The US economy could lose $3.7 billion each day if dockworkers at East and Gulf Coast ports strike, warns Eric Hoplin, CEO of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors. The International Longshoremen's Association, representing 45,000 dockworkers, may halt work if no new contract is reached by Oct. 1. The strike would disrupt ports handling half of the nation's cargo, particularly impacting goods for the Christmas season. The ILA is seeking wage increases and bans on automated cranes, but experts argue that resisting automation could lead to long-term inefficiencies.

Leaders from companies such as ABC Supply, Stellar Industrial and Wesco were at MDM's SHIFT 2024 conference in Denver sharing their leadership styles, experiences and strategies for navigating economic challenges and driving transformation and innovation. Despite economic turbulence in the third quarter, there was optimism, in part spurred by the Federal Reserve's recent interest-rate cut. The conference emphasized the importance of hybrid sales processes, digital capabilities and data analytics in building resilient business models.

Waterworks distributor Core & Main has finalized its acquisition of Green Equipment Co., a provider of underground utility protection equipment based in Fort Worth, Texas. The deal expands Core & Main's presence across eight states in the Southwest and Southeast and enhances its offerings in the underground utility sector.

Advancements in AI and more affordable components have accelerated the development of humanoid robots, with the technology pulling in significant investments and opening the door to easing workforce pressures, writes Accenture's Brian May. However, although pilot projects suggest these cutting-edge technologies are suited for industries like logistics and automotive manufacturing where they can take on dirty, dull or dangerous tasks, concerns over costs remain, May writes.

Amazon is raising hourly pay by at least $1.50 for over 800,000 warehouse and transportation employees in the US, bringing the average starting wage to more than $22 an hour. The ecommerce giant will also offer the workers free Prime memberships as a perk to court and retain staffers in a tight labor market for logistics workers ahead of the holiday season.

Balancing economic efficiency and environmental responsibility in supply chains is becoming more achievable through technology, experts say. "AI is an essential part of this, and it plays a huge role in helping companies adopt sustainable practices," says Katrina Duck, an enterprise account executive from Inspectorio.

Effective leadership is characterized by ten key qualities, including communication, goal setting and uncovering potential of team members, writes Anthony Iannarino, sales expert. "A highly effective leader will engage each person and identify hidden talents to help them grow, providing them opportunities for development," Iannarino writes.

Business-to-business marketing expert Renae Gregoire explains five ways B2B marketers can improve engagement using ChatGPT. Gregoire provides prompts for each strategy, spanning content creation, research on competitors, emails, deploying a chatbot and search engine optimization.

The Federal Reserve's interest-rate cut doesn't necessarily mean all borrowing costs will decline, as evidenced by a recent uptick of yields of longer-term Treasurys. The rate reduction will have an impact in the future, "but over the next four to six months, the economy is still going to feel the lagged effects of tightening," says Jamie Patton, co-head of global rates at TCW.

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