Excerpt from a YouTube discussion about workforce development in wholesale distribution. The speaker notes that organizations often invest heavily in the top 20% (sales, emerging leaders, high performers) but overlook the remaining 80% of workers—warehouse staff, accounts receivable, and individual contributors—arguing that investing in their growth, purpose, and potential could unlock substantial organizational upside.
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I think we do an okay job with 20% of our workforce, the sales team. We're constantly investing in developing them. The emerging leaders, the women in industry, the high performers. We're investing in 20% of the individuals to help grow their capabilities. But the real opportunity going forward, in my mind, is the 80%. The 80% who really. There's part of our workforce that has been forgotten about that once we've developed them to do the job out in the warehouse, to do the job as accounts receivable, that individual performer who doesn't want to be on a leadership path going forward, but our business stops without them. We have an opportunity to change our frame of reference, to change our mindset, to say, what can we do? What must we do? What's our responsibility and what's our opportunity? If we focus on the 80% that we've forgotten about to some degree, to help them grow, develop, focus on purpose, impact, and growing their potential. And I think if we are able to do that, the sky's absolutely the limit to where we can take our organizations. Beautiful boys. Pressure's on you, Ian. Pressure is really on. After all that.