The
Procurious Big Ideas Summit in London gave invitees lots to think about, not least whether I have a colleague who is the
James Bond of #Procurement … I mulled over that thought as I chatted to some other interesting folk including
Salima,
Ross, Chris and
David Gillespie -
the actor - who reveals how it’s done in his book
How To Be Interesting.
The book’s good fun and starts by bringing the, so-famous-it’s-a-
tattoo, ancient Greek call to
self understanding into the present with a look at
Meyers Briggs. I’m an ENTP which in Meyers Briggs speak means:
E – I turn to people and objects so I Act-Reflect-Act, not Reflect-Act-Reflect
N – On the information gathering front I follow instinct and trust the abstract over experience
T – When making decisions I follow logic wherever it leads, rather than try to create harmony
P – In terms of planning / organisation I appear to have no plan but I do come with flexibility
The book is indeed good fun - being an ENTP is something I have in common with Walt Disney and Tom Hanks – but also made me pause for thought, especially over the
Be interested and
Be enquiring pointers
, the next two steps to becoming interesting once you've got to know yourself.
Unfortunately, since
“ENTPs have a longer road than most in harnessing their natural abilities”, it will be a while before following said pointers has any noticeable effect on my interesting-ness score. On the positive SAP Ariba’s got lots of things to take an interest in and enquire about. Therefore, I shouldn’t have to confine being interested and enquiring to evenings and weekends. Top three work based opportunities for upping my interesting-ness levels, I’ve identified so far, are:
Stay tuned to
SAP Ariba Live in Austin over the next few days as
Barry explains the criticality of including experience data in intelligent spend management . Hear
Darren on how you’ll be able to anticipate disruption using real-time analytics. A strong ecosystem can be the backbone of success in an increasingly connected marketplace where success requires openness and collaboration,
Andrea (Accenture) as well as
Shane and
Jason (Nutrien) explain why.
Get under the skin of
The Intelligent Enterprise where familiar business processes meet new technology (thanks
#TheBaldGuys). For
example the procurement process, plus analytics plus the Internet of Things means businesses can make a leap forward in asset maintenance capability. Blockchain is a new technology making headlines, but not necessarily good
ones, clearly there’s useful and not so useful blockchain.
See the SAP view.
Keep an eye on
Ariba Network growth which looks set to pass the current annual $2.6 trillion trade in goods and services. Two important enablers of success are the extensive supplier enablement support
available and now the Cloud Integration Gateway enables businesses to test and complete integration in a fraction of the time – weeks,
not months.
In reality I’m not sure how much of that’s ever likely to make me interesting save only in as much as where I work’s interesting and some of it might rub off on me. If you’re the right person you could have the opportunity for it to rub off on you too – we’re looking for interns.
Learn more here.
And if that was just one click through you didn’t make I can only quote from the final page of my book of the moment:
“Trust that little voice in your head that says ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if …’; And then do it.
” Duane Michals
