Here are some items I hope Santa will seriously consider leaving for outsourcing, procurement and supply chain professionals:
- Collaboration: Of course, I start with this!
- Trust: Yes, it’s hard to know who to trust, who is honest and who is willing to be as transparent as perhaps you are willing to be. My advice: take the first step. Someone has to go first, why not you?
- Guiding principles: Reciprocity, Autonomy, Honesty, Loyalty, Equity, Integrity– basing our lives and businesses on these principles is necessary to correct the mistakes of the past and manage the risks of the future.
- Flexibility, Patience, Transparency and Resiliency: While these qualities are always needed, they are really needed now with all of the volatile global changes we are seeing.
- Relational Contracting for Innovation, based on mindsets that accept “what’s in it for we”, shared risk/shared reward, value sharing/value creation, and always credible communication, communication, communication.
A tall order! Sturdy stockings are needed.
Happy Holidays!
Image: Stockings by Aldon Hynes via FlickrCC