Why the standard approach fails

The training worked.Nothing changed.

Built for an average professional. Delivered to a room. Measured by a feedback form. Then the same improvements come up at every performance review, with nothing banked.

55%

of procurement professionals don't feel they're being developed by their manager. Jigsaw Employment Report 2025

Access to content was never the problem. Transfer and embedding for results were.

Which of these is you?

For teams who've done the training and still can't see it in the numbers.

01

You did the course and got the certificate. Monday looked exactly the same.

Behind it:Courses are written for the average procurement professional.That person doesn't exist.

02

A supplier pushes back. A stakeholder blocks the work. The framework doesn't say what to do next.

Behind it:Knowing the framework isn't the same as judgement.Judgement only forms on a real problem, and no workshop recreates your room.

See team programs

For leaders carrying a target, a retention risk, or both, with the headcount they already have.

03

You've been handed a savings number your team hasn't hit before, with the same headcount.

Behind it:Outside help lands the number once and leaves with the method.A team that can move stakeholders and hold firm with suppliers lands it every year.That's why it's funded from the savings target, not the training budget.

04

Your best person is one recruiter call from leaving, and there's nobody behind them.

Behind it:69% of Australian procurement professionals changed jobs in the past four years.People leave when they can't see the next step.Development is your cheapest retention lever, and usually the first one cut.Jigsaw Employment Report 2025

See team programs

For people who know where they want to get to and can't find the route from here.

05

You know where you want to get to: 2IC, CPO, the commercial seat. Your CV says purchase orders and process.

Behind it:Careers stall when you wait to be noticed instead of being sponsored.What moves you is a record of banked outcomes.Deliver one, document it, then do it again.

06

You're doing the work, but someone else gets trusted to lead.

Behind it:A number in CFO language gets you heard once.Being trusted to lead depends on who was in the room, and what they say about you when you're not there.

See The Practice, for individuals
What we do instead

We don't teach the average problem. We work on yours.

01 · You bring it

The thing you're stuck on, this week.

  • The stakeholder who's gone quiet
  • The category strategy your CFO keeps sending back
  • The negotiation you're dreading next week

Every Friday Fix, coaching session and program starts there. That's the material.

02 · We work it with you

With someone who's been in your room.

They've almost certainly seen it before, and they know where it breaks. Not the framework, but the sponsor who wasn't briefed and the buy-in you needed and didn't have.

Recognised yourself? That's your starting point.

From the people who did it

What changed for them, in their words.

Practitioners and leaders Ashokk has coached, on what moved.

No procurement background → Head of Procurement

It is hard to find the time to speak to my manager or reach out to mentors internally when you are deep in delivery. It is a safe space to talk about the struggles and the approach.

Angela Estevez Megias
Head of Procurement · Ebury

You could spend 3 to 5 years learning by yourself in an organisation. Or, you could learn from the people in the community and shorten your learning curve to 1 to 2 years.

Raymond Chen
Procurement Manager, Packaging · Lactalis

I've learned to analyse different perspectives and categories of spend, and use that to develop the overarching strategy and drive results for the organisation. What I learned about structured thinking and solving complex problems continues to help me in my career today.

Adil Farouk
Head of Procurement, Strategy & Operations · Crown Resorts

Ashokk genuinely cares about the development of the people he coaches, a rare quality in most mentors. He has great subject matter expertise, and he always believed my success was his success.

DJ Bajaj
Partner · Kearney
For Teams

Two ways to work with your team.

For leaders with a savings or delivery target. Your team works on its real targets, and the guarantee is agreed before you start. Full inclusions and investment are set out on a call. Individuals: see The Practice.

Flagship · 5 weeks

Million Dollar Week

Five days over five weeks to a board-ready, fundable pipeline for next FY: a savings program your team runs, keeping the method once it's done.

Choose this if you need a fundable savings pipeline for next year, and a team that can run it.

  1. Week 1Teach
  2. Week 2Execute
  3. Week 3Review
  4. Week 4Refine
  5. Week 5Decision ready
10×
Guaranteed identified value against your investment.Funded from the savings target, not the training budget.

Ideally for companies with $3M+ of addressable spend. How the guarantee is administered is set out on the call, before you commit.

Flexible · Built around the work

Headway

Your team does the work. Next time, they won't need us. Project delivery, weekly decision coaching and applied skill-building, built around what your team needs right now.

Choose this if the work is live now, and your team needs delivery support, coaching or skills while it runs.

  • Project AcceleratorOne live project, coached through to a secured decision.
  • Weekly decision coachingA weekly session on the decisions your team is making.
  • Applied skill-buildingTraining done on your team's current work.
Guarantee
A performance guarantee agreed with you up front.Tied to conditions your team commits to.

Assembled per engagement, with structure, cadence and investment set out on the call.

Not ready for a program? Start here · Free

The Game of Procurement

A different view of what is really going on around your team's work, and how to play it, using a real problem you bring. 90 minutes, no cost, no pitch deck.

Book the free session
Ashokk N Menon
Ashokk N MenonFounder. Leads every program.
Who's behind it

Built by someone who's carried the pipeline.

Most teams don't need another framework. They need someone who has run the play until the decision gets made, and who knows how it looks from the other side of the negotiation.

When a team needs the work done rather than taught, that's That Procurement Project, run by the same person.

25+ years in the seat · 130+ projects executed · $1.5B in benefits · $20B+ category spend addressed

  • BuyerClient side, running procurement and supply chainMondelez InternationalRedington
  • SupplierBuilding the strategic sourcing function and extracting M&A synergies at a supplier to the brands he used to buy forPact Group
  • AdvisorIn the room with boards and CFOs, plus work through top-tier strategy firmsInfosys Portland
Straight answers

What teams ask before they start.

Is our data confidential?
Yes. Everything shared during a program stays between your organisation and Procurement Superheroes. We don't reference client names or spend figures externally without explicit permission.
We're a smaller team. Is this still for us?
If your company's addressable spend is under roughly $3M, the MDW guarantee is harder to support honestly. We'll tell you straight if MDW isn't the right fit yet.
Do we need to hire anyone to do this?
No. Every program is built so your existing team does the execution. We teach, coach, and unblock. No added headcount, ever.
How is this different from a training provider or a general consultant?
Training focuses on skills, consulting on execution: Procurement Superheroes programs do both, on a fixed guarantee where it makes sense. And That Procurement Project, our sister execution arm, exists for when you genuinely just need the work done.
Between Fridays · free

Operating in the Margins

Ashokk's newsletter and podcast. What actually worked on live engagements, for procurement leaders and the people coming up behind them.

Read and subscribe, free
Stay connected

The next Friday Fix, and the next job ad pulled apart.

Tell me what you want to hear about. The Practice waitlist, team programs, free sessions, or the fortnightly read on procurement job ads.

No cost and no card details at this stage.

Keep me posted on

An email when there's something worth reading, not a drip sequence.

You're in.

I'll only write when there's something worth reading. If you ticked The Practice, I read every profile before choosing the fifty.

Before you go

Stay connected with Procurement Superheroes.

Tick what you want to hear about. No cost and no card details at this stage.

Keep me posted on

An email when there's something worth reading, not a drip sequence.

You're in.

I'll only write when there's something worth reading. If you ticked The Practice, I read every profile before choosing the fifty.