to come back from lunch and fire that supplier the same afternoon.” His philosophy on supplier relationships was to keep suppliers a bit at arm’s length, make...
by Janice Marquardt | Jul 21, 2026 | Supply Chain Career
My career coach recently told me, “Networking is just building community.” The idea of “Networking”: my introvert self standing in a room, drink in my hand (often ice water!), mingling and talking to strangers for hours is exhausting. But the idea of building a...
by Janice Marquardt | Jul 14, 2026 | e-Auctions, Processes
There’s a bit of a debate in e-auction circles. Really, there are several, but let’s focus on one in particular: To RFP or not to RFP? If you’ve been reading my articles for a while, you know I favor an RFP before an e-auction in most situations. However, there are no...
by Janice Marquardt | Jun 23, 2026 | Supply Chain Career
I dropped my daughter off for her last year of camp, one of our favorite camp staff with her arm around my beautiful 16-year-old. As I walked back to my car to start the 8-hour drive home, I felt more sad and contemplative than I did when I dropped a small 9-year-old...
by Janice Marquardt | Jun 2, 2026 | Conferences, Creative Solutions
Welcome to part two of my notes from the Utility Supply Management Alliance (USMA) conference in Florida. If you missed the notes on a team’s success and on creativity, check them out here! Note they are NOT utility-specific or even supply chain-specific, and neither...
