SALES & MARKETING
Building Bridges for Future Leaders in Distribution BY DIRK BEVERIDGE
R Dirk Beveridge is the founder of UnleashWD, Executive Producer at We Supply America, President of the Beveridge Consulting Group and Champion for the noble calling of distribution for over 36 years.
54 • First Quarter 2023
ecently, I attended the GAWDA Annual Convention in San Diego. I was fortunate to hear Bob Ewing, President at Red Ball Oxygen Co., and Past President of GAWDA, speak on the real crisis confronting independent, family and employee-owned distribution businesses — what has been coined as the “Silver Tsunami.” As baby boomers reach retirement age, we are seeing what economists predicted years ago — a profound and disruptive force on our country’s workforce. As evident in the dwindling labor pool, our industries face an uncertain future without this institutional knowledge. Bob addressed this and more to a room of over 900 attendees and he had a clear and decisive message: To build the bridge between leaders transitioning out of the business to leaders who will create distribution’s future, we must do the following: • Embrace Discomfort: Learning requires us to question the status quo and be comfortable in new strategies. • Embrace a growth mindset: Trust that those with talent and ambition are capable of rapid growth. • Clarify expectations: Emerging leaders need to know there is a plan that includes them and what that plan entails. • Share a passion for the industry: We must have a “work to serve” mentality and
truly believe we and our teams are doing important and quality work. As we pass the baton to the next generation, I can’t help but think of something George Kennedy, retired Head Swim Coach for John Hopkins University said during his presentation at our 2015 Unleash Innovation Summit. Speaking of his student athletes he said, “I need to prepare them for their world, not the world I lived in.” It’s true. What worked in the past won’t work any longer. Our businesses, careers, families, and lives are continually evolving and different from where we started. Those changes occurred over time, slowly transforming the way we look at business and life. We must prepare our companies and our employees now for the world that exists today and is yet to come — not the one we built our careers on.
BUSINESS LEADERS MUST ADAPT TO THE WAY FUTURE LEADERS WANT TO LEAD Moving forward, our leadership playbooks must focus on the long game, taking steps to build our businesses for the next generation and the generation after that. The first step in building a business that far outlives you is to evaluate where you stand and what it takes to get to the next level.
