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 at the same spot seven years earlier.
Every parent goes through the “they don’t need me anymore” moments; it’s our job to get our kids to that point. Sometimes we know these moments are coming (when we drop them at camp for their last season), sometimes they sneak up on us (the first time they drive off after getting their full driver’s license). Either way, this season has me thinking about independence.
A client I’ve worked with for eighteen months is letting their contract expire at the end of this month, and my feelings are similar to dropping my daughter off at camp. They have built a smoothly-running e-auction program with solid results in the first 12 weeks, and ran 600 auctions saving $40m last year. They’re on track to do the same and are absolutely nailing their 2026 3.5% savings goal. Their team now has good policies, complete training, solid relationships with stakeholders, and a smooth process where eighteen months ago they had barely heard of an e-auction. Now they’re independent and able to handle the weird categories, the difficult supplier conversations, and the tricky technical team engagement.
They don’t need me anymore.
This is how leadership goes too, with a good leader gracefully ready to bow out when it’s time, letting their team grow and blossom on their own.
The best executive leaders I’ve ever known are builders. They build programs, value, and people. They constantly look for talent, lift those people up, and allow people to be human under their watch. They seek and build independence and autonomy.
Some procurement leaders I’ve known would be upset when one of “their” people moved within the company and out of procurement. Some celebrated it for the joy it was, an opportunity to show the new business unit how procurement could help from within.
I always strove to be the latter, but it was always hard to lose good talent to another department. To let them be independent. To let them take what they had learned and fly.
I know my daughter will have a great year at camp. I know my client’s e-auction team will continue to surpass all expectations.
And I know there’s another team out there ready to fly. When they are, I’ll be here to give them wings.
-Janice
P.S. I’m trying something a little different this week, let me know how it sits with you. If you like it, I’ll do one of these maybe monthly, as a bit of a break from my usual info-dense articles.
Here are a few articles from the last month, in case you missed one or want to re-read. It was conference season, so get ready for learning from some amazing talks!
Trust Your Team. Say “Yes, And.” Notes from Two Exceptional USMA Keynotes
- Critical thoughts on teamwork, trust, and creativity
Economic Reality, Smartphone Addiction, and Other Lessons from USMA
- How to be more productive (I’ve been doing these things! They work!) and the true state of the U.S. Economy
Recoding Procurement: Kraft Heinz, AI Buying Lessons, and Apple’s China Story
- What to think about when selecting an AI provider and why the U.S. can’t simply do what China is doing to bring manufacturing back
- The debts we all must pay before AI can work for us
If you’d like to talk about your team, procurement, e-auctions, or anything else, let’s chat. If you’d like to get these articles weekly straight to your inbox and never miss one, sign up for my newsletter.
My book, Transform Procurement: The Value of E-auctions is available in ebook, paperback and even hardcover format: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F79T6F25
My chapter in the powerful anthology Femme Led: Hard-Learned Lessons from Women in Leadership is now available in ebook and paperback format: https://a.co/d/0bOzma8F
