Hanna Kang

I've had some great leaders, and actually, since we're talking about influential women, some of my best managers have been women. They've really shown me how to thrive and grow in my space and opened the opportunity to do so. That's been so great and driving in my career. They're not all women, but I've had some very influential women in my career path to really open the door for me and give me the opportunity to grow and thrive in my space. I think that's been super helpful and so beneficial to me.

I don't know if it's advice per se, but I remember as I was developing my professional personality within my field, going from the financial tech space where it's heavily male-driven, I thought I had to be this really aggressive, harsh persona to get what I want. But I remember one time my manager shared during our one-on-one performance review that everyone says about me that I am so kind and helpful. For a while in my earlier career, I thought that might be perceived as a weakness. He truly framed it as a strength of mine, telling me to lean into it. I really took that by the rein and decided I'm going to be kind and helpful and always offer my POV on how to best approach a situation, and that's really been helping me thrive in my space and with relationship building. It's not always easy, but it's been so valuable.

I would say always stay curious and ask questions. Listen, and don't be afraid. I spent a lot of my earlier years doubting and questioning, like is that the right thing to ask, can I say this? But once you're confident in your abilities, say what you have to say. People will listen. If you don't say anything, then no one will listen. But you have to take that step - listen, ask questions, know your space, and then share it with the world.

I think the constant challenge for sourcing in any category is developing or getting that opportunity to have a seat at the table as the business makes decisions, and debunking that stereotype that sourcing is just here to cut budgets and take budget from them. What a true strategic sourcing organization brings is not just the cost savings aspect, but that supplier relationship and strategic relationship development to help further your business and create innovation, being first to market with new technologies. It's really two-fold - making sure we spend money wisely but also drive innovation for the company. That's always a constant challenge we need to push through. In the marketing and tech space, it's just keeping up because there's so many changes in the world of AI around how we go to market, what's the best way to present to our consumers, and how do we become forefront of innovation. I think AI is helping, however we need to have controls on how we best use it. There's a lot of value AI can bring around the operational and transactional aspect of sourcing, we just need to make sure there are proper controls in place to ensure it doesn't get out of control.

For me, it is respect and kindness, and I think they go hand in hand. I always try to approach a situation with kindness and empathy. That's really helped me develop my relationships with stakeholders, with suppliers, with whoever. It really helps build a strong foundation and grow the relationship when you're coming into the conversation looking for a symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship versus trying to take. That also helps build trust and respect with one another, which fosters long-term strategic relationships.