How do innovative organizations achieve great things? Some believe that innovation is the result of one masterful stroke. In reality, as Todd Talbot, president of Fluidmaster describes,the boldness of innovation occurs through disciplined progress towards a vision. Fluid master is a leading global supplier of fluid management systems. Some would think that engineering the internal [...]

Joe Nettemeyer believes the very nature of leadership throughout distribution is changing .. and must change. Joe explains that there has been a seduction to easy as a result of the long history of growth our economy, markets, industries, and businesses have experienced over the last decades. There is opportunity in not being seduced by [...]

Dave Munson is the founder and CEO of Saddleback Leather. If there was ever an accidental entrepreneur – an accidental innovator it s Dave. From living in a $100 a month apartment in Juarez, Mexico for three years sleeping on the floor with no hot water, to building a business that employees hundreds of people and [...]

We ve heard about how the introduction of Apple s iPhone changed the business model of Apple (again) and how this one product represented 60% of the company s revenues before the iPhone was four years old. Apple is certainly one company that continues to innovate it s business model. Well, the most innovative distributors are doing the same. [...]

As Joe Nettemeyer, president and CEO of Valin Corporation migrates the company to the future, he begins with two questions: “What do we stand for? What is our purpose?” In a world where most distributors are trapped by sameness and commoditization, Valin stands apart with its value proposition that is captured in the statement – [...]

Joe Nettemeyer, the president and CEO of industrial distributor Valin Corporation believes that culture is the great differentiator in business today. But beyond platitudes he works to nurture the needed culture everyday. And what is that needed culture? It s one of WE. As he says the successful organizations figure out how to get past me [...]

We live in the age of disruption. There is this perfect storm of geo political movement, economic uncertainty, government influence, demographic shifts, and of course the technology revolution. Joe Nettemeyer is the president and CEO of industrial distributor Valin Corporation in San Jose, CA. Better than most, Joe has a pulse on what these disruptive [...]

US LBM, the billion dollar plus distributor of building products moves fast. Their motto is moving forward at the speed of us. So how does L.T. Gibson, US LBM s transformative CEO, lead the organization so that it moves forward (fast) at the speed of its 4,000 associates? According to LT, leadership begins with the ability [...]

L.T. Gibson and his leadership team have developed a business model with a foundation to remain relevant and sustainable in this age of disruption. While for many the fog of uncertainty leads to paralysis, this uncertainty is viewed by the CEO of US LBM as an opportunity. From his point of view US LBM leadership [...]

So what makes you different? I begin my third discussion with LT Gibson, CEO of building material distributor US LBM exploring this very question. He quickly points out that most distributors can t articulate their difference beyond a superficial Service. So if service isn t a compelling value proposition, what is? We strive to create more value [...]