MSC Industrial Supply has bought custom tool maker Tru-Edge Grinding and metalworking distributor Buckeye Industrial Supply, bringing MSC's total acquisitions to five in the past 19 months. The deals come after MSC reported a 12.9% increase in fiscal first-quarter sales and a 23.1% jump in net profits.

TD Synnex, the company formed a year ago when Tech Data merged with Synnex, reported $62.34 billion in revenue from its first fiscal year as a combined company. The company is seeing the strongest growth in advanced solutions, a portfolio of specialized businesses and its Hyve division, which serves large cloud service providers, CEO Rich Hume said.

Digital transformation is "differentiating and defining" for a business, its employees and its customers, and the process requires time dedicated to its "amazingly human" aspect, says Ingram Micro Chief Digital Officer Sanjib Sahoo. Sahoo lays out three guiding principles and talks about the never-ending journey of creating a digital culture and the importance of listening more thoroughly to teams.

Integrating a multi-enterprise supply chain network solution with a supply chain planning solution lets supply chain practitioners improve visibility and management of the variables that can affect supply chains, Steve Banker writes. Banker discusses key elements businesses should know about as they integrate these systems, including connected planning and event intelligence.

The Biden administration released The US National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization to reduce consumer and freight transportation greenhouse gas emissions. The report urges the industry to prioritize "shipment journeys away from trucks" to cleaner rail and water shipping methods when possible, use new technologies to improve multimodal freight transport efficiencies, and improve supply chain management to lower freight miles and optimize routes.

Content mapping helps marketers take a more strategic approach to content marketing and increase its reach, writes Carlijn Postma, who provides a template and five steps to follow. Postma explains how to create and effectively distribute multiple pieces of content from one core, long-form content piece, such as an article, video or podcast.

Selling might be easier "if we could help make buying easier," sales blogger David Brock asserts. Consider questions -- such as why your buyers typically get derailed from a purchase -- and offer insight to assuage their fear of making the wrong decision.

Weak leaders are those who provide little guidance, support, accountability, respect or growth and development for their teams, writes Lolly Daskal, which can lead to disengaged and disenchanted employees. "By recognizing and addressing these warning signs, you can help your leader go from weakness to strength," Daskal writes.

Leaders, particularly high-level ones, who voluntarily share weaknesses with others are seen as more authentic, competent, trustworthy and approachable, according to a study. "We found that these benefits of self-disclosure of weaknesses were restricted to relatable human foibles -- they did not hold for disclosure of serious flaws, such as having a panic attack in a speech," researchers write.

In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the US, SmartBrief will not publish Monday, Jan. 16.