Unburdening Procurement: How to Build a Team Your Competitors Want to Steal

Most corporate transformations are driven by market shifts, budget realignments, or new executive mandates. For Panos Anastasiou, the transformation began with a 14,000-foot freefall that ended in a shattered spine.  

In this week's Proc and Roll podcast, Conrad sits down with Panos for what is arguably the most profound episode to date. Today, Panos is a top executive driving Fast-Moving Consumer Healthcare (FMCH) procurement at Opella. But before he was building industry-leading teams in the life sciences sector, he had to completely rebuild his own life.  

This is not a standard conversation about procurement metrics. It is a masterclass in survival, the eradication of corporate ego, and the mechanics of building a procurement team so talented that your competitors beg to hire them.  

The Sunset Jump and the Broken Spine

Before his time at Opella, Panos was an avid skydiver and adrenaline junkie, constantly chasing performance and higher jump numbers. On jump number 327, during a beautiful "sunset jump," a momentary lapse in focus changed everything.  

"I pulled the wrong thing," Panos recalls. "I go face first in the ground... one leg breaks with an external fracture, the other leg does not break, goes into the spine, collapses the lumbar one, lumbar one explodes."  

Facing four surgeries and a doctor's prognosis that he might never walk again or feel anything below his waist, Panos was plunged into deep clinical depression. It was the thought of his children that ultimately pulled him out of the darkness. He refused to check out and leave his kids with the imprint that their father had quit on them.  

"Your mountain is your mountain, my mountain is my mountain," Panos explains. "It is good to acknowledge that everyone has their own mountain to climb... and it's your responsibility to climb it." By embracing the suffering and finding "growth in the suck," Panos forged a resilience that would come to define his "second life".  

The "Irreducible" Leader: Operating with the Ultimate BATNA

Returning to the corporate world after facing death and losing all of his previous identities completely rewired Panos’s approach to executive leadership.  

Traditional corporate environments are often plagued by insecurity, imposter syndrome, and leaders fighting to protect their egos, titles, and salaries. Panos returned with none of these fears.  

"When you've lost everything and you're back, you have nothing left to lose," Panos shares. "I'm not here for the title. I'm not here for the money... I'm here to do meaningful things for the people and the business."  

In negotiation terms, surviving his accident gave him the ultimate BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement). Because he cannot be intimidated by corporate politics, he leads with radical authenticity. "You cannot fire me, I will live first. You cannot reduce me, I'm irreducible." This ego-free transparency allows him to focus entirely on what is actually best for the business and his team, without the distraction of personal pride.  

The Opella Blueprint: Unleashing Talent in Healthcare

In this second phase of his life, Panos deliberately chose to work in the healthcare sector, finding deep personal meaning in an industry that directly impacts human lives and recovery. At Opella, his mission is clear: to develop the absolute best fast-moving consumer healthcare (FMCH) procurement professionals in the industry.  

To achieve this, Panos visualizes his procurement strategy as a house:

• The People at the Top: The ultimate goal is talent development. Panos wants to provide his team with work that is so exciting and fulfilling that Opella becomes the premier destination for procurement professionals.  
• The Technology Foundation: To empower those people, you must build a robust digital procurement layer. Panos is adamant about using technology to unburden his team from "all the boring stuff they can do in their procurement life," such as manual vendor onboarding, third-party risk management (TPRM), and meaningless RFQs.  
• The Core Results: By automating the foundation, leaders can "unleash the people" to focus on the middle of the house: driving value creation, revenue growth, and working capital for the business.  

Panos has a highly contrarian metric for knowing when this cultural transformation is successful. "I will celebrate the people that will get stolen from us and land into better jobs, making more money, driving more meaningful contributions," he says. "Because it shows what an amazing place to be."  

Whether you are navigating a massive corporate transformation in the life sciences sector or climbing a daunting personal mountain, Panos’s story is a profound reminder to lead with love, embrace your challenges, and focus on the work that truly matters today.  

Transcript: Proc-N-Roll | Unburdening Procurement: How to Build a Team Your Competitors Want to Steal

Conrad: Hello everybody, and welcome back to Proc and Roll. Today I have my good friend Panos coming to you from Paris. We had an amazing conversation at DPW in Amsterdam, and I’m super excited about this. Panos is now at Opella, after being at McCain and 16 years at P&G. I know you’re an adrenaline junkie—how did you get into skydiving?  

Panos: I started when I was 21 or 22 in an old military base in Bulgaria doing static lines, and then accelerated freefall. I did it for years, then got deep into procurement and became a busy executive. Then, for my midlife crisis at 39, I went back into skydiving and started jumping out of planes like crazy.  

Conrad: When I go canyoneering, I have a fear of falling the moment I go over the edge. Did you have that fear of falling with skydiving?  

Panos: The fear changes over time. First it’s the fear of the door, then fear of freefalling, then fear of deployment. But eventually, being in freefall at 150 to 220 miles an hour going down with other people, you're in the moment. There's nothing else, you have no ego, no kids. For me, God was at 14,000 feet.  

Conrad: It's so interesting to talk about living entirely in the moment. I try to be a "yes" person now, but I still have to worry about tomorrow's paycheck. Did that accident change how you balance living in the moment with real life?  

Panos: To quote Jordan Peterson, to sacrifice something today is to invest in tomorrow. But if you look at studies of people on their deathbeds, nobody says they wanted more money; they want more time with loved ones. Every day is a gift now. It got embedded into me by crash landing hard on the ground and losing all my identities. It was jump number 327, a sunset jump. I did a stupid maneuver, pulled the wrong riser, and went face first into the ground. One leg breaks with an external fracture, the other leg goes into the spine, collapsing the lumbar one. You can feel and hear your spine break.  

Conrad: That must have been the darkest imaginable despair. How did you climb out of that?  

Panos: Doctors told me to pray, saying I might never walk again or feel anything below my waist. I was in deep depression. I could choose to check out. But my wife told me she would survive without me, but asked what lessons I’d be teaching our kids. I refused to let my kids have the imprint that their dad quit on them.  

Conrad: Your wife sounds incredible, navigating all of this.  

Panos: Savvy is Wonder Woman. She put herself and the kids in therapy, micromanaged doctors, managed my work at McCain, and moved our entire family from Switzerland to France—handling taxes, schools, and the French social security system—while I was broken in a hospital.  

Conrad: I look around and everyone is going through something that feels overwhelming, like my own wife going through five surgeries recently.  

Panos: You cannot compare suffering. Your mountain is your mountain, my mountain is my mountain. It is good to acknowledge everyone has a mountain, but it is your responsibility to climb yours. There is growth in the suck. Embrace your suffering and punch through to the other side.  

Conrad: How has this changed your approach to work and leadership now that you are in a corporate environment at Opella?  

Panos: Opella is a healthcare company, which feels more meaningful to me now. I’m a user of our Dulcolax brand, and I love our motto: "Let's get sh*t done." But beyond that, when you’ve lost everything, you have nothing left to lose in the corporate world. I'm not here for the title, the money, or to feed an ego. I'm here to do meaningful things, which makes me alien in the corporate world. You cannot fire me, I will leave first. You cannot reduce me. I'm irreducible.  

Conrad: What is your procurement vision at Opella?  

Panos: It’s a house. At the top are the people. My goal is to develop amazing fast-moving consumer healthcare (FMCH) professionals. At the bottom is digital technology. You need tech to unburden them from all the boring stuff—like vendor onboarding, third-party risk management, and meaningless RFQs. You fix the tech to unleash the people, so they can deliver value creation, revenue growth, and working capital. I will celebrate when people get stolen from us for better jobs, because it shows what an amazing place we built.  

Conrad: Panos, this has been an absolute pleasure. I want my next 10,000 days to matter and to lead with love instead of fear. Thank you for your openness and for sharing what matters most.  

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