Encouraging curiosity

October 1, 2023  |  Business, Management

Curiosity is a catalyst for creativity, problem solving and continuous improvement. By creating a culture of curiosity, we can tap into the collective creativity of the people that work with us and for us. It stimulates critical thinking, encourages us to be open to possibilities and leads us to exp…
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Getting into a gross margin state of mind

August 1, 2023  |  Business, Management

While working in my family distributorship, I had the importance of gross margin dollars drilled into my head at a very young age. We occasionally talked about sales when it came to an extraordinary order, but the next question out of every mouth was—how did we do on it? In other words, did we mak…
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Navigating the workforce of the future

August 1, 2023  |  Business, Management

Organizations need to be thinking about tomorrow and, more specifically, how the future of work, the workforce and the workplace will be dramatically different from what we know today. And more importantly, from what it has been in the past.
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Can outsourcing mitigate labor shortages?

June 1, 2023  |  Business, Management

I was recently speaking with a group of operations managers and they raised the topic of outsourcing. Outsourcing of services has always been something that my clients have traditionally shied away from. They often outsource functions in the early years, but as they grow, there is a tendency to brin…
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Leadership and management

April 1, 2023  |  Business, Management

Leadership and management are closely related; however, despite often being spoken of in the same breath, they are certainly not synonymous. If we use those terms interchangeably, we tend to behave as if these roles are interchangeable and equivalent. Doing so means we miss critical components of ex…
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Checklists are the key to preventive maintenance

December 1, 2022  |  Business, Management

Don’t you hate it when things don’t work in the warehouse? You jump on the forklift, ready to unload a 40-ft. trailer, and the battery is dead. As you are cursing your misfortune, you grab the pallet jack and the hydraulic pump is shot.
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Attract the hourly workforce

August 1, 2022  |  Management

The rapid pace of change due to COVID-19 and its impact on hiring and retaining hourly employees demands a new source of insight to distinguish yourself as an employer. Historically, most employers turn to benchmarking as a first step toward enhancing their employee attraction and retention efforts.…
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U.S. sanctions compliance

June 1, 2022  |  Business, Management

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, new sanctions/restrictive measures have been issued by the U.S., EU, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Iceland, Australia and New Zealand. As a result, Russia is now the most heavily sanctioned country in the world.
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