Supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic have brought new customers to Avnet, with demand for its auto, consumer and industrial electronic components bouncing back, according to CEO Phil Gallagher. The technology distributor reported first-quarter sales of $4.9 billion, a 14% increase from the year-ago period.

Companies that pursue diversity, equity and inclusion in their hiring practices perform better than those that don't and also benefit from their employees' diverse perspectives, says Graybar President and CEO Kathy Mazzarella, who offers her career path as an example. "Let's open up our eyes and open up our minds, and look at the entire person and all the complexities and all the wonderful things that folks can bring to our organizations if we can tap into their gifts," she says.

United Rentals earned $203 million in the first quarter, up 17.3% from the year-ago period, on revenue of $2.06 billion. Rental revenue decreased 6.5% to $1.6 billion, but used equipment sales jumped 28%.

The pandemic has forced some distributors to shrink their workforces and operations, but cloud-based software can help them adapt, says Ian Heller of Distribution Strategy Group.

Some 60% of videos created by businesses are less than two minutes long and 58% of viewers, on average, will finish watching them if they're less than 60 seconds, while about 24% will watch videos longer than 20 minutes to completion, according to a Vidyard and Demand Metric report. The most popular video types are product demos, how-tos and explainers, and the top distribution channels are social media, websites and YouTube.

Happiness, trust and autonomy are traits most employees dearly value, and bosses could do worse than to encourage and develop those markers of well-being and performance, says Tera Allas of McKinsey. "[Y]ou could actually make a huge contribution to society by just making sure that those people are better off from a well-being perspective, that they're more satisfied with their lives because they're more satisfied with their jobs," she says.

Please help NAW by participating in a 5-7-minute survey, "Post-Pandemic Leadership Strategies for Distributors," conducted by researchers at Distribution Strategy Group, to help us provide answers to support all distributors. By sharing your experiences in this completely confidential survey, you can join with hundreds of other executives in ensuring that the industry learns as much as possible from the unique experiences of 2020 and 2021. Please make sure your voice is heard in this important research project.

It's decision time: If you plan to attend or send your leaders, please register by May 6. This program is not a full 2-week commitment of time. Rather, this virtual course will allow your leaders to conduct their day job and expand their skills and knowledge at the same time. No missed work and no travel time. Learn how other distributors operate, solve problems and drive solutions. This course builds competence and confidence for everyone from emerging leaders to seasoned veterans. Register your team!

NAW Institute author Pradip Krishnadevarajan writes, "In our book for NAW, Sales and Marketing Optimization: Developing Competitive Value Propositions in Distribution, we provide comprehensive, research-based best practices and tactics for improving sales and marketing at your distribution company. One key tactic we explore is the "I7 Training Framework." With this framework, distribution leaders get a strategic approach to sales force training that considers individuals' experience levels and capabilities." Read his post.