Get What You Need

As smart air travelers go, I sometimes wonder if I’d rank in the lower quadrant for efficiency while navigating airports. Not that I’m one of those rookies who holds up the Security line – I can whip off shoes and whip out my laptop with the best of ’em, while at the same time keeping those bins bumping merrily down the conveyor. (True or False: Does not having TSA Pre-Check actually make me a rookie?) But apparently I’m not as “together” as I thought.

During a recent trip out of Midway in Chicago, I was reassembling myself at a bench just past the scanner when a uniformed man approached me. “Are you Kim,” he asked, extending something in his hand. It was my driver’s license – no doubt retrieved from the floor after it escaped my pocket. Thanking the agent, whispering a prayer of gratitude, and then calling myself a few names, I eventually thought, gee, it sure is nice when you get what you need before you even realize you need it.

As it turned out, a whole lot of that get-what-you-need kind of thing was going on at my destination, which was the Executive Summit of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors in Washington, D.C., at the end of January. On a much grander scale, of course. About 400 CEOs and other senior-level executives had set aside three days to hear superb, relevant content dealing with top sales and operations issues, as well as compelling mainstage presenters such as Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Economist Allen Beaulieu, Fox News’ Shannon Bream, and author Daniel Pink, among others. There was no disappointment, apart from me not lodging at the beautiful Fairmont Hotel where the event took place. (Truth be told, one evening I temporarily forgot I was staying at a Hilton and boarded the Fairmont elevator. How embarrassing to discover my floor wasn’t on the button pad!)

PURPOSE MATTERS

But I digress. Pink, in particular, was generous with takeaways no one knew they needed till they heard him. Here’s one that made an impression: He described a study at a cafeteria in Boston. They rigged up an iPad in the kitchen so cooks could see the customers. The question researchers sought to answer: Does the quality of food improve when the cooks can see the patrons. The answer? Yes. By 10%. Underlying conclusion: When people know their purpose, their performance changes. Parlay that into your distribution world, and it means when your employees understand not just the how but the why of what they do (and the whole company, in fact) their engagement and care for their work rises. Purpose matters, said Pink. At your company, what would happen if, every week, people were given two fewer communications about how, and two more about why?

What I’m saying is: Associations are marvelous things. As a former association publishing executive, I’ve personally witnessed the powerful peer networking, business education, and supplier relationship-building that happen at association events. Readers of this publication have two major association events coming up in April: The Industrial Supply Association’s ISA24 April 15–17 and the NAHAD Annual Meeting April 27–30. Please check out our previews on pages 20 and 36, respectively, and register for the one that suits your business. Just hold onto your ID, and try to remember what hotel you’re in.

As always, thanks for reading!