"Don't Worry, We Got It" (The $25 Million Mistake)

In this week's episode of Proc & Roll, hosts Natasha Gurevich, Conrad Smith, and Zachary Bachir dive deep into Natasha’s 2026 prediction: the urgent need for procurement to transition from a functional mindset to an enterprise focus.

Here are four critical lessons on how to stop "keeping score" and start getting into the game.

1. Step Out of the "Compliance Bot" Comfort Zone

It is easy to be a functional leader because it’s what we know. When you report to a COO, you focus on procurement and maybe a little tech or sustainability. But an enterprise leader pushes further.

“Transitioning to an enterprise mindset means pushing ourselves out of the comfort zone of how we lead and what we care about for the benefit of the enterprise,” says Natasha. This means understanding international tax laws, cash flow, and FP&A goals—even if they aren't "organic" to your role.

2. Stop Keeping Score and Get in the Game

Conrad recalls a story from a friend in sales who described the traditional procurement mindset perfectly: “There are people that are in the game and there are people that are keeping score. You guys are basically just keeping score”.

If your team is only focused on ticking compliance and commercial boxes, you are pegging yourself at a tactical level. To be a teammate, you must ask the types of questions that drive revenue: How does this marketing agency connect to sales? How do these digital activities track to revenue? If you don't ask, you're just providing supply without understanding demand.

3. Fiduciary Duty: The $25 Million Lesson

One of the most powerful moments in the episode is a framework Natasha uses with stakeholders who try to bypass procurement by saying, "Don't worry, we got it".

A former CPO of hers responded calmly: "If I do not know where $25 million a year goes to, I’m not doing my job. It is my fiduciary duty to know". This isn't about challenging authority or being a gatekeeper; it’s about a shared responsibility for the company's "Ink" (the enterprise as a whole).

4. The 1-Week AI Strategy Challenge

How do you actually train your team to think like enterprise leaders? Natasha suggests a "Challenge of the Week":

• The Task: Using AI, half the team builds a three-year strategy to double the business revenue, while the other half builds a strategy for international expansion.

• The Goal: The cases are judged not on savings, but on diversity of thinking and how the recommendations make the core product better for customers.

The Bottom Line: The Power of "And"

Transitioning to an enterprise focus doesn't mean ignoring your roots. As Conrad notes, it’s about the Power of AND. You can be enterprise-minded and value-minded and still report on cost savings.

Don't be like the baby elephant tied to a tree who doesn't realize it has grown large enough to break the chain. Shift your curiosity, lean into your executive presence, and let the enterprise goals guide you.

Are you ready to move from scorekeeper to teammate?

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Transcript: Proc-N-Roll | "Don't Worry, We Got It" (The $25 Million Mistake)

Conrad: A couple of weeks ago, we released an episode about the predictions for 2026. One of the items Natasha talked about is the transition from traditional procurement mindedness to an enterprise focus. If you'll remember, that prediction belly flopped last year because of tariffs and other issues putting huge economic pressure on our teams, resulting in a mad scramble for cost savings. Natasha, what does an enterprise focus really mean to you?.

Natasha: It means that we are all shareholders of the company and want our shares to perform well, but on a daily basis, we very often do not stitch our goals to the goals of the enterprise. Working for a growth company means stepping out of your comfort zone. Our comfort zone is being functional leaders because that's what we know. When I reported to the COO, I was in my comfort zone being responsible just for procurement and knowing a little bit about supply chain or tech. But when I started reporting to the CFO, I had to understand international tax laws, cash flow, and FP&A's goals. Transitioning to an enterprise mindset means pushing ourselves out of the comfort zone of how we lead for the benefit of the enterprise.

Zachary: I completely concur. As you rise up in your career, you realize you have to ask yourself a different question: "What's right for the business?". You cannot be effective in procurement unless you're working with your fellow business colleagues.

Natasha: The old rule is that supply has to meet demand. If our supply does not match the needs of demand, that is a functional mindset. When marketing says they need an agency to do events, are we asking what kind of events, how it connects to sales, or if it's local versus international?. Very often, procurement people just search for event agencies without asking those questions because we are not deeply familiar with the needs of demand.

Conrad: If you don't ask those questions, you're pegging yourself at a certain level. A friend in sales once told me, "There are people that are in the game and there are people that are keeping score. You guys are basically just keeping score". We have to be seen as teammates in the game, but how do we metric this transition to value when traditional metrics like cost savings don't work anymore?.

Zachary: You need to get feedback from your stakeholders using NPS or CSAT scores. You need to have a relationship metric and take it very seriously. You need to make sure that it's not the personal relationship you're measuring, but actually your effectiveness in delivering added value to that person's overall role.

Natasha: An even more accurate indicator that you generate value is when your stakeholders do not bypass you, and they engage you in a conversation before they make a decision. If they bring you a beautifully structured contract with negotiations already completed and just ask you to sign it tomorrow, you just bypassed everything procurement stands for. The Holy Grail is when they engage you at the conceptualizing phase, like when Salesforce decided to become an Olympic sponsor for Paris 2024 and engaged the Chief Procurement Officer six years prior.

Zachary: To avoid turning into a "compliance bot," the people you bring into procurement shouldn't always come from procurement. Find the most commercial head in marketing and ask them to second to procurement for a year. Also, take your procurement people and find a role for them somewhere else in the business for six months or a year so they understand how the business thinks and works.

Natasha: There is a club in San Francisco called the "End Up", which is the only place open until 5 a.m., so everyone ends up there. I once inherited an organization where 50% of the team were people who "ended up" in procurement as a result of a rotation. When I started speaking procurement to them, they had no idea what I was talking about. It's extremely difficult to do procurement with them because they view buying as a hobby rather than a mindful and structured process. Procurement is a skill.

Conrad: The "End Up" strategy feels like a leftover strategy if they aren't motivated to learn. I've found tremendous success hiring people into my team who didn't have a procurement background, like a great leader from HR at GE and a super smart finance guy. But the key is you have to be deliberate and thoughtful about elevating your team's thinking to the business level.

Natasha: If I were a CPO today, I would give my team a 1-week AI challenge. I would ask half the team to use AI to build a three-year strategy to double our revenue, and the other half to build a strategy to expand internationally. The case that wins is the one with the most diversity of thinking that provides recommendations on how our product can get better customer attention. It trains that enterprise mindset.

Conrad: But what happens when you go to the CFO and they are still in the "bring me the money" mindset?. How do we get out of that cost savings cycle?.

Natasha: Enterprises will always be looking for efficient ways to buy goods and services, so savings will always be a metric. We are just putting additional value on top of that with our subject matter expertise.

Zachary: Exactly. When you ask "what's right for the business," it gives you a license to respectfully challenge the stakeholder.

Natasha: A former leader of mine was dealing with a functional leader over a $25 million spend. The leader told my CPO, "don't worry, we got it". My CPO calmly replied, "If I do not know where $25 million a year goes to, I'm not doing my job. As a CPO, it is my fiduciary duty". That is the core of the enterprise mindset: asking "Is it right for the company?".

Conrad: My main practical insight today is the power of "and" instead of "or". We don't need to choose between being enterprise-minded and being value-minded; we can hold both priorities.

Zachary: Don't let yourself become like the baby elephant tied to a tree, who grows up massive and doesn't realize it can just break the chain and walk away. Step out from being the box-ticking compliance person, lean into your executive mindset, and let those skills guide you to become a better procurement leader.

This transcript has been edited for clarity while maintaining all substantive content