Curiosity Killed The Cat is BS For Procurement

Why Curiosity Makes the Best Procurement Pros

You’ve probably seen some content from me where I talk about Procurement Pros developing the skill of curiosity. Many others across social media are now discussing this skill or drive, as I like to think about it.

But what do people mean by being curious is good for procurement?

And is this a skill you can develop or one you are born with?

I’m going to spend a couple of minutes on this. To get my thoughts around why I genuinely believe the best procurement pros are curious, those who get bogged down in their careers, perhaps never getting that promotion they want, usually don’t possess curiosity.

Why is Curiosity the Real Deal?

Quite literally, curiosity is that desire to learn more about a subject. Some would say it’s exploring the weird, wonderful, and the unique. I’ve met hundreds of procurement professionals over the years, and I’d say only 10% of them were truly curious about their work and developing their careers. 90% were not curious, played the 9-5 game by the book, and haven’t hit the heights they might have hoped for.

And here’s why - Curiosity elevates you among your peers.

The truly curious aren’t doing procurement because it’s their job. They’re doing it because they genuinely love it, value their craft, hone it daily, and are constantly figuring out how to get that 1% better daily.

I consider our World of Procurement Paid Community Members to be in this 10%. You are the Procurement Legends, the nerds of procurement, doing what you can, utilising communities like ours to further your career.

But how do you develop the skill of curiosity?

I don’t have an easy answers here but I have a few ideas:

1. Some of us are truly driven in our procurement work and it forces us to be curios, to always learn, and build networks to help us.

2. We are born with it. I nerd out on a multitude of subjects because my curiosity dictates the way I live life.

3. Building habits around curiosity.

And it’s the third point I’m going to finish this piece off with now. Because, you can build the habit of curiosity if you don’t feel that natural drive for it.

So how do you do this?

Habit building can be painful. But small steps taken each day is a good start and one easy way to build a habit around curiosity is to start reading.

I’d suggest you build a morning reading routine before you check your emails (I never recommend anyone start their day by going through their emails as the fires there are usually not the real issue but more on that another day).

How about you make that Oat Milk Flat White (don’t judge me), sit down with your kindle, and read a book, take some highlights, make some notes, sync them into the place you store notes, and you use this in your every day work.

I appreciate that there aren’t too many amazing books on Procurement. But I’ve suggested a few to in previous pieces and I’d say if you want to build curiosity in Procurement, start with these:

Recommended Books for Procurement Pros

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Trade wars, pandemics, and chaos: How digital procurement enables business success in a disordered world - BUY HERE

Profit from the Source: Transforming Your Business by Putting Suppliers at the Core - BUY HERE

Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology - BUY HERE

The End of the World Is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization - BUY HERE

It doesn’t have to be books.

Did you know I’ve created a YouTube channel for those curious pros who like watching content?

This is a good one with

Tom Mills

.

Or that my Procurement Reimagined Podcast with Gatekeeper which hit 10k downloads last month is another resource you can get started with?

And there’s plenty of writers on Procurement like

Procurement Bites by Tom Mills

and

Pure Procurement

where you can tap into years of incredible knowledge.

You need to make a start at this, and just a 5 min read, a 4 min 2x speed podcast listen, or a short form video, will soon have your curiosity drive in full gear. You just need to pair this with something you’re always doing.

When I used to drive an hour plus a day for work, I’d always listen to podcasts and audiobooks. In short, any time that could be dead time, I’d try to turn it into alive time.

And that’s one easy way to get started with this.