From Procurement to Transformation Partner: Amy Julian on Culture That Ships

Jim sits down with Amy Julian to dig into culture as lived behavior, not wallpaper. From early days in AB InBev’s purchasing team through years of complex change, Amy unpacks why command-and-control stalls digital projects, how cross-industry thinking opens doors, and where AI is already moving the needle for mid-market procurement and supply chains. Expect straight talk on failed implementations, governance that actually clears roadblocks, and translating values into daily decisions on the floor.

What you’ll hear

Why culture is a set of guiding principles you can act on, lessons from the AB InBev acquisition years and getting comfortable with constant change, a candid failure story and what clunky multi-consultant programs miss, systems thinking across tech and manufacturing, agile mindsets meeting lean and PDCA, practical AI use cases for quoting, planning, and buy decisions, the shift from analyst work to relationship work, and how to build multi-level client alignment that survives real life.

Topics covered

Behavior-driven culture and purpose, change management beyond slide decks, ERP friction and inventory truth, cross-functional governance, agile plus lean in the same room, AI agents for sourcing and planning, leadership communication and trust-but-verify, turning workshops into action logs people actually own.

Key quotes

“Culture is a set of guiding principles and behaviors that help me make the right decisions day to day.”

“Most transformations fail where the behavior stops. Values without actions are just posters.”

“Let people author the change. IT can’t do it to the organization and expect it to stick.”

“AI should be your analyst and sidekick. People still make the calls and hold the relationships.”

Jim’s take

Change sticks when the shop floor can see themselves in it. If your governance cannot clear a bottleneck by Tuesday, it isn’t governance. Bring agile curiosity to lean rigor, and stop pretending culture happens after go-live. It starts at scoping.

Amy’s take

Design for behavior first. Set decision rights, create real feedback loops, and wire your principles into the tools. Start small with AI where pain is obvious, prove value fast, then expand. Systems thinking beats heroics.

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