Procurement is no longer simply about securing the best price. In today’s volatile environment, it shapes resilience, drives sustainability, and builds trust with stakeholders. Yet perceptions of the profession often lag behind its true impact.
Leaders in procurement have both a responsibility and an opportunity to change that narrative. By demonstrating strategic leadership, investing in people, and harnessing procurement’s role as a force for positive social and economic change, they can enhance the profession’s reputation as a driver of value far beyond the bottom line.
That is among the lessons of the 2025 CIPS Salary Survey, in partnership with Hays, which shows that procurement and supply professionals see in our volatile times a real opportunity for leaders to change the profession’s profile for the better.
Leading with influence, not just authority
The most effective procurement leaders know that authority alone rarely secures buy-in. Influence comes from credibility, vision, and the ability to engage senior stakeholders in a language that resonates.
This means moving beyond savings metrics to tell compelling stories about risk mitigation, innovation, and sustainable growth.
To do this, procurement leaders need to display a specific set of characteristics. According to the Salary Survey results, those at the top levels of the profession need to show not just influencing ability, but demonstrate integrity and trustworthiness, communication skills, and a facility with collaboration.
All of these are crucial to wielding influence both within procurement and beyond, and leaders who master the art of influence elevate procurement from a transactional function to a strategic partner. They can bring the external world into the boardroom, connect global challenges to commercial realities, and help steer organisations through uncertainty.
Developing the workforce of the future
Procurement’s reputation will rise or fall with the strength of its people and the visibility of the impact they make.
Leaders must champion skills that go beyond negotiation. Digital literacy, communication skills, and stakeholder engagement experience are increasingly non-negotiable. And just as important is the drive to diversify the profession, creating teams that reflect the societies and supply chains they serve.
Investing in professional development and creating visible career pathways sends a clear message: procurement is a modern, dynamic field that rewards aspiration and offers a great career path for the best and brightest.
Aligning procurement with social ambitions
Procurement can have a unique and direct impact on any industry’s social and ethical goals. Leaders who embed sustainability and ethics into sourcing decisions both signal that procurement is integral to turning their organisation’s principles from stated aims into reality.
The good news is that this is already happening in the profession, and procurement employees are proud of it.
Of the 2025 CIPS Salary Survey’s 6,000-strong global respondents, 81% believe that the procurement and supply profession can enable positive social change specifically through its ability to influence equality, diversity and inclusion as well as environmental, social and governance issues. Respondents in Africa, and MENA are the most likely to hold this view.
What leaders need to explain to other, less engaged functions is that this contribution to progress and ethical responsibility isn’t just reputational: it’s a competitive advantage.
Companies that lead on responsible procurement build trust with investors, attract talent, and mitigate long-term risks by extricating themselves from unsustainable and vulnerable supply chains.
Leaders who adopt an outward-looking perspective like this can reframe procurement as a discipline that drives progress across society, not just savings.
The profession’s credibility grows when it takes responsibility not just for company outcomes but for systemic change. Leaders who collaborate across industries, partner with NGOs, or shape policy can raise the bar for entire sectors.
Whether it’s tackling modern slavery, championing SMEs, or catalysing innovation in circular supply chains, procurement can and should be a force for good.
Reclaiming the narrative
To enhance perceptions of procurement, leaders must reclaim the narrative. By influencing at the highest levels, nurturing talent and driving systemic change, procurement can be recognised as one of the most critical sites of strategic impact in the modern global economy.