Procurement Mentors

Interview Anu Srinivasan September 2025 Nita Arora-Parkes

Hi, welcome Anu to the first procurement mentor podcast, sponsored by Group CPO.

Anu Srinivasan

Thank you. I am absolutely delighted to be here, Nita, and particularly as the first podcast session. Absolute pleasure, and thank you for having me.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Well, thanks for joining us, and I know that you're really busy in your new role, so I really appreciate you taking the time out. This podcast, we thought about starting because we wanted to guide and inspire up and coming procurement leaders to help them elevate their careers. I speak to leaders in procurement every day, and this would be a really good way of helping to share the knowledge of people that have been doing this for a lot longer.

So today, what we're going to do is ask you some questions about how and why you got to where you are today, and use that to help guide those up and coming leaders. And they we’re going to hit you with some rapid fire questions to get to know the Anu behind the title. So, any questions before we get started?

Anu Srinivasan

No, let's do it.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Okay. So firstly, Anu, can you share your journey into the procurement field and how you rose to your current leadership role? And did you have any mentors along the to support you?

Anu Srinivasan

Yeah, I think a lot of procurement professionals will relate to what I'm about to say, Nita. I landed in procurement accidentally, like most of us do. It was not a profession that I woke up and thought, yay, I should be a procurement professional when I grow up. It was an interesting opportunity that was provided through my career. I think the opportunity came because I was to picking up roles that gave me the opportunity to learn. And those roles were picked, not necessarily because they were senior or sideways move. I was always looking for opportunities where I can learn and expand my understanding of the business and learn the business and the business acumen and knowledge. So procurement landed like that as a sideways opportunity, which I was very excited to pick up and run with. And lo and behold, 12 years later, I'm still in procurement. I think what really helped me progress to the role that I'm in today is that open-mindedness to be able to learn and pick up opportunities as they came along irrespective of where they sat in that organization ladder. Having a really strong consulting background and also industry experience that came with the consulting background was super useful in being able to build some of those skills into procurement.

And to answer your other part of the question, absolutely. I have had mentors throughout my career. I've had two mentors. Sometimes, I don't know if you find this, Nita, sometimes You have mentors, and then you have them for a few years, and then you move organizations, and then that relationship is left or becomes obsolete, and you're not staying in touch anymore. So I've made an absolute effort to have these particular two mentors in for the last 10 to 15 years, and making every effort to stay connected, and making sure that I'm getting that independent view and soundboard. Finally, what's also been crucial for my success has been having great managers and leaders who trusted me and empowered me and enabled me to take the risk in roles. They've trusted me to do that.

Nita Arora-Parkes

You're right, we do get mentors that come in and out of our careers, depending on where you're at at that point in time and where they can or cannot support you. So I think it's important that if you need to move on from one mentor to another, then that's fine, too. Okay, next question for you. In your experience, what are the key skills that distinguish great procurement leaders from the rest?

Anu Srinivasan

A really interesting question. I don't know if my answer is going to be completely out there or is going to resonate with people. So I had things like curiosity and learning is probably the number one skill for procurement leaders. Number two, I had move sideways, downwards, upwards in all sorts of directions to learn. And the third skill I had was make things simple, remove complexity. I think it's very easy to make make simple things complicated, which a lot of organizations and functions tend to do. I found when I go in and my brain requires things to be quite simple, so I take the complex and try and make it into simple, sizable chunks for me to I understand, and often I've heard when I've done that, people have been quite grateful for me coming in and doing that. I think that is a really critical skill. I also had execute and deliver, really important for for the rest of the business to see that procurement is a function that can actually do things, not just say the say, but actually walk the talk, really critical. Impactful outcomes, so rather than tick in the box, really impactful outcomes.

Examples and case studies that we can talk about stories that we can share are really, really important. Bounce back from Failure is another one that I had, and a great human human leader. Often we think as leaders, we need to have all the technical skills and the perfect soft skills. Not necessarily. I think if we are quite human and we know that we're not perfect and we surround ourselves with people that can make us together a perfect function, then you're quite successful in your role as a leader. So I think these are skills that have helped me stand apart. And these were skills that, interestingly enough, were skills that were honed in on as part of my early in my career in consulting, and they're all soft skills.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Yeah. I was just going to make that comment that I noticed they were all soft skills. So when you are actually hiring, do you hire for soft skills over hard skills?

Anu Srinivasan

I certainly do. I am people who know me in the market. Recruiters and people that have worked for me know very well that I hire for people with soft skills. And I hire for the organization. Nita, I found that when I worked for a financial services organization, the type of personalities that I've needed for that organization and that culture extremely different from a healthcare business, a function that I was leading there, versus a consulting firm, very different personalities. This is by no means to say that I'm not looking for technical skills. I see that as a ticket to the game. It's absolutely critical for you to have a foot through the door, but technical skills can be taught. So I have hired people from different functions within the business that have had zero procurement knowledge, but great soft skills that come with a lot of curiosity, a lot of wanting to learn, bringing other technical skills as well, like data analytics or AI or ability to be able to negotiate really good sales a perspective and sales experience that can help with the buying side of things. So I'm always looking for skills that align to the culture of the firm and what's needed for the organization as well.

Nita Arora-Parkes

 

That's great. Thank you. So procurement leaders often work across various departments. What strategies have you found most effective in building trust in cross-functional relationships?

Anu Srinivasan

Yeah, this is a really interesting question, Nita, It goes often in procurement forums and conferences, we always talk about having a seat at the table, being a business partner, and we've talked about it for as long as I've been in procurement, right? Like over a decade now. But that all means different things to different people. And it's a very challenging position that procurement can get into, given everything that goes on in different industries and organizations. But for me, I think the things that have, when I reflected on my career, that stood out for me is using the business language and solving for business problems is the number one thing that I had, number one strategy. So often, I mean, even in my new role currently, just trying to understand what is the problem in our stakeholders' mind, what is the language that they are using? So then I can start to demonstrate my business acumen by speaking the same language and understanding the problem through their eyes, not through the eyes of procurement. I think that's the first strategy. The second strategy I had was building the knowledge of the business and why the problem.

And I think that is really critical. You're talking their language, I think that's a really powerful combination because you're no longer going in there saying, Well, I come from procurement. I've done a category strategy, and this is your category strategy, Mr. X, and this is how my.

We want to deliver. So very, very different conversation. The third one I had was you need to... I know this is going to sound quite onerous, but my view is that we have to have a different strategy for different stakeholder. It's no different from what you would have in your personal life. You wouldn't apply the same strategy with your partner and a friend and a sister and a brother and a mother and a father. You know who they are and they are unique in how they operate, and you would have your own strategy for working with them and getting the best out of that relationship. So I would say the same thing for an impactful business outcome is to understand who your key stakeholders are and understanding how they operate and how can you maximize the outcome. So have a different strategy for each one of them. And finally, I said it's always about the business, always about business outcome. So again, sharing those outcomes and wins as a business outcome and a win rather than a procurement outcome and a win. We can do that. We can celebrate the procurement wins within the procurement function.

But more broadly, I think it's really important to celebrate and talk about it as business outcomes.

Nita Arora-Parkes

That's great advice. Thank you. And I think the company and the Department do appreciate that approach. Next one for you. How do you continuously stay updated with the latest trends, technologies, and best practices in procurement? It is an ever-changing world at the moment.

Anu Srinivasan

It is, isn't it? I think about procurement 10 years ago. Certainly, I don't think we were doing 50 % of what we do now in terms of. And then I look at five years ago, and in terms of technology, and the things that have become really crucial for us absolutely changed the world. And look at us today. We were talking about data and data analytics only two years ago, and now everybody's talking about AI and how can that play a key role? So for me, For me, I think it's the network. So connecting with professionals like yourself, Nita, and key procurement networks in the industry, conferences, and also my peers and counterparts in other organizations. I think that is my number one, this is like the mentor relationship we talked about earlier. Often we forget we have a really solid network and we don't tap into it in the business of our day to day lives. I have started to build a bit of a cadence and consistency and discipline around connecting with my network. I try and meet at least one person, one or two people from my network every month. It's a discipline  practice in respect to how busy you are, just taking half an hour to go have a coffee with someone just to have that conversation.

I think you build a whole wealth of knowledge through those conversations. Secondly, consultants. Again, with just my consulting background, I like to stay connected with all of the consulting firms, the big ones, the smaller tier ones, just to pick their brains on. And they love to talk about the industry trends. That's what they do. It's really good to pick their brains on. What are the challenges you're seeing in the industry? They see it through a different lens than we see in the industry. So I think that's amazing. And finally, suppliers. I just find that if you take 10 minutes at the end of your day-to-day meetings with your suppliers and say, Hey, what are you seeing in the market? Are these the same challenges? I think there's a wealth of knowledge that you can tap into through that as well.

Nita Arora-Parkes

There's some really good ideas there, which I hope people do tap into. What advice would you give to an aspiring procurement leader looking to advance their career up to the C-suite?

Anu Srinivasan

Yeah, I think this one's a really interesting question, Nita. When I thought about this, I was thinking, by the time someone's thinking about this question, I am hoping that they've mastered the technical skills in procurement, right? Like I said earlier, it's a ticket to the game. It's an absolute no brainer. Simply because I haven't touched on it doesn't mean it's not important. It's super important. You absolutely need to do that. Absolutely. And after my first role in procurement, curiosity got me learning all of the different aspects of procurement. I've spent time doing category management work, ops risk and governance work, data analytics work, reporting, regulatory, and social procurement. I've done all of that before stepping into a CPO type role, a leadership head of procurement type role. I think it's really important you understand the different aspects of procurement and how it all comes together. Not only does it help you make better decisions as a leader, but it also helps you lead the team coming from a place of knowledge and understanding of the challenges and the benefits. Mastering in terms of soft skills, mastering the soft skills, influencing and stakeholder relationship, I think it's absolutely critical, particularly in a leadership role, because that absolutely differentiates the leaders that can execute and deliver versus the leaders who cannot.

And so influencing can come in all sorts of different ways. And I don't want aspiring leaders to think that you need to be a certain type of personality to be able to influence. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about having really meaningful conversations and impactful outcomes that can help influence your stakeholders. Having those strategy, I think that is absolutely critical. People leadership. This is so underrated. Often we don't talk about how we as leaders are expected to not just manage the technical outcomes for our team, but also the people outcomes. But I don't think we nearly spend enough time in doing that. And I found being a really good people leader who listens and hears what's going on with the people and building a really good culture and strong productivity means that you've got a high performing team, really good outcome. And highly engaged. I think it's absolutely critical as a leader to do that. Conflict management is another one. So with respect to how hard you try, there are going to be things that are not going to go the way you would like it to, and people that you are going to wrap the wrong way.

So it's really important to understand how you manage that conflict and work through that in a really professional way and to be able to drive outcomes. And finally, this is my mantra, and I think I mentioned this at the start, the ability to make something really simple from a complex, I think, separates the best from the rest. I think that was your first question. And I've always found that That when you come into the room where it's a group of people that are struggling with a complex problem, if you had the ability to really make it simple and able to articulate that in a simple way, and make it digestible for everybody to understand and solve for it, will be a very highly valued skill. And every time I've done that, I've had take all this said to me, Well, thank you so much for doing that. It's That's one thing I never thought I had the ability to do until very recently in my role in a consulting environment where I've had to do that quite often. And people have commented on how critical that has been. So I can start to see that that's a really critical skill to have.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Okay. So it sounds like from your perspective, and I think I agree with this, too, is that the hard skills of procurement, are really what opens the door and what gets you in, but what elevates you is those soft skills. And without those, really, it's going to be hard to climb that ladder.

Anu Srinivasan

Absolutely,Nita. And if we were to take even this conversation as an example, You and I totally connected through a conference, through a procurement conference. And it was completely a proactive, self-initiated conversations that we've had over the last year or so that has led us to having this conversation now. And that is completely a soft skill around curiosity and learning that has brought this relationship much more closer, which means now I have access to your network and you have access to my network, and it builds on that. So this is a great example of how our professionals can really tap into that, the soft skills, curiosity, and learning, and connections and networks to be to progress through their careers because we're all in the same field. We have the same challenges and opportunities.

Nita Arora-Parkes

We definitely do. So, procurement is often seen as a cost center. We don't bring money in, although we help create it. How do you shift that perception and prove the value of procurement to the organization?

Anu Srinivasan

This is a very interesting question and often asked in a lot of round tables or conferences that I've And Nita, I actually have a controversial view and a response to this. It is a fact that it is a cost-saving function, and I don't think we, as procurement professionals, should be embarrassed or should worry about it. I think it is such a great opportunity for procurement to be able to make that cost impact in the broader business. I cannot think of any other supporting head office or enabling function that has the privilege and the ability to be able to directly contribute to the financial numbers of the organization. So I think it is fantastic that we continue to be in that space and we can very easily put forward an ROI on the function in pure dollar numbers. I think we should be very proud of that as probably the only supporting function that can do that. So that's my first view. So then my second view or to to answer the next part of your question is, how can we go on top of that rather than thinking, I don't want to be seen as a cost function.

I'm saying, yes, we are a cost function. We deliver that and we do that really well. That brings a lot of respect for us as a function. That's our primary duty. And then what else can we do on top of that to be able to add value? And that comes in the form of having the conversations with the business, like I said earlier, and understanding what the business problems are. So then the broader stakeholder start to understand that, Yeah, okay, cool. You are a function that understands and delivers cost savings for me, but you also understand my other problems. So I've got relationship problems with my supplier. How can you help that? That may not necessarily deliver savings. It may be a lot of investment in time that you may or may not have the capacity to do at that point in time. But some of this little value add things that you do over time builds that relationships. And I found that the stakeholders pivot from, Okay, I know the ROI is a given, the commercial piece is a given, and now I can go to procurement and demand other things. Often we're unable to shift to that value piece because we're not able to deliver on some of the one-on-ones.

I explain it as, again, a ticket to the game. You've got to have certain skill sets to be able to come into the game and then doing the other things can be a build on to it.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Yeah. Now there's some sound advice there. Now, looking back at what you would have done differently in your own career, and what advice would you give to your younger self starting out in procurement?

Anu Srinivasan

Yeah, this one's interesting, Nita. I had an answer first, and I thought, oh, that would be a nice answer just to say. But then I said, no, I want to actually share something that is really important and that has been very personal for me. I think the number one advice I would give is watch out for burnout, and self-care is absolutely critical. So I've done that a few times in my career, unfortunately. It wasn't smart enough to learn from my first experience. So the one thing I would give to everybody is to watch out for when you know you're getting to a place where it's not right for you and really be quite kind and filling your own cup before you can give to others type concept. I think that's absolutely the number one advice I would give my younger self. The second one I would give is really having a bit of a perspective around things that you stress about and really bringing that perspective in every day because as a leader, you have an impact on your people. People look at you, and if you're anxious, And I've noticed that energy dissipates with the team.

And I've noticed it does. That's not to say that you always need to be perfect and look great. But what I'm saying is that it is not good for you and your team. And when you manage that appropriately, and when you have a bit of a perspective on what is critical right now and working through that means that you're looking after yourself and the people that you're impacting upon. And interestingly enough, that's why I started my business, Anita, a few years back around self-care and mindfulness and well-being and leadership. It's absolutely critical because if you're not well and you don't look after yourself, it becomes impossible for you to be your best and for people in your life circle.

Nita Arora-Parkes

That's definitely true. And you've answered in part the next question that I was going to ask you, but maybe you can elaborate on your yoga and wellness. How do you maintain a work-life balance while managing the demands of a senior procurement leadership role?

Anu Srinivasan

I think time management. Mastering this skill alone, I think, can be a game changer. By that, I don't mean how do you try and do all the 50 things within a very short period of time. That's not what I mean. It's really about understanding. I'd like to use the theory of, say, you're juggling balls in the air. There's some that are plastic bowls and some that are glass bowls. Knowing which ones are glass versus the plastic bowls and the ones that will drop and chatter that you cannot afford to drop and chatter. For me, the glass bowls would be things like my family and getting on the mat or going on a holiday or reading a book, whatever it is for you, versus the plastic bowls, which is a critical piece of work that you need to get done tonight, but it's going to be tomorrow morning type thing. Really understanding and juggling it and putting that time management lens on that, I think, game changer. It comes with habit. I'm still a learner. I still practice. I still make mistakes, Come back, adapt and reset. So really being brutal about what's important and critical and managing that time with a lot of discipline is absolutely critical because in In leadership roles, you're in a giving space most of the time, and it's really important to know when you've got to draw the line to go, Okay, I don't think I've got any more to give.

This is time I need to take.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Yeah, and understanding the false deadlines that we create and which ones can be challenged. So no, I think that's a very good point you make.

Anu Srinivasan

I do want to talk about that. I do think that we put a lot of unnecessary deadlines on ourselves and create a lot of anxiety and stress that has a ripple effect on the broader team. It's really important to test what is important and when it is important. I mean, even getting to, Okay, this deliverable is needed next Friday, but do all parts of the deliverable need to be ready on the Friday. Are there bits that can actually wait? I think that is very, very important because that will then help you determine which one's the glass one versus which one's the ones that you can afford to drop. Because everything can't be a priority. It's impossible.

Nita Arora-Parkes

It is impossible. No, that's great. So how do you approach talent development within the teams that you manage? And what skills do you prioritize when you're hiring a new team member?

Anu Srinivasan

I'll answer the question in two parts. So in terms of the strategy, one of the things I've been doing in my last three roles is having a people strategy. What I mean by that is having some a capability, competency, model for my people. So often big organizations, corporates, tend to have values and behaviors that they expect you to exhibit for you to be performing. I would add procurement technical skill sets and specific soft skills that are for procurement, I'd overlay that lens on top of the the broader organization lens. And then getting people to self-assess where they think they are and having those conversations with your managers in terms of their career development, I think helps build a framework around, Okay, this is where I think I am, but my manager thinks, I'm not there yet. So what is the gap? How do I build it? I think it facilitates open, honest conversations and people where they are. I think that's pretty cool. And your people can also see that it's a plan. It's a plan that is tangible, feasible, you can work towards. I also make sure that when we do have succession planning and when opportunities do arise, that lead us walk the talk.

So I make sure that I promote internally and look at opportunities internally within the team before we go external. I think that is also another way of showing the team that the frameworks are not just there in paper, but we actually can truly implement that. And also, I've actually said here, it's a privilege to lead people. So leaders need to take that privilege very carefully. And I also hold my leadership team accountable in terms of their roles and how they manage their teams. As I said, it's a privilege, and we need to make sure that we embed the appropriate culture, the professionalism, the respect and well-being into everything we do. And in terms of hiring soft skills, I feel like you can teach the technical skills, but it's harder to shift mindset and attitudes. So I would hire for the culture of the firm. That was a big learning for me over the last decade or so. Not just the soft skills and the technical skills, but what does the of your organization need right now? Does it need someone to be doing a lot of sales? Are you in a place where your voice of customer is not looking great, or are you in a place where that's all looking great and you need someone to come in and do lots of cost savings things, opportunities So I think it's really important you hire for the firm and what the firm needs at that point in time.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Yeah, that's great. Look, Anu, that's the end of the formal questions that I had for you. I'm going to now hit you with some questions just so we can get to understand the Anu behind the title a little bit better for our listeners. So here we go. Your favorite food or cuisine?

Anu Srinivasan

Indian, because that's very home food for me. If I were to pick one other, that would be Japanese. I love Japanese food.

Nita Arora-Parkes

I love Japanese food. What was the last book you read?

Anu Srinivasan

It was Freda McFaddon, One by One. I'm obsessed with her books at the moment, so yeah, fiction.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Okay. If you could have one superpower, what would it Close my eyes and be transported somewhere into the mountains when I need to. Okay. So a time traveler or just traveler?

Anu Srinivasan

Just traveler. I just want to be able to close my eyes. I don't want to travel back or back into the past or into the future. It's more about being able to transport myself. I love the mountains, so somewhere in the mountain would be amazing.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Great. Favorite way to relax or your go-to pastime?

Anu Srinivasan

A walk, a long walk or a book with a nice chai.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Nice. Favorite quote?

Anu Srinivasan

Favorite quote, it's by Bruce Lee. The quote is, If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Very nice. What was your favorite or best subject in school?

Anu Srinivasan

Physical education. I I thought one day I was going to be an amazing athlete of some sort. That never happened. But yeah, physical education was my best class. What athlete were you hoping to be? Look, I trained to run 100 meters and 200 meters and also 100 into 100 relay and so on. So yeah, always in the sports field, always doing things that required me to be quite active.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Yeah, wow. Okay. What time do you get up every day?

Anu Srinivasan

Not a morning person, so between 7: 00 and 7: 30.

Nita Arora-Parkes

That's still quite early, to me that's a morning person. Do you speak more than one language?

Anu Srinivasan

Yes. Sorry, my first language is Tamil, and I can also read and write Hindi.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Okay, fantastic. If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, Who would it be and why?

Anu Srinivasan

This is a hard one, Anita. I'll pick the top one. It's my grandpa on my mom's side. He's dead. I've never seen him. He passed away before my mom met my dad. I hear from mom he's an absolute creative genius, so I would love to be able to have dinner with him and pick his brain a little bit more about all of that.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Would your 12-year-old self think you were I don't think so.

Anu Srinivasan

I think I would have liked to have been cool, but I don't think I was. Academics was important, but I was also a very confused teenager like most teenagers are at the time. I think everything happened perfectly when I reflect back on it, but I'm not sure I was the coolest kid on the block.

Nita Arora-Parkes

No, but would your 12-year-old think you're cool now?

Anu Srinivasan

I think so. I think my 12-year-old would be proud that I'm living true to myself and my rate of a bullshit is very low now and I'm honest and living the life that I would like to lead as opposed to what people think that I should lead. Yeah, absolutely. I think so.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Perfect. I think you're cool. So thank you for that. And look, thank you so much for that. That comes to the end of our questions. I think it was really insightful for all of our listeners. Anything you wanted to add as a last word before we finish up?

Anu Srinivasan

I just wanted to add one other thing, Nita. I have had some really exciting leaders through my career who have helped me, who have invested in me, who've trusted me, and taken the risks. That has certainly enabled me to do some exciting roles, different roles, and also progress upwards in career. So as much as when you're being interviewed, you want to be the best for the role and for the organization, equally interview your leaders and managers and then hold them accountable for your career. Having a really good leader, and you'll know this, Nita, from your experience, can be an absolute game changer for you mentally and in your careers. And I owe a   lot to my leaders and managers who've made that possible for me.

Nita Arora-Parkes

That's brilliant. And hopefully, you'll be doing that for the next generation. Look, Anu, that concludes our time together, thank you very much. Thank you very much for your time. And look forward to seeing you again soon.

Anu Srinivasan

Thank you, Nita. I appreciate the opportunity. It is an amazing piece of work that you're doing. Please keep at it, continue to shine the light, and I'm sure a lot of professionals will be truly grateful. And thank you.

Nita Arora-Parkes

Thanks, Anu.

Anu Srinivasan

Thank you.