The Labor Department's producer price index shows a growth rate of 9.7% for December 2021 compared with a year earlier, although the month-over-month increase was a lower-than-expected 0.2%. The year-over-year gain is the highest since the index was created in 2010.

ODP Corp. said it is delaying its planned split into two companies so it can evaluate multiple offers, including one received last month for its consumer business. A subsidiary of Sycamore Partners made a separate offer in June, with the parent firm still interested as of November.

A few of the ways distributors can retain and recruit warehouse workers are by investing in technology, going beyond minimum safety and environmental requirements, and making sure the total benefits package is strong, including amenities, writes Eric Allais, president and CEO of PathGuide Technologies.

Distributors and other B2B companies should consider customized banking services for their customers, "independent of the need to sell products or services," Mark Dancer writes. Dancer shares insights from McKinsey on how to segment potential banking customers and design targeted interventions for them.

Brands can compensate for the loss of third-party data by obtaining zero-party data from consumers through quizzes, polls, games and other efforts to obtain information beyond name and email address that then can be used to personalize marketing experiences, according to industry experts. The key to success with zero-party effort is being upfront and honest about data collection and usage, and ensuring customers perceive value in providing their information.

The late basketball coach John Wooden talked about vision as looking with one eye through a microscope and the other eye through a telescope, showing that leaders need to be able to execute on the details while pursuing long-term goals. "This focus on the small is not to say we become micro-managers -- that can be a hinderance to progress in its own way," writes Ken Downer.

One big difference between "change management" and "managing change" is that the former is proactive and the latter "is how we deal with it when it's imposed on us," says Jennifer Elder, CEO of The Sustainable CFO. Elder discusses the importance of evaluating how change is implemented and the ways organizations respond to it, as well as avoiding "change just for the sake of change."