Matteo Stefani is the Head of Procurement Europe at Novartis. He started his Procurement career in Italy, before joining Elemica in Amsterdam and UCB (where he spent over eight years) in Brussels.

Having worked in Procurement Excellence, Digitalization and Sustainable Procurement, what attracted you to these areas, and how do you see them developing in the future?

These interesting and exciting areas are the foundation of Procurement, and enablers of a truly impactful function.

Building Excellence in Procurement has been attractive to me since the very beginning of my career, when I had to implement an online auction solution into a $40m telecommunication business. Internet, at that time, back in 2001, just started to be something used to do business in Italy. Senior Procurement leaders and large vendors were not ready nor used to working online.  

I started my senior Procurement career leading a Procurement transformation and building my own Center of Excellence with the intent to develop, implement and enable best-in-class purchasing process and tools. My team and I literally built strong wings for a very successful global organization. We designed sleek processes, developed the right market insights, the right way of analysing and benchmarking data, implemented the right tools to do competitive sourcing, qualifying and onboarding vendors, automated solution to order, invoicing and paying.

This topic (Procurement Excellence) is still incredibly actual: B2B [business-to-business] procurement systems and tools, and especially those developed by the big vendors, are in general evolving at a much slower pace than B2C [business-to-customer] solutions; many companies have developed a dependency to these technology firms and are lagging behind - in a sort of vicious circle - in terms of adopting innovative technologies. The only way out in the short term is to make our complexity invisible to stakeholders and suppliers: interfaces and new buying channels could become self-service delightful experiences that would also hide the echoes of a past that should no longer be.

I recall myself back in 2017 on the stage of one of the well-known Procurement conferences; I was talking about the technology gap between B2C solutions and what we daily use at work. Our personal five-to-nine experiences, after work, are surrounded by easy-to-use digital solutions. But, when we are back at work, nine-to-five, we are confronted with the hard facts of old technology. Eventually, in the last couple of years, the Procurement technology landscape and ecosystem is exploding with start-ups: machine learning and AI [artificial intelligence] eventually becoming available for Procurement.

This is the super exciting future I want to be leading into. I definitely want to be there to pilot and experiment, maybe even partnering with start-ups to explore faster and easier ways to do impact Procurement. I definitely want to be in a company that will be able to merge or substitute the old with the new, and possibly be on the lead of this revolution with an exciting story to share next time.

It is interesting to see how much sustainability started ranking very high into CPOs' [Chief Procurement Officers'] agendas. Between five and eight years ago, I remember one of my CPOs not considering it a priority, just because the company was not focusing too much on it. Now, the same company is actively engaged with local government in sustainability campaigns and developing their own green commitments.

It seems even impossible now to think about a Procurement team without active focus on sustainability. It is truly exciting seeing that there is so much attention around this now, and all Fortune 500 companies are leading the way in terms of environmental and sustainable practices commitment. On the personal level, it is equally exciting to work for a company the size of Novartis that can effectively deliver on those commitments, as it has the means and the footprint to significantly impact positively its supply chain and the environment.

The challenge we are facing is more related to internal capabilities, skills and speed. How fast we can upskill the team, develop our ability to understand the topic, and apply sustainable practices in our daily Procurement activities is crucial to deliver on our company objectives and accelerate impact. This maturity is definitely growing, and Procurement has already started building successful stories and is definitely a front runner, playing a key enabling role in the organization. I definitely want to be there in creating a sustainable impact for the company that I'm working for.

You've been involved in a number of large-scale business transformations in your career. What would you say has been the biggest learning that you've taken away from these?

I see two different types of transformation.

The first one is when we see a Procurement organization that wants to evolve and transform into a best-in-class Procurement function.

The biggest learning is about focusing on the adoption of the solutions implemented. Often, Excellence teams focus too much on implementing solutions rather than delivering a proper change management plan and ensuring their adoption. Many transformations fail because we just look at them as implementing a tool - and we fail for the same reason. There is never enough effort and structure to manage the change.

I am currently leading a large-scale corporate business transformation. This is a completely different thing we don’t drive and where, more than ever, if confirmed in our role, we need to embrace and lead a wounded team through the impact of the change. You need to be close to the team in all possible ways. You need to always be available, coach, be present, vulnerable, genuine, with high energy, and refrain from a big corporate speech. You need to basically be perceived as one of them to support the team, the individuals, while running and reshaping the business.

You need to build this bond to be able to let part of the team go in the most possible caring way, while focusing on the talents, and developing strategy and tactics with associates that you want to retain.

My entire team has been impacted by the change: some of them will move on inside the team, others in the organization, others out of the company. Hundreds of different stories, each one important, unique and right - where they are from, their reality, their career, their age, or their family situation. It is very important to acknowledge all this and to help the team in coping with the change, while building the future and moving ahead, moving along with the change, internally or externally.

In parallel, the unique and probably once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a team from scratch is exciting and thrilling. I am confident and optimistic of what the new amazing team will be able to deliver.

What's the most memorable part of your career so far? And what's the most interesting part for you as a Procurement professional?

I supported three competing companies to sign an agreement with the same supplier following a negotiation I led. The first time, outside of Italy, I was in charge of working together with three competitors in a very conservative industry selling the same product. I combined their spend volume and implemented one solution for them all. It took one-and-a-half years, especially to convince all stakeholders involved across the European footprint of multi-billion revenue companies. It worked and it delivered saving, synergies, efficiencies, simplifications for all involved parties. I made true what the value proposition of my company was. And it shaped a lot who I am today. This success has opened so many doors in my career. Impossible is nothing.

I recall many memorable moments when my team worked hard on something that had a corporate scale impact and generated P&L [profit and loss] results. In a pharmaceutical company, what we do has genuinely the opportunity to extend people’s life, enabling more patients being treated thanks to the solutions that my team have worked hard to implement.

I often didn’t perceived moments as memorable in the precise moment they happened, however, whenever I stopped to look back and share my career with someone, I realize the size of some achievements. Often, it is beyond the saving and more about the change. Running hundreds of online auctions back in 2001, in Italy for a formerly public company... I am still wondering how I could possibly make it happen.

I love to create impact and deliver results for the companies I am working for from Procurement. It’s such a wide breadth, allowing you to deep dive, understand the market, the business your company is in.

You've managed both small teams and big departments of up to 200 people. Is there anything as a manager that you found universally important in building and motivating teams?

There has been lots of learning during the 20-plus years of my career. Keeping the door open is the one thing I value the most and has proven very impactful. I let everybody in the team send me a message and ask for some time - I’ll be there, no matter what. I’ll change my agenda and make sure that that meeting happens. That, for me, is paramount. Besides this, there are a lot of ingredients to a successful cake. Sometimes, for somebody, no matter how available you are, it may bring no value. Learning to adapt your leadership to people is also very important.

I like to trust, empower and co-create with the team. I like to expose your team and help them grow, swapping roles and letting them go if it is the right time to do so. Bottom line, build a rich and diverse team, offer them all your help to be part of a successful story, to grow and even to leave and build a successful future somewhere else!

I learnt to hire from different industries or with no Procurement background. I learnt how important is to hire leaders rather than experts. Manoj Bhargava, the creator of 5 Hour Energy drinks, used to provocatively say, “Experts belong to the past,” and, in the best case, know how to take you exactly where you are now. Don’t get me wrong, there is always a need to bring and grow knowledgeable Procurement professionals - but not only.

In my team, I have a couple of talents without any Procurement experience - they joined one or two years ago, and they have never done Procurement. The results they brought and what they have been able to accomplish is incredible. I was not expecting it!

I like to be transparent, in the good and in the less good. When you are working to support people in their growth, sometimes you need to have tough discussions with them. As the famous Whiplash movie says, the bar scene, there are no words more harmful than, “good job." Bottom line, I cannot preach to my team to have meaningful reviews and check-ins with their teams if I'm not doing this with them. It's about creating the culture of your team.

On another front, don’t forget to be hands on when it's needed: be close to your team also in the operations. They may need your help to prepare negotiations to participate with their supply meeting.

Last, but not least, ask for feedback. A lot of leaders and managers forget to ask for feedback. And, if they do, do they listen? Do they stay quiet when they receive or they start answering, pretending to coach the person who is giving them the feedback?

All these tactics are tremendously important to create the right set of beliefs and experiences that drive the results you expect.

What changes have you seen in the employment market in Switzerland over the years?

My two latest employers have important premises in Switzerland: manufacturing, office sites and one of those is even headquartered there. From a labour cost perspective, I see companies better assessing and even challenging whether new or existing roles should be placed in Switzerland or elsewhere.  

Maybe this is something to watch out for and not take Switzerland for granted, because companies might be looking for more cost-effective locations.

What books, blogs or podcasts are you listening to or reading at the moment?

I used to listen to podcasts in the past, when I had a long commute, but I am now driving around ten minutes, so there's just not enough time to even start!  

I'm currently reading a book called Predict and Win by Edmund Zagorin, the founder of a company called Arkestro, a relatively young Silicon Valley start-up providing Procurement technology solutions. The book is about what they call predictive Procurement orchestration. I am very passionate about Procurement technology, and this is one of the few companies where I can see the use of machine learning and the way AI kicks in.

We live in the world where technology is measuring our eagerness to buy a flight and systems are adjusting the fare to create a sense of urgency and make us buy! Imagine this concept applied to our most known Procurement process.

My takeaway is that, eventually, there are companies that have learnt to use new technology and apply it to the Procurement world: data that corporations are creating is being harvested through advanced simulation machine learning, game theory, behavioural science, etc., which enable data-driven decisions and predict outcomes of negotiations.

It's a very fascinating topic. It's truly digital, advanced and real.

What do you think the skills are for the future in Procurement? And where do you think Procurement can bring that business advantage in this changing landscape?

A few years back, a well-known technology provider predicted Procurement 2020, as we knew it back in 2014, would no longer exist. Now, in 2022, I don’t think we have evolved as much. The skills we were looking after six or seven years ago are somehow the same, with a difference.

Technology now really allows us to change the paradigm and the way we do things. Those skills, together with leadership and analytics, became essential to enable a revolution. Our willingness to challenge our own biases will allow us to change the way we do Procurement and position ourselves as incubator of innovative solutions, but will unlock our focus on areas we have neglected or deprioritized, such as sustainability.

Our ability to adopt and leverage new technologies, deprioritize operations, challenge our biases and our expertise will enable us to further leverage our unique centric position, and deliver value up to a different level.

Procurement should not be about managing RFPs [requests for proposal] and not even about signing contracts that can be literally outsourced into the business or to an AI-based chat!

We are seeing more and more non-Procurement experts taking over very senior Procurement positions, confirming that, today, the key aspect to unlock business value and impact lies in our leadership, curiosity, partnership, business acumen - rather than in our background and hardcore Procurement skills.

Thank you to Matteo for speaking to Charlotte Cruise, Senior Consultant in our Procurement & Supply Chain recruitment team in Switzerland.

Views and opinions contained within our Executive Interviews are those of the interviewee and not views shared by EMEA Recruitment.