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Influence is not the same as formal power. In organisational terms, influence is the ability to shape decisions, priorities, and resource flows even when the final authority sits elsewhere. In more matrixed, cross-functional, and ecosystem-based organisations, that capability becomes more valuable because formal hierarchy reaches less of the work that matters most. (Michigan Ross, 2025) (Harvard Business School Online, 2019)

For ambitious procurement leaders, this is not a soft topic. It is a career topic.

Across recent procurement research, the mandate of the function is widening beyond sourcing discipline into resilience, technology, supplier collaboration, and broader enterprise value creation. (McKinsey, 2025) At the same time, Deloitte’s 2025 Global CPO Survey found that siloed ways of working remain the most-cited barrier to procurement value delivery, identified by 57% of respondents. (Deloitte, 2025) The implication is clear: if value depends increasingly on cross-functional decisions, and cross-functional work still gets blocked by silos, then influence becomes one of the most practical leadership assets a procurement executive can build. (Deloitte, 2025) (Michigan Ross, 2025)

The evidence base suggests that influence without authority is built from three assets: expertise, relationships, and organisational understanding. Harvard Business School Online describes these as core sources of authority beyond title. Expertise gives weight to your judgment; relationships create trust and willingness to support; organisational understanding helps you navigate how decisions actually move. (Harvard Business School Online, 2019)

That definition matters because many procurement leaders still approach influence too narrowly. They assume that being commercially right, procedurally correct, or formally responsible should be enough. In practice, those are necessary conditions, not sufficient ones.

Michigan Ross’s Maxim Sytch makes the stronger point directly: in flatter, more cross-functional organisations, the real value is often created in the “white spaces” between departments, teams, and external partners, where traditional authority carries less sway. (Michigan Ross, 2025) For procurement, that is highly relevant. Many of the decisions that most affect cost, risk, supplier exposure, capex quality, innovation timing, and operational resilience are not procurement decisions in a narrow sense. They sit between procurement and engineering, procurement and operations, procurement and finance, procurement and commercial leadership.

This is why successful leaders do not treat influence as persuasion in the meeting alone. They treat it as a system.

First, they build expert authority. HBS Online is explicit that people listen more when they perceive distinctive expertise and can see how that expertise improves recommendations and decisions. (Harvard Business School Online, 2019) In procurement terms, that means becoming known not only as the person who negotiates well, but as the executive who can improve supplier realism, reduce commercial lock-in, and translate external market signals into better internal choices.

Second, they invest in relationships before they need support. HBS Online notes that meaningful relationships build trust and improve understanding of colleagues’ motivations, which increases the likelihood that others will listen and help. (Harvard Business School Online, 2019) Michigan Ross reinforces this with a stronger network view: people with stronger relationships are more likely to support your ideas, advocate for you, and go the extra mile when it matters. (Michigan Ross, 2025)

Third, they understand how influence travels through the organisation. Organisational understanding is not bureaucracy for its own sake. It is knowing which leader worries about timing, which one worries about exposure, which one blocks by default, which one needs data, and which one needs political cover. HBS Online describes this as authority that comes from understanding the company’s inner workings rather than only the discipline itself. (Harvard Business School Online, 2019)

Harvard Business Review adds a crucial behavioural layer: influence improves when leaders understand the other side deeply enough to prepare for their priorities, workload, concerns, and preferred style of engagement. (Harvard Business Review, 2024) That sounds simple, but many procurement leaders still arrive with the right argument and the wrong entry point.

The practical consequence is important. Successful leaders do not begin with “procurement needs.” They begin with “what this decision means for your agenda.” That is not manipulation. It is translation.

They define influence correctly. Influence is not visibility, volume, or escalation frequency. It is the repeated ability to move important decisions in a sound direction without depending on title alone. (Michigan Ross, 2025) (Harvard Business School Online, 2019)

They prepare before the room. Harvard Business Review’s work on influence stresses understanding the other side in advance rather than relying on improvised persuasion. (Harvard Business Review, 2024)

They build a reputation for useful judgment. Expertise becomes influential when others experience it as decision help, not as functional correction. (Harvard Business School Online, 2019)

They map motives, not just stakeholders. The relevant question is not only who is involved, but what each party is trying to protect, accelerate, avoid, or secure.

They reduce friction. In real organisations, influence compounds around leaders who make collaboration easier under pressure.

Influence grows when procurement leaders become trusted interpreters of business reality, not only guardians of procurement logic.

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Deloitte. (2025). 2025 Global Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) Survey. Retrieved from https://www.deloitte.com/ch/en/services/consulting/research/procurement-strategy.html

Harvard Business Review. (2024, May 15). What It Takes to Build Influence at Work. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/podcast/2024/05/what-it-takes-to-build-influence-at-work

Harvard Business School Online. (2019, October 24). How to Influence Without Authority in the Workplace. Retrieved from https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/influence-without-authority

McKinsey & Company. (2025, February 25). Procurement 2025: Reimagining the function for success. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/procurement-2025-reimagining-the-function-for-success

Michigan Ross Executive Education. (2025, March 19). Influencing Without Authority: The Currency of Collaboration. Retrieved from https://michiganross.umich.edu/programs/executive-education/insights/influencing-without-authority-currency-collaboration

Thank you for reading,

Pascal Hecker | Editor-In-Chief, CPO Path.

P.S.: Starting next week (calendar week 15), we will be publishing on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. ET (4 p.m. CEST).