Donna Bowden on How to Future-Proof Your Procurement Career for the AI Era
Procurement career coach Donna Bowden unpacks job-market shifts, mastering soft skills, how to grow your procurement career alongside AI, and more.
Hey Changemakers,
Welcome back - this edition is packed! Here’s what we have lined up:
A Conversation with Donna Bowden, on how to future-proof your career in an AI-enabled world.
Global Risk Roundup, with intel on the latest supply chain shocks.
New Feature Alert, automated tariff management is live 🎉
The Art of What’s Possible, with strategic-sourcing analytics.
Scroll on for the good stuff.
A Conversation with Donna Bowden
A couple of weeks back, we caught up with Donna Bowden, founder of Narrate Your Career, co-founder of Procurement Pivots, and a career strategist who’s spent more than a decade helping senior procurement pros find clarity, confidence, and momentum.
Our chat centred on one big idea: the future of procurement isn’t just digital, it’s deeply human. As technology takes the manual work out of day-to-day ops, the teams that thrive will be the systems thinkers - the people who zoom out, connect the dots, and ask the questions that move the business forward.
What we covered:
Why the shifting job market is reshaping how procurement talent is hired, and how to stay ahead.
Tactical plays for repositioning yourself (and your function) as a strategic powerhouse, not just a savings machine.
Why curiosity, relationship-building, and story-telling are the new must-haves in an AI-enabled procurement landscape.
And how to brand yourself as a dot-connector who solves bigger-picture problems - even if you’re not the loudest voice in the room.
Don’t miss the full conversation:
Global Risk Roundup
Here are the latest risks we’ve got our eyes on this week:
1. 50 % U.S. Steel Tariffs Now Cover Home Appliances
Starting June 23, the steel and aluminium content of refrigerators, washers, dryers, and other appliances faces a 50 % duty. While U.K. imports are exempt, manufacturers warn the surcharge will pressure margins and could raise retail prices despite efforts to source domestically. (Source)
2. China Loosens Rare-Earth Export Licenses - Temporarily
China controls roughly 70 % of global rare-earth mining and 90 % of processing, giving Beijing enormous leverage over EV, wind-turbine and defense supply chains. Following London trade talks, it has agreed to ease export-license restrictions for six months, letting producers such as JL MAG resume magnet shipments to the U.S., EU and Southeast Asia. Military-grade materials remain blocked, so China’s strategic grip is still firm despite the pause. (Source)
3. Tariffs & Manufacturing Weakness Expected to Drag Down Truckload Demand
Analysts warn that every 1 % tariff increase could shave roughly 0.15 % off U.S. truckload demand, while 18 %–28 % duties risk a 4 %–6 % drop. Beyond fewer loads on the road, watch out for knock-on effects: costlier raw-material imports that squeeze manufacturers’ margins, weaker consumer spending slowing finished-goods orders, carriers may park capacity or exit the market tightening truck availability just when demand rebounds, and longer lead times that force buyers to hold extra inventory or pay premium freight to keep lines running. (Source)
New Feature Alert
Tariffs have become a global migraine. So we shipped a cure:
Automated tariff management.
Kavida’s Agent PO now auto-maps and calculates tariffs, while also helping with customer billing. Spreadsheets, lookup tables, and late-night duty math? Gone.
Our Customer Success Manager, Crystal Kuthoor, breaks down exactly how this latest feature works. Check it out below:
The Art of What’s Possible
We’ve got more to show you - the applications of AI in procurement really are endless.
Imagine asking, “Rank my suppliers by value-for-risk, surface any on-time-in-full slips over 2 weeks, and suggest how I can reduce sourcing costs.” - and getting the answer in seconds. That’s the beauty of an AI agent, purpose-built for procurement.
Check out this demo to see it in action:
That’s it for this week, Changemakers!
Have feedback, ideas, or a use case you’d like us to cover next? Interested in collaborating with us on the Spotlight Interview series or contributing your work to an upcoming edition? Hit reply - we’d love to hear from you!
Until next time,
Deana
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