It’s that missing something. Gnawing at you. You can’t define it, but you know, something’s off.

When over 20 of the industry’s leading distributors (and commonsku customers) gathered at our first CEO Summit in Toronto, we talked about how leaders (and subsequently businesses) get unstuck. 

Unanimously, across the room, everyone agreed: at some point in your professional journey, you’re going to need an outside opinion to help you. Whether that outside opinion takes the shape of a consultant, a CEO advisory board, a coach, or a CEO group, one thing is clear: The leader you are today is not the leader you need to be tomorrow.

Enter: perspective.

Debbie Grishman founded Cowdin Collaborative to help leaders get unstuck. Think of Debbie as a Peloton instructor for your career or a fiercely intelligent counselor for your business, she has nothing but your best interests at heart, she’s an intense listener and coach, and she has only one ambition: to help you discover roadblocks and realize a better (or maybe clearer and less confused) version of yourself. 

But often, Debbie suggests that the problem is not always a roadblock because the issue is not so readily apparent. 

Debbie should know. As a former advisor to TwelveNYC, one of the most creative leaders in the industry, she’s uniquely qualified to help promo pros identify that something and get unstuck. Before her work with AmEx, Debbie was a television producer for HBO, ESPN, ABC, and Martha Stewart, a high-stress environment that makes her the perfect ally in our high-pressure deadline business. 

One main reason sales leaders, managers, and business owners get stuck is that “leaders often get siloed,” said Debbie. “Whether scale-ups, start-ups, or entrepreneurs, often you just need another grown-up at the table, but someone who is not your partner, shareholder, employee, or spouse, someone who is there to help you unload the things weighing on you and sift through the challenges to find the right problem to solve.” 

In a soon-to-be-published episode of the skucast, we asked Debbie, what are the most common areas where leaders get stuck? How can we identify these key areas now in our lives? 

She responded, they typically fall into one of these four categories:

People: Do you have the right people now to take you to where you want to go? Do you need to invest in upper management? Or maybe it’s not that dramatic and you simply need to reinvest in team education? Or reshuffle the deck and shift priorities or people. Or possibly, you don’t need to upset the people-cart, maybe you just need to consider the next point … 

Process: Debbie surprises leaders with her advice at times. They think the existential threat to their business is competition, or the challenges are in their people, or their priorities, when in reality, it’s much simpler than that. “Sometimes you might just need a CRM. Or a slick tech platform.” The problem we are trying to identify is often not in the big picture but rather, in something small but significant. 

Priorities: Are you doing the right things in the right order at the right time? Do you have clear and cooperative alignment across your entire team on your priorities, and are you acting on these? A common example in promo: Right now, your existing client growth might be humming along, but new business growth could be more active. Shifting priorities means shifting your focus on the right things at the right time. 

Purpose: “It’s hard when you’re riding the rocket ship to stop and think about your strategy, are you clear on your purpose?” Purpose has become one of those vague self-help words that can become dangerously meaningless but purpose, for a promotional products distributor, keeps us from being pulled in too many directions at once. Should you chase that new project you know nothing about? Should you say ‘yes’ to that 10-page RFP with requirements outside your comfort zone? Maybe. 


Here’s where it gets interesting. You’ve analyzed the above and realized you don’t have any major roadblocks. Good people. Tolerable processes. Solid priorities and purpose. But still, there’s something. Does this inner monologue sound familiar? 

You know, everything’s working okay in our business. For the most part. We like where we’re at. We’ve got a great team (not perfect, but great), a solid business, good clients. Sure, there are the typical industry challenges –sourcing issues, delivery issues, client demands– but uncertainty is part of the game, we get that, in fact, we excel at it. But still …

“But still.” That’s the something gnawing at you. Debbie called this the “yes, and” problem. Maybe it’s not an outrageously apparent challenge (like stagnant sales or plateaued growth), maybe it’s subtle. Examples: You aren’t enjoying the work anymore; you just don’t feel right about the direction of the company; your team is amazing, but there’s something missing.

It’s a “yes, and” problem because everything’s humming along, but you feel it could be better. “Yes, and” thinking is positive. It’s a classic phrase that not only helps weave positive language into conversations with your team about change, “yes, we do have an amazing team, and I think we can actually build on this…” but it keeps you from constantly trying to fix the negative. It’s approaching the problem with greater possibility (and the right kind of energy) than trying to fix something that’s broke.

Yes, we have good processes, and I wonder what we could accomplish if they were great? 

Yes, we have good clients; how can we make them fiercely loyal? 

Yes, we have an amazing team, and what’s more amazing: we still have untapped potential, how can we realize that?

Yes, we have strong collaboration, and I know we can make it stronger.

In a recent article by Matt Klein on Zine (unrelated topic), he used this great phrase, “building blocks over big swings.” He writes, “Situated amongst chronic uncertainty … steady growth is more valuable than ever.” 

Maybe you need to fix something major that’s broken. Maybe you need a new upgrade or new management structure, or maybe you need to refine your purpose. 

But maybe you just need to find your “yes, and” to build upon the damn good you already have – and make it f*cking great.

Action step: Make a “yes, and” list. The things you know are great in your business that you can make better. It’s not only a refreshing exercise to remind yourself of what’s working, it’s a phenomenal way to create building blocks on top of your amazing strengths, which makes you more resilient and amps the positive energy! 

Stay tuned for Debbie’s upcoming episode on the skucast! And, if you need great advice from peers, or those who have been through it before, check out the commonsku community feed, a place where pros gather to seek advice from the best in the business. Brett Boake with Score Promotions said that the community feed is a great place to collaborate with other distributors and suppliers, “you can reach out and someone will reach back, whether you have a team of 3 or 20 or 52, you now have a team of over a couple thousand people.” 

Here are some additional blog resources to help you manage your team: