C&S Wholesale Grocer is building on data solutions produced by in-house IT with a seven-year deal with Tata Consultancy Services to migrate to the Google Cloud Platform for analytics and supply chain forecasting driven by artificial intelligence. "The big challenge is to scale at speed, scale resources, scale skills, and that's what Google Cloud brings us," C&S Chief Information Officer Sudhakar Lingineni said.

Wesco International has a new brand for much of the world -- Wesco Anixter. The Pennsylvania-based electrical products distributor roughly doubled in size in 2020 with the acquisition of Anixter International and was the largest electrical distributor in the US in 2022.

UK-based Linde plans to add to its green hydrogen production capacity in Ontario, Calif., by operating several five-megawatt proton exchange membrane electrolyzers. "As the largest liquid hydrogen producer in the US, we are proud to leverage our technology and expertise to help California achieve its ambitious climate goals," said Linde executive Marcos Cuevas.

Trucking firms such as J.B. Hunt and Covenant Logistics Group believe they'll witness a rebound from the current soft freight market during the second half of 2023 when retailers say they'll resume ordering normalcy. A shift in consumer demand hit trucking firms especially hard during the fourth quarter, which Knight-Swift President David Jackson called "the most benign peak shipping season in recent memory."

Efficient sales growth can help a team weather changes or disruptions, Maria Geokezas of Heinz Marketing writes. Sales teams should spend time on the "who" and create ideal-customer profiles, map the typical buyer journey, and learn the nuances of the tech stack tools to ensure they're still getting the needed data and analysis and stripping away tools that no longer are useful, Geokezas writes.

With constant change being the only sure thing these days, leaders need to be able to act quickly -- while maintaining their integrity -- and understand that employees expect to be led with kindness, authenticity and clear communication, writes executive coach Jeremy Kourdi. "In unpredictable times with people feeling bewildered at best and often fearful, leaders need to communicate, connect and engage with people, meeting them where they are," Kourdi writes.

Intentional mentoring, which involves meeting people where they are and learning about their needs, can help professionals of color advance in a company, health care executive and professor Errol Pierre writes. Such mentoring takes time and must center on building trust to tackle tough topics, with effectiveness measured by milestones and frequent evaluation, Pierre writes.