David M. Krakoff’s Post

The US has viewed Latin America, our "back yard", as our natural sphere of influence since the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 - literally for 200 years - and there has always been an implicit "hands off" warning. Today, that is being challenged by China with skillful, adeptly orchestrated steps to establish strong trade relationships with countries in Latin America. If the US truly wants this important region to interact with it as a meaningful, genuine, cooperative, sphere of influence, it must engage in serious, long-term, positive and mutually beneficial political, cultural and business relationships with the various Latin American countries in ways that transcend their periodic changing political/governmental tides. In other words, build strong win/win relationships in which we may have periodic spats, but we don't get divorced. Today, the US is being outplayed at a game it has had 200 years to master and what we're seeing is the result of some fairly long-term short-sightedness and ineptitude. It's a high stakes game and the US needs to raise its level of play. #USforeignpolicy #USlatinamericarelations #USChinarelationships #supplychain

Companies often wrestle with finding productive ways to adopt new technologies, and this has certainly been the case with AI. You can't go anywhere without hearing AI-this and AI-that, and most businesses understand that it would probably be worthwhile to find some way to use it. But how? Specifically, what can it do to make my business better? Many companies struggle with this because they're approaching it the wrong way. Eric Lamarre notes in this article that, "The conversations [around gen AI] right now make it feel like a technology in search of a problem.", and that's backwards. A more productive approach is to look at your business challenges and problems and ask, "Which problems do I want to solve with technology?", and then it's much easier to chart a course for using something like AI most productively. In my particular world, companies who make and sell building materials and other products that are sold into residential and commercial interiors projects find it very challenging to put their best foot forward online and give their customers an easy, fast, comprehensive, and creatively satisfying look at the full range of their products so their customers can find what they need more effectively. Today's most common search technologies - the blank, white search bar you see just about everywhere that's asking you for keywords - are terribly outdated. As a result, product searches for architects and designers can be time consuming and frustrating and they often leave the searcher wondering if, after all that effort, they actually saw everything they needed to see. Of course, the answer is usually, "no", because the archaic technology we're forcing them to use does not meet today's needs. It's not even close. This is an area where we can clearly do better. Coincidentally, it is also an area where AI offers a very powerful solution because it is a genuinely good fit for an important, everyday problem in the Interior Design space. Therefore, companies facing this challenge would be doing themselves a favor if they adopted an AI tool that tackles it head-on. I did an interview about that very topic last month with the North American Building Material Distribution Association (NBMDA) and the North American Association of Floor Covering Distributors (NAFCD) that reviewed and explained some AI products we've developed that make it easy to put AI to work for distributors and manufacturers in this particular space. [ https://lnkd.in/e78gJBcw ]. AI will work best for you if you look at it as a technology that may be well suited to helping you make huge advances with some of your key pain points, i.e., the problems your business faces every day. And if you're lucky enough to find a good AI partner, the path to those solutions can be pretty painless, easy, and not terribly expensive. #AI #Technologysolvesproblems #techleadership #problemsolving

In business, sometimes you can be your own worst enemy. It's a cliché, but true. We read about the importance of creating positive, high-performance business cultures all the time. Many of the things that play a role in that are not lofty, cerebral concepts, but rather very practical, day-to-day aspects of your business processes. No company is "sludge free" and some degree of sludge keeps things properly in check. However, in general, it's valuable for leaders and management teams to engage in some regular self reflection on this to identify areas where we can grease the wheels a bit in the interest of better performance. #leadership #businessculture #managementexcellence

Thought Leadership is a powerful tool, and used skillfully, it's a great tool for B2B businesses. Two important things to be aware of: Focus your content on customers' pain points and Don't be promotional in your content. Lots of thought provoking stuff in this article. #thoughtleadership

Trade Between the US & Mexico is Huge - Both Ways. This chart offers an important bit of information for all of us involved in serious #internationaltrade as buyers, sellers or both. These days the headlines are often consumed with stories about China, and to be sure, getting our relationship with China figured out is important. However, our trading relationship with Mexico is at the top of the list and, since the conversation about #Nearshoring and #Decoupling began, our relationship with Mexico is also a critical and more complicated piece of that puzzle. Much needs to be done and businesses and goverment officials on both sides of the border would be well advised to dig in and take it very seriously. These are not relationships about which we can afford to be complacent or that we can simply take for granted. The landscape is changing and important sands are shifting. It's essential to get on top of things, and the institutionalized bickering we've seen in recent years isn't productive. The recent Presidential election in Mexico gives us an opportunity to make some new progress. We have a regime change with continuity in political party but a new leader with a very different background, personality, and style than AMLO. President Sheinbaum will want to get some points on the scoreboard. In November, we'll have some electoral fireworks in the US as well. Regardless of how that goes, we have to get #USMexicotrade and #USMexicoborder figured out or both countries stand to lose.

One of the central responsibilities of leadership is doing the right thing, and there are a number of contexts where "the right thing" is critical. Of course, doing the right thing from an ethical perspective is way at the top of the list. It's linked closely to one's values which, from a leadership perspective, are things a leader needs to be intentional about building into a business culture. A commitment to doing the right thing is not for the faint of heart because it may also lead you to shake things up, challenge or change the status quo, make a dramatic course correction or policy change, or engage in some risky behaviors.  And even at the highest levels of leadership, the lesson you probably learned as a child remains spot on. What’s right is right, even if no one is doing it, and what’s wrong is wrong, even when everyone is doing it. #leadership #businessethics #corporateculture

Wayfair's recent move into traditional, bricks and mortar retailing supports what many traditionalists have been saying for some time. There is a vital, valuable, and necessary place for physical retail spaces in our sales and go-to-market models. For years, online retailing has left a huge trail of dead bricks and mortar businesses in its wake. I like purchasing online as much as the next guy, but so often consumers can avoid disappointment and inconvenient returns simply by choosing a traditional bricks and mortar showroom or retail experience. Hopefully, we'll see a resurgence of popularity for bricks and mortar stores in a new 21st Century context. #onlineretail #retailsales #bricksandmortarsales #onlinesales

Technology Fuels Creativity. Sometimes the stars line up just right. Today is #NationalCreativityDay and, coincidentally, the day for the inaugural blog from our young technology company, Haystack Technologies. Haystack has developed some powerful, groundbreaking, disruptive new sales technology tools specifically for businesses in the design-driven segments of the Commercial Interiors and Building Materials spaces - where I've spent so much of my career. If that's your world too, I hope you'll join us on this journey. And for friends & colleagues attending NeoCon #neocon2024 , we definitely need to talk! Spec More, Sell More & Find What You Need. #technology #interiordesign #buildingmaterials

Interesting article on a fascinating topic. Thanks, Brittain Ladd for posting. There are several important lessons in this story. The rise and fall of brands such as Under Armour is a common phenomenon, and it underscores a number of things that cause brands to lose their way. I've watched their slide. It's been interesting, sad, and frustrating to watch, but not surprising because, in the end, it's a story about a business that lost track of some fundamentals. Here's what I think is important. (Not an exhaustive list, but an important list.) 1) Staying relevant to your customers. 2) Developing good quality products that fill a need and offer good value. 3) Providing good customer service. 4) Offering an enjoyable purchase experience across all your channels. 5) Being profitable while you're doing these things, and 6) For companies like Under Armour - Having a long-term growth strategy that carries you through the "fad brand" phase into being a stable player as an established brand - perhaps the area where they've missed the boat most significantly. Finally, it's critical to build a capable leadership team and corporate culture that understands and is dedicated to these things and is a positive place to work - led by someone who knows how to do this by virtue of vision, temperament, experience, and skill set. Otherwise, you go from being a profitable, high growth, noteworthy brand to an outlet store brand to just another brand on the trash heap. Under Armour needs to rebuild its team and business around these things, if it's not too late. Starting from nowhere and becoming a significant player might actually be easier than resurrecting a fallen brand that had it and lost it. Watching this drama closely to see what happens next. #leadership #corporatestrategy #corporateculture #turnarounds

Eager to see everyone at #NeoCon2024 and show off Haystack's powerful new suite of advanced sales tech tools. For brands and distributors, your products will have greater visibility so you'll win more specs and sell more. For the A&D community, a Haystack powered search will make it easier to find what you need for your projects. Everyone wins! #AI #Salestechnology #Growsales