“It’s very important to understand what motivates the person across the table from you,” says Shauna Gamble, photographed in an airplane hangar in Bombardier’s Montreal headquarters.Karene-Isabelle Jean-Baptiste
If you’re looking to get the absolute best deal on something, Shauna Gamble is the woman for the job.
She’s had practice, to say the least. As Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) at the world’s leading business jet manufacturer, Bombardier, Ms. Gamble, alongside her team, is responsible for the business’s end-to-end supply chain. That means ensuring all the parts and services required to manufacture the company’s aircraft are the best possible quality – and represent the best possible value.
“My No. 1 responsibility is to do everything I can for the shareholders, stakeholders, and the employees. The greatest asset of any company is the employees,” says Ms. Gamble.
‘Super sponsors’ and risk-taking
While her negotiation skills have been honed over a distinguished career in supply chain management, Ms. Gamble was introduced to the art of reading people at her first job out of high school, working in customs and excise for the Canadian government.
“It’s very important to understand what motivates the person across the table from you,” says Ms. Gamble of the skills she learned while working for the border agency.
“I try to watch people – and then find the language that clicks with them to come to a place that is mutually win-win,” she says. It’s about being prepared for the “many different ways” a conversation could go, she adds.
That entry-level role in customs and excise was also where Ms. Gamble met one of her “super sponsors,” the first of several bosses who would be influential in pushing her forward in her career.
“The super sponsor asked me, ‘What do you want?’ and I said, ‘What do you mean? I just finished Grade 13!’ And she said, ‘No, seriously. Have a chat with yourself and come back next week and tell me what you want,’’ says Ms. Gamble. After mulling over the question, Ms. Gamble concluded that she wanted to be doing her boss’s job. “[My boss] said, ‘Great, but I don’t think you’re going to stay here that long because this place isn’t fast paced [enough],” she recalls.
Ms. Gamble says her boss trained her “in ten different jobs” to help her develop her abilities, and within a year, she had gone off to work in another department. Next came a leap to the tech startup world, while earning a bachelor’s degree and executive MBA along the way. “I’m not afraid of a challenge, and I tend to gravitate to where things need to be fixed, or there’s opportunity for improvement.”
A “super sponsor” in the tech space, a man this time, was a key influence who encouraged her to realize her potential and aim high, she says.
“Most of my career has been paved by my sponsors,” says Ms. Gamble. “They saw in me the next step, the next challenge, the next capability. I trusted them, and they never let me down.”
Knowing that someone had her back if she failed helped Ms. Gamble “build the muscle” of taking chances, harnessing her own natural fearlessness into a wide-ranging career in every part of the supply chain.
Paying it forward
Six years ago, Ms. Gamble took another leap, joining Bombardier in her current role as Chief Procurement Officer and Senior Vice-President of Supply Chain. She came on board during a period of organizational transition, and she was charged with being a key driver of that transformation.
“When I joined, the percentage of women [working] in supply chain was low – and the percentage of women in leadership was even lower,” says Ms. Gamble. “I said, ‘We can’t just accept a low diversity percentage in our team; aerospace is changing, and we must as well.’”
She took action, starting with quarterly Women in Supply Chain meetings and “Lean In Circle” sessions (conceived by Sheryl Sandberg), where she brings together women in leadership within her department.
“I got to know who everyone was; we shared our stories, good and bad, and we used this as the basis of our mission of increasing diversity in our organization.”
In addition to sponsoring half a dozen women within the company personally, Ms. Gamble shares her knowledge more widely within the organization. She hosts negotiation skills seminars, trains her team at the “Procurement Academy” and hosts workshops to help employees grow in what she calls the “me factor” – the strengths and skills that lead to their own individual success, at work or otherwise.
“As a leader, I have an open-door policy and I’m very curious,” says Ms. Gamble. “As a sponsor, I encourage my team to step outside of their comfort zone to accelerate career growth.”
It’s a strong, inclusive leadership style that has paid off. Ms. Gamble firmly believes she has “the strongest team” in aerospace supply chain management, and they’re getting the recognition to back it up. This year, Bombardier was recognized by the Beroe Best-In-Class Index as one of the top 50 supply chains in the world last year, and top three in aerospace.
One of her favourite pieces of advice for someone who wants to grow a career like hers is, “If you see a ball that’s been dropped in the workplace, pick it up and be part of the solution. Proactive ownership is a key to success.”
It’s something that Ms. Gamble has recently done herself by launching a series of employee tree-planting days across Bombardier sites worldwide, with the goal of planting 25,000 trees by 2025. It’s an endeavour that is emblematic of Ms. Gamble’s philosophy of paying it forward in career and in life.
“Why not launch an initiative that gives back?” says Ms. Gamble. “For me, that’s a win-win.”
Advertising feature produced by Globe Content Studio with Bombardier. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.