In the past few months, we have all had to make adjustments to our lives.

The wholesale distributor simply cannot function in the same manner it could a few weeks ago. The rules have changed, and we must adapt at an unprecedented rate.

The success of any new employee is enhanced when we take the time to show what the company is about, how it fits into the supply chain.

Recently, I interviewed the CEO of a distribution-based co-operative group. This gentleman is a longtime veteran of the distribution industry and has spent the last 20-plus years working to improve the relationships between his member distributors and their preferred suppliers.

If we want our people to perform at a high level, we must show others how to remove obstacles. We must give our people the latitude to make operational decisions. We must make the goal, not the path, the most important principle in our success.

How have changes in your products led to a reinvention of your distribution process?

So much has been written and said about how to work with the millennial worker that we seem to have glossed over the generation that preceded them — the proud men and women of Generation X.

Spoiler alert: In this column, I will be sharing my perceptions of the content and what I see as the greatest lessons for distribution leaders.

If a person can articulate reasons for doing the desired behavior, you are steering him toward the desired outcome because people believe their own reasons more strongly than the motives of others.

Let’s face it; the notion of product exclusivity is nearing extinction.