This month’s posting is about the 2017 NAEP Annual Meeting and the need to keep the horizon in sight, while applying your shoulder to the wheel to maximize your total contribution to your institution.  Computerization has gotten us out of the rut but we still have to make the effort to look around and focus on how purchasing can best contribute to achieving the educational mission of our institutions.  You might contemplate how a 17th century painter would depict that scene.

The Meeting offers a unique opportunity to learn how your peers at other institutions are contributing to the achievement of their institution’s educational goals via purchasing—and what their institutions are doing to address problems in many areas outside of purchasing.  Bringing back one good idea and applying it to the procurement process will probably pay all your meeting costs.  Bringing home another good idea that is useful to your boss who is dealing with a non procurement issue can change your relationship.