Mike, I'm not sure this is the high wire act you suggest.
The key thing to understand with indirect procurement is that the buy typically talks back, as it is more service based. There are emotive elements to many of the indirect categories, (HR/benefits, cafeteria services or personal IT equipment are a couple of examples) and qualitative acceptability can be harder to pinpoint. To be successful, a CPO needs to have the soft skills (and key direct reports who have them as well) to work with their cross functional/C suite peers and teams to manage the environment successfully.
The key thing to understand with indirect procurement is that the buy typically talks back, as it is more service based. There are emotive elements to many of the indirect categories, (HR/benefits, cafeteria services or personal IT equipment are a couple of examples) and qualitative acceptability can be harder to pinpoint. To be successful, a CPO needs to have the soft skills (and key direct reports who have them as well) to work with their cross functional/C suite peers and teams to manage the environment successfully.