Mental Models & Skills

Daniel Barnes
Jul 26, 2023
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Call me obsessive, but I think how we improve Procurement isn’t by doing more of the same. It’s about continuously challenging the status quo and figuring out the “Future of Procurement”.

Here are my articles on Mental Models and Skills that you should read if you’re looking to become an A Player in Procurement. Few are.

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Think, Simulate, Procure: The High ROI of Thought Experiments

Daniel Barnes
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August 22, 2023
Think, Simulate, Procure: The High ROI of Thought Experiments

Mental Models could dramatically improve your approach to Procurement. I’ve been writing about them here, and you should check these outs once you’ve finished reading this. The Mental Model I want to focus on here is the “Thought Experiment”. Thought experiments are a classic tool used by many great thinkers. They enable us to explore impossible situation…

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Why You Should Adopt First Principles Thinking in Procurement

Daniel Barnes
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July 25, 2023
Why You Should Adopt First Principles Thinking in Procurement

When it comes to solving complicated problems, relying on assumptions and conventions can be tempting. That’s how most people learn, right? Especially in Procurement, where we seem to build up knowledge by precedence and what came before. For me, this is totally unacceptable, and it has led to a profession that relies on the old without enough people co…

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How Procurement can navigate the Spotlight Effect for Increased Happiness in their Role

Daniel Barnes
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July 11, 2023
How Procurement can navigate the Spotlight Effect for Increased Happiness in their Role

The Spotlight Effect was something I had never heard of until I saw a post from Tom Mills. It was an eye-opener. So I’ve spent some time reading about this subject, which explains a lot of the “human mindset”. But how can this impact what we do in Procurement?

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How Active Listening can supercharge Procurement Professionals Skillset

Daniel Barnes
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June 30, 2023
How Active Listening can supercharge Procurement Professionals Skillset

I was out enjoying the sun, walking my beautiful pug, Luna, and listening to the Tim Ferriss podcast episode, HERESIES, when I heard about the importance of active listening. The podcast highlighted that many people confuse this idea with regurgitation of what the speaker has stated.

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Procurement Skills #1: Why Procurement needs to learn to “Steelman”

Daniel Barnes
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April 14, 2023
Procurement Skills #1: Why Procurement needs to learn to “Steelman”

This post is for the true Procurement Nerds out there. You know if this is you. You care about your work and want to make a difference. So this new series, Procurement Skills, will take us through various skills from different disciplines that could be applied to your Procurement work.

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