Why did International Business Machines become IBM? Or Apple Computes, why did it simply become Apple? Or how about CINTAS? Why is CINTAS no longer Cincinnati Towel and Apron Service. And most recently, why is Dunkin Donuts, dropping Donuts, and just becoming Dunkin?

Over the last five months I have had the good fortune of facilitating important and dynamic conversation between 17 industry leaders.

We are in an age where every distributor must be asking themselves, “What is their next?”. We understand and honor the history and the success that all of our businesses have enjoyed.

At the time Stavridis was the commander of U.S. Southern Command (SouthComm) headquartered in Miami with responsibility for planning, operations and security cooperation for Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Areas of focus at the time included narco-terrorism, 21st century gangs, drug trafficking, money laundering and mass migration.

The realization that a company’s culture drives the business will become the mantra of leadership.

As businesses and industries consolidate and integrate, the most relevant distributors will be a hybrid business.

The distribution industry is currently at an inflection point.

We live in a world of abundance. A world of suitable options.

A higher level of customer intimacy, business acumen, partnering capabilities and strategic-consultative selling will become imperative.

Business model evolution.