Collaboration In Progress

I big thanks to the CaseStack SCA Book Club for writing a new foreword for "Collaborate! The Art of We." Thanks to Annie Archibald, Gary Bentz, Lani Hamilton, Ryan Burkhart, and Sean Lambert. They put together the following as a new foreword to the book. As I mentioned in another post, it again proves the TEAM is better than some highfalutin muckety-muck:

"As far as we know, this is the second book forward to be written as a collaborative effort--possibly proving Tom Clancy may have been right. While the merit of collaboration on book forewords may be a topic still up for debate, the success of collaboration is not. Logistics is an industry that is often dominated by “Buzz words” or “Hot Trends”. Few companies remain that embraced the surge in driver capacity or Item-Level RFID predicted in 2012. When Dan first said: “Great Collaborators will be the best competitors”, few predicted how accurate this would prove to be by 2019.  PlayStation successfully collaborated with Nike in 2018, demonstrating a unique proof of this ever-evolving concept. In 2019, Dan’s book reveals a forward-looking understanding of a core principle with an innovative spin. This book succeeds at the seemingly impossible, it becomes even more relevant with age. 

For many of us collaboration is a cycle that begins and ends with company culture; for CaseStack it is the very foundation. From day one you will hear from leadership that everyone has a platform to make an impact that affects the success and growth of our company. Then you will experience it to be true. We each are afforded the opportunity to facilitate real change that’s integral to our future. Whether it be in day-to-day operations and exercising effective decision-making skills or with client development and focusing on growth and retention of our clients, the importance of collaboration has remained at the forefront. 

In certain terms the author defines collaboration as “the thread of improvement reaching through companies and across industries to bring involved parties the mutual benefit”. This benefit is unattainable without partnership. Collaboration develops these relationships and the networks of business ecosystems dependent on each other for growth and improvement.  

Throughout the book he demonstrates that collaboration is the secret weapon for long lasting success and many companies are realizing this unique vantage point. Let’s look at the recent pairing between brick and mortar retailer Kohl’s and eCommerce giant Amazon. Their returns pilot has proven not only better than projected but that this “tie-up” is now a springboard for a host of other collaborative initiatives for Kohl’s.  

Technology is making collaboration even easier to facilitate in today’s sharing economy. Ride and room sharing are staples in today’s world and selling these services is the personification of collaboration. Uber Eats and Door Dash wouldn’t be household names if restaurants didn’t subscribe to the platform and work in partnership to streamline the purchase for the customer. How many of us have shopped at a grocery store because they worked in partnership with Instacart, used Wikipedia or have taken a math class through Khan Academy? Success stories are all around us and it’s that excitement within the teams working together behind the scenes that are adding value to almost anything imaginable. The possibilities are endless. 

In closing, it is not often a leader of your company is also a published author. Even less common is being in the unique position to write an insider perspective of what collaboration and this book means to us. The very bedrock of CaseStack’s foundation is the way we view partnerships and the value we place in true collaboration. Our team has fostered that environment in the CaseStack model and by choosing to have Collaboration at its core. This book serves as a guidepost for any company or individual with a genuine interest into setting the stage for successful collaborations. Having the openness to see what we can accomplish together is the only way to begin the collaborative process. Pair this with a team or companies excited about what they can develop together, and the sky is the limit. Get excited!"  ---- Members of the CaseStack SCA Book Club