Procurement Pathways Podcast: From Chicken Farm to the C-Suite: A Masterclass in Limitless Leadership (Part II of II)

In Part I, host Stacy Joslin and Howard Richman, owner of Levelfield Enterprises and retired Chief Procurement Officer at Citrix, unpacked a leadership philosophy centered on amplifying strengths rather than fixing perceived weaknesses.

That perspective set the foundation for how modern leaders approach value, influence, and impact. More importantly, it reinforced a critical truth: when individuals are empowered to lean into their strengths, they build confidence and consistently deliver higher‑quality outcomes.

Building on those insights, Part II shifts from philosophy to execution, focusing on what differentiates consistently high-performing organizations. At the center of that difference is leadership. The environment leaders create ultimately shape how people perform, collaborate, and grow. They examine culture, adaptability, and the courage required to lead in increasingly complex environments.

Key insights for procurement leaders include:

• Impact of organizational culture on performance, trust, and long-term team success.
• Role of leadership behaviors and incentives in shaping outcomes.
• Link between strong cultures and the ability to retain top procurement talent.

Listen to Part II of Stacy and Howard’s conversation to learn how leading organizations build, develop, and retain top procurement talent in an increasingly complex and fast-moving environment.

About our guest

Howard led Global Indirect Procurement at Citrix Systems for over 6 years before retiring in June 2020. Having led, assisted and consulted on seven Global Procurement Transformations for multinational companies in his career, he won the 2017 World Procurement Leaders Internal Transformation award.

His career highlights include roles in procurement change management, financial capital expenditure and risk analysis, controllership, supply chain business development, and raw material commodities hedging and trading. He has led global IT and indirect procurement functions across a wide range of spend categories. These include IT hardware, software, SaaS, cloud services, and outsourcing. His experience also covers professional services, including HR benefits, contingent labor, legal services, and consulting. In addition, he has managed financial accounting, audit services, and broader enterprise support functions. He has also overseen site and facilities outsourcing, travel, meetings, and car fleets. His portfolio further includes creative agencies, media, marketing, and hotel operations. He has also managed futures and options market hedging and trading books for raw material commodities and energy.

Howard is co-author of the book “Procurement Confidential” and served on the boards of Telerx and the US Pan-Asian American Chamber of Commerce.  He has been a frequent speaker, presenter, workshop leader, and podcast guest for organizations such as Procurement Leaders, Marcus Evans, NegotiationNinja, and Columbia Business School, having co-written a business case on the Sales-Procurement relationship in multinational corporations.