Just in case you happen to be one of the three people on the planet not familiar with the term AI (or Artificial Intelligence for long), the topic seems to be the subject of thousands of blogs; technical, political and otherwise. Based on a few of the headlines I have seen, AI is destined to: • Take jobs away from millions of people (ranging from drivers to cardiologists) • Destroy the Earth (which kind of reminds me of a million old drive-in movies) • Change Human Relationships (where people seek robots for companionship) • Replace people in Burger Joints (I wonder if a robot will ask if I want fries?) If time permitted, I could go on and on with other examples of scary headlines. I won’t. Before I proceed further, allow me to say, a 1950s kids book about AI launched me into my career in technology. Even at age eight, I thought AI sounded like a pretty cool concept. Allow me to digress. Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine changed the course of my life. A brief recap of t...

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to talk about one of my favorite topics (distribution) with a young gentleman from Europe.  It was an interesting conversation.  Exploring the best way to get his products into the North American market, we came to the topic of distribution.  I got excited and launched into one of my rants on the importance of distributors and why so many companies “stunt their growth” in the US and Canada by not using a strong channel. Somewhere along the way, I noticed my young friend was not following me very well. I asked a few questions and quickly realized he wasn’t quite following me. With all due respect to the few distributors in Europe who follow a model similar to the US, distributors across the pond don’t resemble the people we work with on a daily basis. I can’t remember exactly when I started using the phrase, but I call “our kind of distributors” Knowledge-based Distributors. I thought I would share a bit which might be used...

Recently, happenstance dealt me a blow. Late one night, I received this quote along with a rather detailed email from a friend who found themselves working for a newly appointed boss: Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. Not that Abraham Lincoln was a distribution expert, but in this case, he had a great point. Allow me to share a few of the observations from the email and follow-up conversation. The long-term and well-liked company President had finally retired. His successor was unanimously selected by the company leadership and was, by all accounts, a team player with charm and charisma. Under the guidance and tutelage of the former boss, things progressed remarkably well. The leadership team and employees alike felt good about the new president. Then tragedy struck. The former boss, who had served as the Chairman of the Company, was struck with a mighty and fatal illness. The passing was unexpected and quick. Wit...