I ncentive Design and the Law of Unintended Consequences 🕒 3 min read A Special Collaboration with Desiree Grace, River Heights Consulting Andrea Belk Olson, Pragmadik In 1958, Mao Zedong launched the Great Leap Forward, a five-year push to turn China from an agrarian society into an industrial power. One piece of the plan was the Four Pests Campaign: wipe out flies, mosquitoes, rats, and sparrows. The sparrows made the list because they ate grain meant for people. The entire country was mobilized against the birds. And it worked. Within a few years, sparrows were nearly gone. Then the locusts came. Sparrows ate some grain, but mostly they ate insects. With no predator left, locusts tore through the crops. Mao reportedly imported sparrows from the Soviet Union to undo the damage, but it was too late. Tens of millions of people died in one of the worst famines in history. Nobody set out to cause a famine. The goal made sense on paper. That's exactly the problem. Good intentions don...

 Is Your Team Practicing Good Channel Etiquette? 🕒 4 min read By Frank Hurtte The longer I work in distribution, the more convinced I am that we need to talk openly about Distributor–Supplier Etiquette,  or more accurately, the growing lack of it. Our industry is moving fast. Automation, AI‑supported workflows, hybrid sales models, and shifting demographics have changed how distributors and suppliers interact. We now have seasoned veterans, mid‑career leaders, and early‑career professionals all sitting at the same table, often with very different expectations for communication and partnership. And yet, despite all this progress, the same old friction points keep showing up. Miscommunication. Power struggles. A surprising shortage of basic professional courtesy. For reasons I can’t quite explain, nobody seems eager to bring this up, even though everyone feels it. So let’s bring it front and center. A Good Example of a Bad Example Not long ago, I sat in on a distri...

How to Identify and Keep the Right People in Distribution Read Time: 7 minutes By Frank Hurtte Deep Dive on People – The Right Kind of People In Part One of this series, we explored why people remain the most valuable asset in distribution. Now we turn our attention to identifying, developing, and retaining the right people—those who elevate your organization rather than quietly drain it. Distribution has always been a people‑driven business. Technology has improved, automation has expanded, and digital tools have become standard, but none of these replace the impact of a capable, motivated employee. The right people accelerate growth. The wrong people slow it down. And in today’s competitive labor market, the cost of getting this wrong is higher than ever. Let’s take a deeper look at what “the right people” actually means for distributors. The Right People Bring More Than Skills Skills matter, but they’re not the whole picture. The right people combine technical ability with curios...

Do People Still Make or Break Your Distribution Business? Read Time 7 mins By Frank Hurtte Let's talk about people. Why? Because without people, distributors aren’t distributors. They’re empty buildings with aging inventory systems, a few forklifts, and a collection of office chairs that have seen better days. When I talk with individuals looking to acquire distribution businesses, private equity, industry veterans, or even outsiders, the conversation always circles back to three things: profitability, customer relationships, and the stability of the team. Remove the last two, and the valuation drops to nearly nothing. In truth, without people, you don’t have customer relationships at all. That’s why talking about people isn’t just important; it’s essential. Distribution has always been a people‑intensive business model. Yes, we have warehouses, inventory, credit departments, ERP systems, and fleets of vehicles. But people are the engine. For every dollar of gross margin generated...

Your Greatest Competitive Advantage Is Your People. Are You Investing Accordingly? In distribution, people are not just an expense line. They are the business. Depending on your trade, employee costs often account for 60–70% of operating spend . When acquisitions happen, buyers rarely start with the building or the trucks. They start with one question: Will your people stay, and can they perform? Without the team, a distributor is an empty warehouse, aging equipment, and a customer list worth less than a well-run operation. Yet many distributors still treat workforce investment as secondary to equipment, software, or expansion. That’s a mistake, especially in today’s market.   Growth Mode Requires Talent Strategy Economists continue to point toward growth phases across many distribution sectors. Growth periods are the ideal time to strengthen capability, not just infrastructure. But too often, “investing in the business” translates into buying things. T...