900 episodes in 10 years. One consistent thesis. And a new generation picking up the microphone.
Introduction
In March 2009, I aired my first episode of PI Window on Business on Blog Talk Radio. The concept was simple: give procurement practitioners a platform to share real-world insights — unfiltered by vendor marketing or analyst agendas.
Ten years and 900 episodes later, I signed off in March 2019.
By 2013, Blog Talk Radio had named me one of their Top 300 hosts out of 15,000 — an unexpected honor for a niche procurement show. But the real validation wasn’t the ranking. It was the pattern that emerged across a decade of conversations: the same thesis kept surfacing, episode after episode, guest after guest.
Organizational readiness before technology deployment.
The guests changed. The technology waves changed. The thesis never did.
The Top 10 Episodes from 900: A Retrospective
Looking back across a decade of broadcasts, these are the episodes that defined the journey — not because of download numbers, but because of what they revealed about the patterns that still drive transformation success and failure today.
1. “Is The Traditional Association Membership Model Dead?” (April 9, 2009)
Guests: Tim McCarthy (IACCM), David Clevenger (Corporate United), Cindy Allen-Murphy (Buyers Meeting Point), Charles Dominick (Next Level Purchasing)
Why it matters: One of my earliest episodes tackled a question that’s even more relevant today. The thesis — that associations stuck in “this is the way we’ve always done it” would be left behind — anticipated the disruption that AI is now accelerating.
The panel featured voices who would become long-term collaborators: Cindy Allen-Murphy co-founded Buyers Meeting Point, which would later become a regular segment on the show. Charles Dominick built Next Level Purchasing into a certification powerhouse. Tim McCarthy represented IACCM, whose founder Tim Cummins would become a recurring guest and thought partner.
The pattern: Organizations that resist adaptation get disrupted. Associations. Vendors. Enterprises. The mechanism is the same.
2. “Outsourcing Revisited: Is It A Viable Strategy?” (July 28, 2010)
Guests: Tim Cummins (IACCM Founder/CEO), Colin Cram (Author of “Towards Tesco”)
Why it matters: The episode opened with a striking statistic: two-thirds of all outsourcing programs fail to achieve expected results. Some studies put the number as high as 90%.
Sound familiar? It’s the same 60-80% failure rate I’ve documented across every technology wave since.
Tim Cummins brought the vendor perspective from his years at IBM. Colin Cram brought 30 years of public sector experience. Together, they validated what would become a core thesis: the failure isn’t in the strategy — it’s in the organizational readiness to execute it.
The pattern: Outsourcing, digital transformation, AI adoption — the failure rate stays flat because the root cause is never addressed.
3. “The Lords of Discipline: A Journey of Self Discovery” (December 4, 2009)
Guests: Jim Bouchard, Troy Evans
Why it matters: This episode had nothing to do with procurement — and everything to do with transformation.
Troy Evans was a former drug addict and bank robber who rebuilt his life into a successful consulting and speaking career. Jim Bouchard brought his “Think Like a Black Belt” philosophy. Together, they delivered one of the most memorable 60 minutes in the show’s history.
The pattern: Transformation is human first. Whether you’re turning around a life or turning around an enterprise, the principles are the same: readiness, discipline, and the willingness to do the foundational work before expecting results.
4. “Year in the Life” Dragon’s Den Series (2013-2014)
Featured Companies: Scout RFP, Freightos, Bonfire
Why it matters: Before CPO Arena existed, I was already testing the format: bring emerging vendors before a panel of practitioners and let them make their case.
Kelly Barner from Buyers Meeting Point provided Dragon’s Den-style assessments of each company. Her reviews were sharp, practical, and unfiltered — exactly what the industry needed but rarely got from analyst coverage.
Scout RFP, featured in November 2013, would later be acquired by Workday. The early assessment captured both the promise and the risks that would play out over the following years.
The pattern: Practitioner validation beats analyst rankings. Every time.
5. CPO Arena Premier Episode (2020)
Panel: Michael Cadieux, Cheryl Hayes, Canda Rozier, Hervé Legenvre, Joseph Yacura
Why it matters: The Dragon’s Den format evolved into something more structured: a global panel of CPOs assessing vendor solutions in real-time.
Market Dojo was the first provider to enter “The Arena.” The format — 5 minutes for company overview, 7-8 minutes for demo, 10 minutes of panel questions, 5 minutes of “Beefs and Bouquets” — became the template.
The panel wasn’t there to promote. They were there to validate. Or not.
The pattern: When practitioners control the evaluation, the conversation changes. Vendors can’t hide behind marketing when CPOs are asking the questions.
6. Tim Cummins on Leadership Succession Planning
Guest: Tim Cummins (IACCM)
Why it matters: During one of our conversations, Tim shared a statistic that stopped me cold: “5% are actively involved, 15% are moderately involved, and 80% are disconnected and not involved at all.”
He was talking about association membership engagement. But the ratio maps perfectly to transformation adoption: 5% lead, 15% follow, 80% resist or ignore.
The pattern: The 80% shows up everywhere. It’s not coincidence — it’s organizational physics.
7. “Buyers Meeting Point Weekly Update” Series Launch (2013)
Co-host: Kelly Barner
Why it matters: Every Monday at 12:00 noon EST, Kelly Barner joined me to share news and insights from the procurement world. What started as a segment became a staple — garnering consistent audience interest.
The format was simple: practitioner-curated content, delivered consistently, without vendor spin. It worked because it filled a gap the industry didn’t know it had.
The pattern: Consistency compounds. Regular weekly episodes built an audience that trusted the source.
8. IBM Commerce Solutions Interview with Pete Wharton (December 2014)
Guest: Pete Wharton (IBM Commerce Solutions Product Marketing Leader)
Why it matters: Wharton revealed that IBM was planning to “create an ecosystem of technology partners to extend IBM’s service capabilities to its customers.” They were acquiring relationships, not companies.
It led me to ask the obvious question: how do you plan to govern these relationships? The answer — or lack thereof — led to my thesis on the RMO (Relationship Management Officer) role.
The pattern: Technology ecosystems require relationship governance. Without it, the ecosystem becomes chaos.
9. IACCM “Howard Stern Effect” Webinar Discussion (May 2016)
Co-presenter: Kelly Barner
Why it matters: After our IACCM webinar on “Procurement At A Crossroads,” the feedback came back polarized: attendees either loved us or hated us. No middle ground.
It reminded me of the Howard Stern movie: “The average Stern hater listens for two and a half hours a day.” Polarization means engagement. Apathy means irrelevance.
The pattern: Challenging the status quo generates reaction. Playing it safe generates nothing.
10. “The Procuretech Podcast” Interview with James Meads (September 2022)
Host: James Meads
Why it matters: Three years after I stopped hosting, James Meads interviewed me about the evolution of procurement media — from blogs to podcasts to whatever comes next.
It was a meta-reflection on 15+ years of building practitioner-led content. The wheel had turned: I was now the subject, not the host.
The pattern: The medium changes. The need for unfiltered practitioner perspective doesn’t.
The Pattern Across 900 Episodes
Looking back across a decade of conversations, certain themes appeared regardless of guest, year, or topic:
The thesis was never disproved. The technology waves came and went — e-procurement, cloud, mobile, digital transformation — but the failure pattern stayed flat at 60-80%.
Why? Because the industry kept skipping Phase 0.
2026: A New Generation Picks Up the Microphone
This week, Ali H. Raza announced the launch of Supply UnChained Podcast — “an unfiltered, unconstrained, and unchecked platform for thoughts on how to make the world’s supply chain better.”
The first guests include Eli Schragenheim, Takao Sakai, Brittain Ladd, Mohamed Amer, Max Stitzer (Brig Gen, USAF, ret.), and Vishnu Rajamanickam. The pilot episode airs January 9th.
I see this, and I’m encouraged.
Not because podcasting is new — it isn’t. I started in 2009. But the need for unfiltered, practitioner-led content hasn’t diminished. If anything, it’s grown.
In an era of AI-generated content, vendor-sponsored webinars, and pay-for-play analyst coverage, the value of authentic practitioner voices has never been higher.
Ali’s framing — “unfiltered, unconstrained, unchecked” — is exactly right. That’s what PI Window on Business tried to be and I like to think, succeeded for 10 years. The average monthly listener rate of 15,000 with some episode downloads exceeding 20,000, suggests that is a fair assessment. That’s what the next generation of procurement media needs to continue.
What 900 Episodes Taught Me
- Consistency compounds. Weekly episodes for 10 years built trust that no marketing campaign could replicate.
- Practitioners know. The best insights didn’t come from analysts or vendors — they came from people doing the work.
- Polarization beats apathy. If everyone agrees with you, you’re not saying anything worth hearing.
- The thesis doesn’t change. Technology waves come and go. Organizational readiness remains the gating factor.
- The medium evolves, the need doesn’t. Blog Talk Radio in 2009. YouTube in 2020. Whatever comes next in 2026. The platform changes — the need for unfiltered content stays constant.
Conclusion
In March 2009, I had no idea that first episode would lead to 900 more. I had no idea that Blog Talk Radio would name me a Top 300 host. I had no idea that the same thesis would keep surfacing, decade after decade, validated by every guest and every technology wave.
But that’s the nature of pattern recognition. You don’t predict the future. You document what keeps repeating — and eventually, the pattern proves itself.
To Ali Raza and everyone launching procurement podcasts in 2026: the microphone is yours. The audience is waiting. And the need for unfiltered, practitioner-led content has never been greater.
900 episodes taught me one thing above all: the industry doesn’t need more content. It needs more truth.
Go give them some.
Jon Hansen is the founder of Hansen Models and creator of the Hansen Method and Hansen Fit Score (HFS) framework. He hosted PI Window on Business from March 2009 to March 2019, producing 900 episodes and earning recognition as one of Blog Talk Radio’s Top 300 hosts. He continues to document procurement transformation patterns through Procurement Insights, now in its 18th year.
-30-
A QUESTION OF TRUST! (MULTIMODEL ASSESSMENT CONSOLIDATED)
Procurement Insights
Procurement Podcasts: A 2009 Vision Becomes a Vital Resource in 2026
Posted on January 3, 2026
0
900 episodes in 10 years. One consistent thesis. And a new generation picking up the microphone.
Introduction
In March 2009, I aired my first episode of PI Window on Business on Blog Talk Radio. The concept was simple: give procurement practitioners a platform to share real-world insights — unfiltered by vendor marketing or analyst agendas.
Ten years and 900 episodes later, I signed off in March 2019.
By 2013, Blog Talk Radio had named me one of their Top 300 hosts out of 15,000 — an unexpected honor for a niche procurement show. But the real validation wasn’t the ranking. It was the pattern that emerged across a decade of conversations: the same thesis kept surfacing, episode after episode, guest after guest.
Organizational readiness before technology deployment.
The guests changed. The technology waves changed. The thesis never did.
The Top 10 Episodes from 900: A Retrospective
Looking back across a decade of broadcasts, these are the episodes that defined the journey — not because of download numbers, but because of what they revealed about the patterns that still drive transformation success and failure today.
1. “Is The Traditional Association Membership Model Dead?” (April 9, 2009)
Guests: Tim McCarthy (IACCM), David Clevenger (Corporate United), Cindy Allen-Murphy (Buyers Meeting Point), Charles Dominick (Next Level Purchasing)
Why it matters: One of my earliest episodes tackled a question that’s even more relevant today. The thesis — that associations stuck in “this is the way we’ve always done it” would be left behind — anticipated the disruption that AI is now accelerating.
The panel featured voices who would become long-term collaborators: Cindy Allen-Murphy co-founded Buyers Meeting Point, which would later become a regular segment on the show. Charles Dominick built Next Level Purchasing into a certification powerhouse. Tim McCarthy represented IACCM, whose founder Tim Cummins would become a recurring guest and thought partner.
The pattern: Organizations that resist adaptation get disrupted. Associations. Vendors. Enterprises. The mechanism is the same.
2. “Outsourcing Revisited: Is It A Viable Strategy?” (July 28, 2010)
Guests: Tim Cummins (IACCM Founder/CEO), Colin Cram (Author of “Towards Tesco”)
Why it matters: The episode opened with a striking statistic: two-thirds of all outsourcing programs fail to achieve expected results. Some studies put the number as high as 90%.
Sound familiar? It’s the same 60-80% failure rate I’ve documented across every technology wave since.
Tim Cummins brought the vendor perspective from his years at IBM. Colin Cram brought 30 years of public sector experience. Together, they validated what would become a core thesis: the failure isn’t in the strategy — it’s in the organizational readiness to execute it.
The pattern: Outsourcing, digital transformation, AI adoption — the failure rate stays flat because the root cause is never addressed.
3. “The Lords of Discipline: A Journey of Self Discovery” (December 4, 2009)
Guests: Jim Bouchard, Troy Evans
Why it matters: This episode had nothing to do with procurement — and everything to do with transformation.
Troy Evans was a former drug addict and bank robber who rebuilt his life into a successful consulting and speaking career. Jim Bouchard brought his “Think Like a Black Belt” philosophy. Together, they delivered one of the most memorable 60 minutes in the show’s history.
The pattern: Transformation is human first. Whether you’re turning around a life or turning around an enterprise, the principles are the same: readiness, discipline, and the willingness to do the foundational work before expecting results.
4. “Year in the Life” Dragon’s Den Series (2013-2014)
Featured Companies: Scout RFP, Freightos, Bonfire
Why it matters: Before CPO Arena existed, I was already testing the format: bring emerging vendors before a panel of practitioners and let them make their case.
Kelly Barner from Buyers Meeting Point provided Dragon’s Den-style assessments of each company. Her reviews were sharp, practical, and unfiltered — exactly what the industry needed but rarely got from analyst coverage.
Scout RFP, featured in November 2013, would later be acquired by Workday. The early assessment captured both the promise and the risks that would play out over the following years.
The pattern: Practitioner validation beats analyst rankings. Every time.
5. CPO Arena Premier Episode (2020)
Panel: Michael Cadieux, Cheryl Hayes, Canda Rozier, Hervé Legenvre, Joseph Yacura
Why it matters: The Dragon’s Den format evolved into something more structured: a global panel of CPOs assessing vendor solutions in real-time.
Market Dojo was the first provider to enter “The Arena.” The format — 5 minutes for company overview, 7-8 minutes for demo, 10 minutes of panel questions, 5 minutes of “Beefs and Bouquets” — became the template.
The panel wasn’t there to promote. They were there to validate. Or not.
The pattern: When practitioners control the evaluation, the conversation changes. Vendors can’t hide behind marketing when CPOs are asking the questions.
6. Tim Cummins on Leadership Succession Planning
Guest: Tim Cummins (IACCM)
Why it matters: During one of our conversations, Tim shared a statistic that stopped me cold: “5% are actively involved, 15% are moderately involved, and 80% are disconnected and not involved at all.”
He was talking about association membership engagement. But the ratio maps perfectly to transformation adoption: 5% lead, 15% follow, 80% resist or ignore.
The pattern: The 80% shows up everywhere. It’s not coincidence — it’s organizational physics.
7. “Buyers Meeting Point Weekly Update” Series Launch (2013)
Co-host: Kelly Barner
Why it matters: Every Monday at 12:00 noon EST, Kelly Barner joined me to share news and insights from the procurement world. What started as a segment became a staple — garnering consistent audience interest.
The format was simple: practitioner-curated content, delivered consistently, without vendor spin. It worked because it filled a gap the industry didn’t know it had.
The pattern: Consistency compounds. Regular weekly episodes built an audience that trusted the source.
8. IBM Commerce Solutions Interview with Pete Wharton (December 2014)
Guest: Pete Wharton (IBM Commerce Solutions Product Marketing Leader)
Why it matters: Wharton revealed that IBM was planning to “create an ecosystem of technology partners to extend IBM’s service capabilities to its customers.” They were acquiring relationships, not companies.
It led me to ask the obvious question: how do you plan to govern these relationships? The answer — or lack thereof — led to my thesis on the RMO (Relationship Management Officer) role.
The pattern: Technology ecosystems require relationship governance. Without it, the ecosystem becomes chaos.
9. IACCM “Howard Stern Effect” Webinar Discussion (May 2016)
Co-presenter: Kelly Barner
Why it matters: After our IACCM webinar on “Procurement At A Crossroads,” the feedback came back polarized: attendees either loved us or hated us. No middle ground.
It reminded me of the Howard Stern movie: “The average Stern hater listens for two and a half hours a day.” Polarization means engagement. Apathy means irrelevance.
The pattern: Challenging the status quo generates reaction. Playing it safe generates nothing.
10. “The Procuretech Podcast” Interview with James Meads (September 2022)
Host: James Meads
Why it matters: Three years after I stopped hosting, James Meads interviewed me about the evolution of procurement media — from blogs to podcasts to whatever comes next.
It was a meta-reflection on 15+ years of building practitioner-led content. The wheel had turned: I was now the subject, not the host.
The pattern: The medium changes. The need for unfiltered practitioner perspective doesn’t.
The Pattern Across 900 Episodes
Looking back across a decade of conversations, certain themes appeared regardless of guest, year, or topic:
The thesis was never disproved. The technology waves came and went — e-procurement, cloud, mobile, digital transformation — but the failure pattern stayed flat at 60-80%.
Why? Because the industry kept skipping Phase 0.
2026: A New Generation Picks Up the Microphone
This week, Ali H. Raza announced the launch of Supply UnChained Podcast — “an unfiltered, unconstrained, and unchecked platform for thoughts on how to make the world’s supply chain better.”
The first guests include Eli Schragenheim, Takao Sakai, Brittain Ladd, Mohamed Amer, Max Stitzer (Brig Gen, USAF, ret.), and Vishnu Rajamanickam. The pilot episode airs January 9th.
I see this, and I’m encouraged.
Not because podcasting is new — it isn’t. I started in 2009. But the need for unfiltered, practitioner-led content hasn’t diminished. If anything, it’s grown.
In an era of AI-generated content, vendor-sponsored webinars, and pay-for-play analyst coverage, the value of authentic practitioner voices has never been higher.
Ali’s framing — “unfiltered, unconstrained, unchecked” — is exactly right. That’s what PI Window on Business tried to be and I like to think, succeeded for 10 years. The average monthly listener rate of 15,000 with some episode downloads exceeding 20,000, suggests that is a fair assessment. That’s what the next generation of procurement media needs to continue.
What 900 Episodes Taught Me
Conclusion
In March 2009, I had no idea that first episode would lead to 900 more. I had no idea that Blog Talk Radio would name me a Top 300 host. I had no idea that the same thesis would keep surfacing, decade after decade, validated by every guest and every technology wave.
But that’s the nature of pattern recognition. You don’t predict the future. You document what keeps repeating — and eventually, the pattern proves itself.
To Ali Raza and everyone launching procurement podcasts in 2026: the microphone is yours. The audience is waiting. And the need for unfiltered, practitioner-led content has never been greater.
900 episodes taught me one thing above all: the industry doesn’t need more content. It needs more truth.
Go give them some.
Jon Hansen is the founder of Hansen Models and creator of the Hansen Method and Hansen Fit Score (HFS) framework. He hosted PI Window on Business from March 2009 to March 2019, producing 900 episodes and earning recognition as one of Blog Talk Radio’s Top 300 hosts. He continues to document procurement transformation patterns through Procurement Insights, now in its 18th year.
-30-
A QUESTION OF TRUST! (MULTIMODEL ASSESSMENT CONSOLIDATED)
Share this:
Related