Responsible Reflections Blog

Earlier this year, I highlighted the fact that NACD is celebrating the 25th anniversary of NACD Responsible Distribution^®. Since that time, I have heard from many of you that Responsible Distribution is a significant investment of time and manpower that pays even greater dividends. The safety and security benefits of the program are unprecedented. However, in many cases, the benefits go well beyond these core values, including improvements in productivity, reliability, customer relations, supply chain management and practically every other facet of chemical distribution.

Have you ever gotten into a routine that felt old and tired, or just felt like you were barely making it through your “to do” list, let alone plan for the future and strategize on more efficient ways to run your division or company? We’ve all felt the stress of a monotonous routine, email overload, and some of us, even job burnout. In those moments, it’s important to reflect on the work we’re doing and the ways we can maintain our mental resilience. In doing so, we can learn to manage the stress of an increasingly hectic work life.

Last week, I had an interview with a reporter who was writing an article on innovative tools and resources the chemical industry is leveraging to ensure their employees are up-to-speed with the most current best practices and regulatory requirements. She told me that the article would explore a company that sells an app for safety training, another organization that recently released a virtual reality safety training course, and NACD’s online educational platform NACD U. It’s clear that organizations are looking to develop new resources that utilize technology to train their employees in a way that is digestible for these employees and ultimately saves the company time and money—that’s exactly why we launched NACD U last year.

This week, more than 90 representatives from NACD member companies came to Washington D.C. to meet with their lawmakers and tell them about the issues impacting their businesses and other important developments happening in the chemical distribution industry. One of the things they shared with elected officials was the 25th anniversary of Responsible Distribution.

After Tuesday night’s primary election results, it appears that Mr. Trump will prevail as the Republican Party’s nominee this fall. It’s also pretty clear that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will likely be the Democratic Party’s choice. To ensure that our members are up-to-date on the positions of each presidential candidate, NACD will be providing members with a comprehensive analysis on issues important to the chemical distribution industry. We will also be providing analysis on the top ten most important House and Senate races to NACD member companies.

Over the last several years, NACD and our membership have made it a point to become more committed to advocating on behalf of the chemical distribution industry on the state and local level. With state legislatures increasingly drafting and passing legislation that places new environmental requirements and tax burdens on our members, I believe we must act both offensively and defensively to educate state policymakers about the immense value our Responsible Distribution program offers in ensuring the safe and secure distribution of your products.

This is one of my favorite times of the year.  College basketball reaches its exciting apex with March Madness, and shortly thereafter the Masters golf tournament is played.  And to say that the 2016 presidential election contests for both parties have been highly entertaining is an understatement.  We are certainly heading into spring with a full head of steam!

Tomorrow is National Salesperson Day, the first Friday in March when employers are encouraged to recognize the contributions their salespeople make to ensure the continued growth of their businesses. For chemical distributors, salespeople are a pillar of the industry; without all the hard work they do, chemical distribution wouldn’t be possible.