The Rule of Three in Business

August 5, 2014

The rule of three is a general principal dating way back to the Aristotle days stating that concepts or ideas, presented in groups of three, are more interesting, more memorable, and sometimes more enjoyable. It’s why the number three figures so prominently in our culture.

You may be wondering, “Why the number three?” It all comes down to how we process information. We have learned to recognize patterns. Three is the smallest number of elements required to create a pattern.

The number three often comes to mind when listing a mission, or describing something in a complete manner.

For example, one of my golfing partners a while back explained the three virtues of a large family. He said that a family with a lot of children teaches the kids to share, fight, and stand up for one another. Coming from a large family myself, I can attest to learning these three virtues as I grew up and carrying them into my business life.  We have to share knowledge, fight for our worth and stand up for what is right for the common good.

The number three also comes up when putting together an improvement plan.  According to the announcers on the golf channel, there are three things that could be improved, the price of a round of golf, the speed in which a round is played and adding a 19th hole to build camaraderie. (Okay, I made the last one up, but hey, everyone is thirsty after a round.)

I asked myself what I would say if I were asked to list three things about our industry that need attention and came up with three that continually “talk to me.” They may be considered "hushed" topics or “hard truths” that aren’t being talked about for fear of something, but I'm not sure what.  I know many of these hard truths are getting more attention through our industry organizations. We are extremely fortunate to have so many powerful groups who strive to bring resolve to the industry in an effort to improve the electrical distribution industry. 

Touching on my theme for the year, Evolve, we as an industry are in the process of evolution. We are at a critical juncture – we need the ability to not only adapt and move from what we have done successfully in the past, but to also challenge ourselves – share, fight, and stand-up – to bring even more value to our customers and our bottom line as we move into the next phase.

So here is my list of three hard truths that must be addressed in order for our industry to continue to develop and grow: 

The bank of electrical distribution. Getting pulled for credit from our customer’s as well as our suppliers is getting harder every day.

Product rebates. “Special” price contracts are no longer special. They have become the standard in too many cases, causing all kinds of concern for both the distributor and supplier. 

IDEA. Look at it from the value proposition of the distribution channel.  Where does the electrical distributor stand with the suppliers versus the likes of Amazon, Google and the DIY's?

This is an incredibly exciting time for our industry. There are so many opportunities to propel us into the next level, but to do that; we need to begin a real dialogue concerning these hard truths. We will collectively determine solutions by openly discussing these challenges together.

We, as an industry, need to come together and have real conversations about these hard truths. I encourage each and every one of you to be an active participant in these discussions the future of this industry depends on everyone becoming involved with these issues. Please let me know your thoughts be commenting in the section below.

 

This blog was submitted by Maureen Barsema, Vice President, Business Administration at BJ Electric Supply, Inc. BJ Electric has been a Member of Affiliated Distributors since 1993.