From a very young age we’re taught about the virtues of competition, about how competing ferociously in every aspect of life leads to success and winning. From Ayn Rand we learn about the “virtue of selfishness,” a hallmark of the all-out egotistical, competitive spirit that was on display to the Nth degree in the recent […]
vested outsourcing
Tweaking the Kraljic Model
More than 25 years ago Peter Kraljic published his seminal “portfolio purchasing model,” which has been both a widely critiqued and widely accepted method for assessing procurement demand, risk and profit factors for supply chains. The model distinguishes among four product categories: leverage items, strategic items, noncritical items, and bottleneck items. My take on the […]
Dilbert Nails the Activity Trap
Monday’s Dilbert cartoon has a pitch-perfect take on one of the common problems that occur in outsourcing agreements, something that I call the Activity Trap. “I don’t want you to be more efficient. You’re working on a government contract and billing by the hour.” That in a nutshell is the Activity Trap. But it’s […]
Does Sheen Give “Winning” a Bad Name?
Yesterday I was working with a client to develop a workshop they have asked me to facilitate in order to help them turn their existing relationship into a high gear, highly collaborative Vested relationship. I came up with a title for the workshop that included the word “winning.” My client asked me to take out […]
Beware of the Outsourcing Scorpion
You may have heard the fable of the scorpion and the frog, which has some very definite lessons about trust, collaboration, self-interest and the basic nature of humans. This fable provides a wise lesson for those in the outsourcing business as well. In the story, a scorpion needs to cross a river but wonders how he […]
Consider the Outsourcing “Not” List
Most people in this industry, me included, tend to write about what outsourcing is, or should be. That’s a natural and normal approach, especially as we develop concepts and systems and the right way to outsource—such as (ahem) the Vested Outsourcing way! But sometimes looking through the other end of the lens can bring a […]
Outsourcing, Trust and Stewardship Delegation
Sometimes it is worthwhile to go back to the future—especially when it comes to pulling Stephen R. Covey’s, The 7 habits of Highly Effective People, off the shelf for a quick review. Covey’s classic bestseller on personal effectiveness, published in 1989, has huge lessons for business and leadership effectiveness; it also has great resonance for […]
Lawyers Who “Get” the True Nature of Outsourcing
Last time I talked about two lawyers who “get” outsourcing deals as much more than a legal exercise to reduce costs, mitigate liability and avoid risks. With today’s post I’ll follow up with some thoughts on three more, Jeanette Nyden, George Kimball and Jim Groton, and how they also understand the importance of using the […]
Lawyers Who “Get” Outsourcing as a Partnership
It’s really refreshing when lawyers understand outsourcing as much more than a cost reduction and risk avoidance exercise. This is an important point to ponder as The Vested Outsourcing Manual hits the bookstores this week, because it has extensive guidance about the priorities that attorneys for companies and service providers should bring to modern outsource […]
Outsourcing T&Cs Can Cost You!
The old adage about being careful what you ask for applies to contract terms and conditions in spades: you may think you are properly protecting an outsourcing arrangement and insulating it from risk, but the flip side is that numerous T&Cs mean more costs that eat away at profits. Copious, onerous and (often) unnecessary T&Cs […]
