Episode 310: Merch Life: The Was, Is, and Must Be with Danny Rosin, Brand Fuel

Welcome to Skucast, the podcast for entrepreneurs in the promotional products industry. Skucast shines a light on our industry's best work, features maverick personalities, and discusses what's really involved in running a modern promotional products business. Skucast is the official podcast of Common Skew.

Every now and then we'll share an episode from one of our live events. And if you were not able to make SkewCon in Las Vegas in January, you missed an exceptional closing keynote by our good friend Danny Rosen, who, along with his 40-year friendship and partnership with Robert Fiveash, founded BrandFuel in 1998. At SkewCon, Danny riveted the audience to their seats Issuing a Challenge to Change. In addition to his lifelong work building Brand Fuel, Danny's one of the proud co-founders of Promo Kitchen, Promo Cares, and Reciprocity Road. He is also the co-founder of Band Together, a nonprofit that has donated $12 million to the Triangle nonprofit community through live music experiences. And he serves on the board of A Place at the Table, a pay-what-you-can cafe, and Gabby's Pals, a nonprofit that empowers people with special abilities through fulfillment programming. Danny's talk at SKUCON walked us through the sometimes rocky and now incredible journey the branded merch industry has been through, from an advertising ride-along to today's intimate merch experience that is embraced by brands and adorned by fans. But it's not just a waltz down memory lane. It's also an encouragement to imagine a bolder and more inspirational future. Hi friends, I'm Bobby LeHew, Chief Content Officer at Commonsku. Hey, some real quick news. Two more suppliers are now live on Commonsku with their promo standards integration. First, Gemline on Commonsku now includes live inventory, product data, pricing, order status, shipping notifications, all those things you're used to, but now electronic purchase orders, EPOs, as well. And Storm Tech also includes live inventory, order status, shipping notifications, product data, pricing, and EPOs for your blank apparel orders. Effortless. That's what our Promo Standards integration is all about. We want your platform experience to be so effortless, it's practically invisible, so you can focus on creating cool merch projects for your clients. If you want to learn more, check it out at commonsku.com. Now here's our good friend Danny Rosen, recorded live from SKUCon.

So this is what we're going to do. Merch life. We're all living it, right? We are going to take a little bit of a waltz down memory lane. We are going to talk about the golden years of promo. Does anybody remember searching for advertising specialties on microfiche? Anybody? Oh my God. Those are the old people. I'm one of them. We're going to talk a little bit about where we are today, a State of the Union. And then, of course, we're going to crystal ball our future a little bit. I was thinking there was alcohol here today, and I'm glad there's not because we have alcohol later. But every time I have a— I say the word The letters AI, what do you pretend like you're having to drink? Okay, let's start at a macro level. We're gonna go with the was first. We're gonna talk about the industry at a macro level. Back in the day when I started, which is around in the '90s, but started the business in '98, the business was run by old white men. Today we're waiting for the old white men to move on and die and get outta the way because the future is about youthification. The future is about younger people leading.. It's about nose rings and tattoos and flip-flops, crop tops, artisans, and artists. I really believe that diversity of thought and experience, inclusion versus othering, that is our future. Please. Thank you. Back in the day, what we sold used to be called what? What else? Ah, God, it's painful. I, I had a, when I was a salesperson in the early days, this woman introduced me at lunch to a friend of hers. She said, This is my favorite tchotchke guy. And when that happened, a tiny violin playing a tragic solo for my lost enthusiasm just rolled right out. Like it or not, today buyers basically call what we, we sell swag. Still, the term branded merch has become the lexicon of the industry and advertising specialties has gone the way of the dodo bird. The must be, I think the Advertising Specialty Institute will change its name to the FBB. FBB, which stands for the Federation of Brand Builders, and branded merch nomenclature might change to product media by clients. All right. Back in the day, there was 94% or so of merch we sold was from US decorators who offered the same items that suppliers bought from the same Chinese factories. Today, some distributors are buying direct, but they have regrets due to mistakes in communication, and most are willing to pay a bit of a premium to work with these trusted supplier resources. They're here today. Buy from them. And there is a movement, I would say, to buy USA or Canadian-made, to look for those opportunities. I love you, Jonathan. I disagree a little bit there. The future, uh, I would say the global cross-border shopping without friction so that our industry can really grow. We've got to figure that out. Let's talk about distributors and sales. So back in the day in compensation, the plans were What, how do you guys get paid? What was the split? 50/50. That's right. That is how almost every sales rep was paid in this industry back then. Today, the 50/50 plan thankfully is obsolete, just about. Distributors are investing now in health benefits, better marketing. We're talking about sales support and sales tools like common SKU and comp plans are all over the place because there's more of a sliding scale with, with more of a base pay. And this is helping you all with talent acquisition and retention. This is really good. The future, there must be compensation matters, but where you work, who you work with and for matters more. Employee ownership, think about that, and profit plans will empower employees to work smarter, and that will amplify recruitment and retention. So in the pre-internet age, back in the day, if you presented a new client to a, a new product to a client, they would have a very hard time shopping you. And this allowed you to get A++ margins. Today, the industry is so commoditized by the internet that your client might speak Mandarin fluently and buy products cheaper than you can. Now, zàijiàn means goodbye in Mandarin. And what I say there is where there's communication, we say zàijiàn margins. There go your margins. The future. More retailers will see our industry as an important sales channel, and distributors will offer more items that aren't actually on Sage and ESP. This will enhance product offering. It will solidify margins and differentiation. We stop calling ourselves distributors in exchange for agency nomenclatures. Can I get a little something there? But for everybody who clapped, you guys have to earn that distinction. So think about that. We're gonna have a better handle on ROI and strategic and design thinking approaches to selling. Back in the day, we sold everything to everyone. Today, we focus on B2B sales in specific industry channels, and we're working on how to better understand our medium as a solution to our client's challenges. So in the future, if you want to choose it, and this is probably one of the most important points, and Kirby banged this home, if you want to choose your future as a company, You have to choose your customers. Think about that. This is for suppliers too. Also, there will be blurred lines between business-to-consumer and business-to-business selling. More B2B organizations are gonna continue to create those limited edition corporate branded pajamas and they'll sell 'em out at retail prices and, and there'll be money going to nonprofits, which is a great thing. Back in the day, we sold things to make money. Today we're selling creatively and strategically, and therefore we are making more money. This is great, but consider this for your future. Your client wants to give a gift to their customer. If you knew that the client's customer's value, the lifetime value of that customer is $150,000 in growth, gross profit margin, we've got to rethink selling the 99 cent C-handle mug, right? That's the kind of thing that ends up in the back of the cabinet or on the garage sale. This is 0% ROI and 100% brand fill. We gotta focus on tools that deliver products that deliver quantifiable ROI to customers, and we've got to dispel and discredit old Milt's quote here. So back in the day, the sales archetype was the relationship builder. Today, it's the Challenger. This is a mouthful, but the future, the most successful sales archetype will be a mix. It'll be a mix of the digitally literate and data-driven, highly empathetic, ethical story, storyteller who understands fashion trends and delivers value through consultative selling. And good luck writing up a job description for that at next sales hire. In the past, you could make a decent amount of money selling things tactically. Today, I think you need to start looking for another career or maybe work for 4 imprints if you can't sell strategically. The must be— this is really critical. In our commoditized industry, you must differentiate or die. You've got to be an original. So back in the day, the phone would ring and clients would order stuff. Today, order takers are losing the game. Unless they have a massive e-commerce engine, they're investing in SEO and massive marketing, or they're selling, uh, the lowest common denominator, which is cheaply. For non-e-commerce organizations, selling is much more complicated and it remains very competitive. Now, the future buyer behaviors and decision-making will begin to shift towards purchasing from trusted vendors. Trust indexes and certifications will be a part of how customers find distributor agencies. These trusted agencies have got to invest in conversational commerce technology, which will make communications efficient, personalized, and give 24/7 access via AI tools. You guys have to pretend like you're drinking. So back in the day, to start the industry, you had to have a truckload of catalogs, a phone book, business cards, and you had to have a phone with a cord attached to it. Today, there are onsite and online educational opportunities, product safety aware training, CRM platforms, and often you get a base of accounts to help you jumpstart your branded merch career. Still, many suppliers continue to waste a lot of money on catalogs. Tomorrow, the trusted communities like Common Skew, co-opetition, which Denise talked about, and cooperation and collaboration will help the industry's reputation and its overall size. Peer-to-peer learning and mentoring will be critical for growth. So I'm gonna ask you guys to humor me a couple times. Speaking of mentoring, this came up earlier. This is a call to action for your future. If you will pretend like you're taking a picture of this for me right now. This is important because this is Promo Kitchen. It came out earlier and I just want to reinforce what was said when, when, when we were up here, Russell was going to town. It's a free mentoring platform. And my sense is that there's someone in this room or someone in this industry who I need your help and sign up and help that person. Or maybe you're new and we've got some people at our table. Thanks. Give it up to Promo Kitchen and helping people and doing good things. We got some new people at my table over there in the industry. They need help. There's some old people in the industry who I think can help them. So please sign up and shout out to Martin. Where are you? I think I see. There he is. That's my mentee right there. Martin's awesome, but he's also my mentor. And I want to reinforce what Russell said. I get a lot from that guy and it's a really great relationship. Thanks, Martin. All right, suppliers, it's your turn. I see some of you guys squirming. This is gonna be fun. Back in the day, there were high error rates with suppliers and they often didn't have your back when the shit hit the fan. This was back in the day, but today distributors and suppliers are focused on long-term relationships with alliances where issues get addressed quickly and equitably for the most part. Social media and rating systems are creating checks and balances. The future AI-powered visual inspection systems will scrutinize products, helping meet client-expected quality standards, and as a result, it will elevate our industry. You guys got a drink? I heard someone say it. All right. Anybody remember the '90s juggernaut Norwood? You guys remember Norwood back in the day? Okay. Norwood was the go-to supplier that had like everything that you needed. However, inventory management was like playing whack-a-mole. Placing the order was like gambling in Vegas. It was like hit or miss. It was crazy. It was horrible. Today, consolidation's occurring as we know. There are a lot of Norwoods out there, but this mostly helps our industry grow, and that's a good thing too. Industry continues to remain a challenge, but thankfully, uh, we have tools to indicate real-time inventory, uh, supply and, and what we know there. And, and, and, and those, um, suppliers who had invested in that, thank you very much, cuz it's so helpful. In the future, predictive and market trend analytics will help our customer preferences and their demands. The insights that we get is going to help our suppliers with optimal stock levels and reducing inventory, which is good. And this will hopefully bring pricing down. So back in the day, distributors going overseas meant painful communication. Exhibit A of this, and this is for Mark Graham. He had a conversation with Golden Wang from Shiny Fox on episode 69 of the Promo Kitchen podcast. I can't make this shit up. Give that a listen. It is uncomfortable, and it is really interesting to hear them talk about the challenges and the opportunities. Going overseas, we know, took a long time. There were currency exchange rate issues. Your client's order and your relationship with them was always on the line. But today there's a more efficient and accessible model for buying overseas, and you're bypassing, um, the traditional sales channel through the supplier sometimes and talking to your distributors. Because it's a dirty secret, the dirty distributor secret. And distributors have that guilty conscience. I want to eat that last yummy Maple Ridge cookie in the cookie jar feeling. And you eat that fucking cookie anyway, right? You just do it. And the future, you know, we distributors have to embrace our suppliers who have invested in production around the world and they ship in a few days with as few as one item that can be decorated beautifully. On sustainable products that are consistent in every global marketplace. And this is like Aurig Audio, but it's recyclable. It's recycled or it's upcycled. And this is exciting for our future. So back in the day, turnaround times were 3 to 4 weeks if you were lucky. Today, suppliers are offering 24-hour production and it's like a unicorn, but it's real. In the future, this is interesting to me. It came up a little bit earlier. This instant gratification. Denise was talking about it through convenience and production. We're all kind of wanting that because our customers are pushing us for that. But speed is taking the place of giving our industry time to consult and be creative. When we begin to trade convenience, uh, for convenience— sorry, we begin to trade for convenience, we begin to surrender the creative right brain that we all have and also some of our humanness. And if you think about that, maybe that 24-hour production is not the right answer. Let's talk about product now. Back in the day without the internet, suppliers have ultimate control. The internet exposes commoditization and margins, which challenges our industry to reimagine its value. ABC and PQR pricing is not the stealth secret it once was. But COVID proves our industry is valuable and that our medium delivers on connection appreciation, and safety. In the future, new business models are going to emerge. This came up earlier too. Distributors will collaborate with and co-invest in suppliers, which will create new products. So if you have great ideas, distributors, share them with suppliers, invest in them, think about what that could look like. This type of R&D co-investment and collaboration will help the industry grow. So back in the day, you guys know what our greatest competitor was? It was ourselves. Anyone could sell low-grade stuff. The industry was full of people who were dropping the same exact cattle off and the log off in every single office park, trunk slammers. And, you know, we were selling, you know, supplementary income through advertising specialty sales. And the sales pitch was always just to beat the lowest price. That approach devalued our medium. Today, our industry's greatest competitor, and you know, shout out to you, Brian, except for Brian, I would say that it's digital gift cards. I say work with Mediatribe all day long because they figured it out how to bring it into our industry. But if you don't think that your customers are giving their employees gift cards to Starbucks and to Amazon, you're crazy. That is taking away a chunk of our business. So call those guys out. Also a public service announcement for you all, if your boss calls or, sorry, texts or emails you and tells you to buy them a bunch of gift cards, don't do it. All right. The future. You've got to ride or die with digital transformation. We are gonna see more digital platforms, digital experiences, and digital products tailored to individual interests, all of which will be associated with AI-driven analytics. Drink. Thank you. There'll be on-demand curated products that today's buyer can access directly without our industry sales channel. So I was pulled this up for you all to see. This is a 3D-generated ice pop from a company called Picsweet. They create customized pop renderings in minutes for anyone. Buyers are not going to need middlemen and women, uh, with these incredibly unique direct-to-consumer products and tools like these. So back in the day, clients wanted anything under $2, even branded ashtrays. Crazy. And whoopee cushions. So today, you know, I think that buyers are looking for $10 items. This is a 5x multiplier, which is a really good thing. And I just have to shout out to Commonsku. They set the bar for merchandising for events like this and for a brand and just follow what they're doing. It's really impressive. So the future, and this is the one that I'm excited about. Is creating artifacts. And I think Denise maybe mentioned this either, because I think that we need to Etsy-ize our industry a bit more. Small batch, meaningful form. I think in the future there will be more interactive products and apparel created through QR codes and NFC tech and brand experiences. I have this t-shirt that I bought from this shock metal band called GWAR. Anybody's ever heard of them? It's interesting 'cause this shirt, when you wear it at a concert, they have these like, I'm not gonna say what they shoot, fake blood out of into the audience. But look them up and you'll laugh or be embarrassed privately. But basically when they spray this, hopefully it's fake blood, out into the audience and you're wearing this shirt, it changes into all kinds of crazy colors. It's really cool. And it's also gross unless you are a progressive death rock guy like Steven Musgraves is. All right. So back in the day, the hottest products were carabiners, and I agree with you, Jonathan, stress relievers and can coolers. Today, the hottest products are from retail and still can coolers. What's even better is retail products that are sustainable. Some brands that we sell in our industry. The future, the hottest products might not be products. They might elevate experiences or investments or be investments in mission-aligned nonprofit partnerships that will elevate brands. If they are products, they're products that don't feature the old school maximum imprint area logo slap. They do feature designs that mirror their recipient's interests. They're artisanal, and where possible, they are locally made. Back in the day, it took forever to get retail brands into our market, and when they did, they didn't learn, they didn't stick around, they didn't invest. In our industry, so many left like Coach. Today, I'll just ask you guys, what do you think the hottest product of 2023 was? Yeah. What? Stanley. Stanley. That's exactly right. Everybody responded to that in ASI's questionnaire this year at the end of the year. My response was the retail brand because I think we've done a much better job and shout out to suppliers bringing retail brands into our space. It's amazing that we're recruiting and retaining them now. This helps validate our industry. So keep that shit up, suppliers, please. It's awesome. Technology in the future is gonna drive more retail brands, I think, but they'll also deliver more highly personalized and some of these custom things that focus on the recipient, not the giver. Back in the day, there was no regard for product safety. We had no access to manufacture, and we hoped and prayed we didn't get sued. That, that's put up there with all the love for the Graham Law family law firm, which doesn't exist, fictitious. The is today, you know, we're looking at product responsibility. PPAI has made it a core pillar, which is really great. And they're putting it into their strategic plan. And product testing is a hot topic right now with CPSIA compliance being critical to safeguard the industry's reputation. The must be. Corporate social responsibility will be a part of every strategic plan and purchasing requirement. Mark my words. I believe PPAI. Will actually have a requirement for members to have sustainability education so you can get credits so that we can all speak that same language confidently, proudly, consistently, and intentionally. And I know Liz had to leave PPAI's new Director of Sustainability, but if you see Liz around and you think that's a really good idea, nudge her a little bit. Just imagine if we could get certified around sustainability and we had level playing ground and we weren't greenwashing and things like that. Back in the day, every event you attended had these cheap stress giveaways, those horrible in-your-face corporate logos, adult trick-or-treaters, lots of waste. Today, there's a more thoughtful and targeted approach to minimizing brand fill and tracking ROI. Today, and this one's a real concern that I have and you all should have it as well, there's a movement afoot as I speak. There's a less is more approach that is being activated. Late last year, Microsoft had a very large event and all around there were signs that were posted that said, this is a swag-free event. And people celebrated. Think about that. We are seeing a shift towards anti-materialism and anti-commercialism. And this is an existential threat to our industry. Back in the day, we're going to talk about marketing and design now and decoration. Marketing was based on telemarketing, word of mouth, and a steep investment in stamps because we were just sending catalogs out to everybody. Today, our industry is about relatable voices, participation, and promise, and not just promotion. The future: trust, will be more valuable than attention-getting tactics. Marketers understand their customers want a company that cares about them, their employees, and the world's issues. Empathy marketing— shout out to Kirby— will create stronger relationships and reputations. AI tools— thank you— will deliver deeper customer insights that will equate to higher lead conversions, and brands will need to invest in creating online and offline communities where customers can connect, share ideas, and support each other. And Commonsku is doing this phenomenally, so you can drink to that and the AI. Back in the day, uh, products had short-lasting function with very little attention to form. They were mostly associated with pricing as the key buying metric. Today, fashion begins to merge with function where you see B2C and sometimes B2B investing in some of this stuff. And here's this example of of McDonald's and Crocs teaming up for the crossover we never knew we needed, proving that comfort food can indeed become comfort wear. The must-be: more personalization, made-on-demand, environmental alignment, minimalism, tech integration, and more Crocs. Back in the day, we shared one ARC computer. This is a true Brand Fuel thing. Salespeople had to wait their turn to use Quark and CorelDRAW to create substandard artwork, all the while thinking we were saving money and time doing it ourselves. And brand guidelines, as our friend Jamie Mayer says, was a freaking flea market. Today we have access to custom art in less than 24 hours for under $5. Hello, Fiverr. Hello, AI. Drink. Incredible designs can be crowdsourced from all over the world, and you pick the designs that you want and you only pay for those. Times are changing. Now, Lucia, wherever you are, probably back here somewhere, designer, there she is. Everybody look back there, wait. All this beautiful stuff around here that you see, there she is. She created all of this. We talked a little bit about this last night. If you have an 18-year-old kid like I do, and she or he is considering design school, you might want to tell them to rethink their high-income dreams in that department. Maybe. I mean, traditional design careers are going to be obsolete as AI, drink, steps in cost-effectively, efficiently, in an on-brand manner without any people drama, having to pay health insurance. But new titles are gonna appear, and this is what excites me. Brand guidelines, I think, will always be the part of every single merchandising section in, in the brand guidelines format, which is really exciting. And Sam, you're, you're driving that wherever you are. Love that. Back in the day, everyone got the same advertising specialty, no matter what the demographic. The max imprint logo slap on both sides reigned supreme. Today, some recipients are given a choice of product options that appeal to them versus what you think appeals to them. Sadly, clients are still choosing the max logo imprint area on what they think are gifts, but are actually advertisements. We're seeing that even the most boring merch can be very effective. And we all know what these $24 retail mugs cost, right? This is a good thing. Thankfully, design and messaging versus logo slaps are becoming more prevalent. And y'all thought you were gonna get away from not having seen any political messages. It's DegooCon, but I'm here to tell you otherwise. The future. New platforms are gonna emerge and we're gonna personalize a customer's experience with our industry. They'll get to choose the product and the design that they want. And I've gotta share this awfully generated visual that I created, a little AI, a little Canva. Bobby said, and, and Bobby to me, the people call him the Yoda, I call him the industry's poet laureate. He said the following, merch is becoming more and more the social signifier, the ultimate social signifier. Merch is delivering more ways for us to convey our tastes, moral sentiments, and even our political opinions. Back in the day, you spent a lot of time with local artists and you waited a long time for creative design. Today, creativity has been democratized. And hello, Canva. In the future, everyone's going to be a creator. There'll be more tools accessible to more people, which creates more productivity for you. And that yields more impact. And please remember this as you foray into your own world of creativity. Creativity that is effective, it moves us, it makes us feel something, it calls us to action. So let's talk about technology. Back in the day, technology meant having an iMac computer with 32 mighty megabytes of RAM. Today, your office is wherever you are,, and you're ready to crush 2024 with your iPad, your smartphone, your laptop, all right next to you. If anybody knows Eric Granada and has his cell phone, please take a picture of this and send it to him. Eric wishes he could be here. He's like the technology guru of the industry. He works for us. I don't have an answer, but Eric knows. So if you want to find out what technology is all about, shoot Eric a note. He would love to know that he was being thought of here. Back in the day, we searched for products on microfiche, which consumed hours of our time, which we wish we had back. Today, our clients do the preliminary searching for us. They call Google, they send us links, uh, and then we take those ideas and links from them and we make recommendations based on filtered search. And this is the bonus, the, the Promo Cares bonus here. We led initiative to get Sage and ESP to create social impact filters through their search tools. And so you can search for social impact products now., and you can pitch those to your customers and you can drive change in this industry. So sell more of that stuff, please. The must be, I think AI will upend search. Customers will be able to shop for the hottest selling 5 products under $20. It can be printed with full color by next Friday, distributed in Brazil to a demographic of 25 to 35-year-old male. Who love Funyuns and kite surfing, who have nightmares about global warming, and they work in the field of marine engineering. I also think that products will have a life expectancy in search. Think about that. Those stats will help us challenge our clients to buy sustainable products that will last. Let's talk about online stores. The was. Back in the day, we'd add top-selling industry products into stores and we hope they sold. Distributors owned their clients' merchandise. You guys remember this and assumed much of the risk. Companies sold their branded ad specialties to their employees. This was a horrible time in our industry. It's horrible. Today, companies that sell its branded gear to its employees suck. They just suck. We know that branded merchandise should be given to employees, right? We're all so focused on using departmental buy-in for these stores, creating exciting product offerings that are associated with company event calendars, their promotions, employee recognition, all the things we do so well. And for the most part, the distributors don't own the merchandise, which is diluting the risk for us, which is a really good thing. The must-be, and I'm not advocating for this at all, by the way, but on-demand platforms are cutting into the inventory model. That market share is shrinking. There will be more personalized shopping experiences. AI will help analyze browsing habits to make recommendations. Chatbots will get better, decreasing the need for customer service. Less humans. That said, AI does not have a soul, but you do. And so does Eric Granata. He looks a little bit like that guy. I just can't get enough of him. Back in the day, company stores manifested themselves through physical catalogs shipped to every single employee. They mailed in their checks. It took forever. Inventory was poorly managed. But today, customer stores are, they're e-commerce based. They've got tools to manage on-brand inventory control costs, as well as extending reach into every single department. The future. Print on demand's growth is going to create lower price points for them. There'll be more products that they'll offer, more decoration methods. Shrinking production timelines will be a serious threat to the current inventory model. And if you don't believe me, check out Cover.io, two Vs. They create branded stores in 30 seconds. They offer global delivery, no minimums, personal designs, auto onboarding, and zero inventory. You wanna talk about disruption? Check those guys out. Let's talk about leadership and culture. Back in the day, top-down capitalism. This is all about the owners. Today, it's both bottom-up and top-down capitalism, both about the owners and taking care of staff. In the future, I believe that we will see more of this bottom-up and top-down conscious capitalism that will be most effective. Back in the day, there were pensions. You may remember what a pension is for long-term employees. People drove the same routes to work, to the same job for 30 years in a row. Today, I just say, is loyalty dead? Employees no longer pledge allegiance to the firm. HubSpot says that the average tenure for a sales rep is 18 months, and then they leave for another company or career. The future. We're going to see more gig economies. We're going to see continued remote and flexible work, plus work-life balance will continue to overtake the in-office estranged, thank you for working number 431, hollow employer sentiments. There will be a battle between efficiency and privacy. Incognito tools will track productivity, and smart offices, AR, VR, wearable tech AI-powered surveillance, geolocating through tracking RFID, and computer monitoring is going to create an unhealthy tension with ethics. Think about that. Back in the day, leaders created culture through foosball and Joe Cola. Guys remember Zima and the company fridge? Today, leaders are really struggling with culture because there's this flex remote work thing going on. Leaders get staffers right now to be productive and to buy into culture through coercion, motivation, or inspiration. And we all know that inspiration is the one that we need to aim for. So time for a little Rosen rant. The next frontier of leadership, in my opinion, is a framework for conduct, and morality. Leaders need to rethink how to govern, hire, and operate. Decision-making must support stakeholders as well as shareholders. Leaders have to reshape the business to scale culture. Culture must be a priority for moral leaders. Moral leaders must do what is required beyond the legal requirements. They must do what's inspired. They've got to have an above-and-beyond philosophy. Leaders won't just run businesses anymore. They will affect lives. They must invest in their employees' wellbeing. And a company's value should be the guide for all decision-making. Trust must be the currency of leaders that will drive loyalty. Now, the Howe Institute for Society reported this: 88% of employees say that moral leadership is more urgent than ever. But only 12% of CEOs and 16% of managers consistently demonstrate top-tier moral leadership. That's tragic. It's also an opportunity for you to stand out. So here are a couple of examples for moral leadership. A math teacher walks her struggling students home and their grades shoot up 32%. That is moral leadership. President Zelensky. He took down the pictures of all the government officials in Ukraine in their government offices, and what did he replace them with? Photos of children in their communities. And what did he say? He said, think of these children as you are fighting for our country. That is an act of moral leadership. Mandy Rudd's probably crying somewhere. I know, love you, Mandy. Not like Dave though. Okay. Making it weird. And you guess it, this had to show up. I wanna give a shout out to Fareware, paving the way for our industry to be bold and evolve in the world of sustainability, moral leadership. I mean, 15 years ago, Brand Fuel applied for a B Corp. 12 years ago, we failed miserably, and it took us 10 years to get to where they've been for 15. But this is my infomercial for becoming a B Corporation. Branfield did it. We invite you to join us and many others in this, in this room who have done it. You do it and you'll have a stronger moral compass. You'll create an even more caring company. And in doing so, you will elevate the entire industry. So in closing, our industry is not facing an enemy. It is facing a shift in values. We've got to build on our industry's role and its potential in the worldview. We must help unify voices, build pride, and stimulate activism. And while I don't claim to be Promester Damas with all of this thinking about our industry, thinking about it is an important exercise. And I skipped one page here, but I don't see it, but that's okay. I just wanna ask you guys as we get into it, you know, what are you gonna do about it now that you know the future? Now that we've been challenging each other all day long, And it's 2024. It's a new year and you guys have got this.

And thank you very much. Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of SKU Cast. Be sure to keep up with our latest content by subscribing to SKU Cast on iTunes or to our blog at community.comonskew.com. Until next time, friends, thanks so much for listening.