Distributors that want to be the primary e-commerce supplier in their market should have strategic goals, know what business capabilities are required and optimize their e-commerce platforms, writes Susanne Adam of SAP. "The whole process of specifying strategic goals and priorities, turning them into an actionable plan, and finally realizing them is an exercise that requires a strong focus on the customer experience," Adam writes.

Quantum computing hasn't scaled to commercial levels, but the techniques involved can still help distributors glean insights from ever-increasing amounts of data, writes Robert Liscouski, president and CEO of Quantum Computing Inc. The long-term outlook is for "hybrid approaches that combine the power of classical and quantum computing," Liscouski writes.

Fleet operators can retain and recruit truck drivers by providing engaging training and offering gamified incentives based on data, writes Daniel Burrows, CEO and founder of TruckLabs. "Transparency also creates trust in incentive programs and levels the playing field," Burrows writes.

College academics Thomas Davenport, Abhijit Guha and Dhruv Grewal offer a detailed road map for using four types of marketing artificial intelligence, along with the associated challenges and risks. "The key ... is to ensure that its privacy and security controls are transparent, that customers have some say over how their data is collected and used, and that they get fair value from the firm in exchange," they write.

Business-to-business marketers are combining direct mail with digital campaigns to capture the attention of the C-suite, and PFL's Nick Runyon offers tips on the strategy, including sending personalized videos or branded unboxing experiences when decision-makers activate a certain digital touchpoint. "Direct mail, triggered through digital intent signals, is creating the up-and-coming category of tactile marketing automation," Runyon says.

The inner critic inside your head -- whether it's the voice of a parent or other authority figure -- is helpful to a point, but it's also difficult to banish after it's become counterproductive, writes Ed Batista. "Rather than demonize our inner critic for its shortcomings, we can adopt a more compassionate stance toward them -- which, of course, means being more compassionate toward ourselves," he writes.

Great leaders seem effortlessly charismatic but in fact have built relationships that seek to create wins for everyone involved, writes Matthew Barzun, a former US ambassador. "What we really want and need isn't total freedom or total togetherness -- it's 'freedom together,'" Barzun writes.

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According to J. Michael Marks, NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence Fellow "Being on the defensive is only a strategy if you want to lose more slowly. Distributors that are willing to play offense will pay attention to three key trends in terms of customer expectations." Read his post here.