As we move toward our nation’s 250th anniversary, let’s channel the founders’ spirit of independence, citizen-led change, and bold optimism to innovate distribution for the digital age.
This post is an invitation to join me in a year-long quest to explore the future of distribution as we approach our nation’s 250th birthday on July 4, 2026—and, importantly, what comes next.
What if the supply chain helped secure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the digital age? What if distributors and suppliers accepted a mandate not just to compete, but to serve? What if we didn’t merely adopt artificial intelligence and other digital technologies, but bent them to our will? What if, indeed!
Distribution, animated by the alliance between distributors and manufacturers, has the potential to do more than move goods. Distribution is more than an industry. It’s an institution. A national resource. A commercial and civic infrastructure hidden in plain sight.
Together, we can help build the future and lead a national and social renewal. But only if we act.
The fight for our future
We are living through a time of unprecedented change, fueled by digital technologies, geopolitical threats, and generational transfer. Two hundred fifty years ago, the citizens of the thirteen colonies faced a moment of profound upheaval, shaped by the political, economic, commercial, social, and scientific forces of their time. I see a connection. They were fighting for their future. So are we.
Artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and social media—made possible by data, algorithms, and a coming sentience—generate both good and harm, always at scale, constantly accelerating. This transformation flows from a race propelled by great power competition and the unflinching logic of profits and markets—factors that are reshaping how we work, communicate, and live, often without our consent. Frictionless efficiency, not human flourishing, is its highest aim.
The colonists risked everything to create something entirely new: a democratic republic, a government responsive to its citizens, with powers dedicated to securing unalienable rights, chief among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Like the colonists, we stand at the dawn of a new age. We are on a knife’s edge, facing unfathomable risk and unbelievable promise. We, too, must fight a war—not bloody, but not without cost. We must step into the arena—not just as participants, but as rebels, striving to secure our future in this new era.
Our challenge is to give a similar mandate to an unelected authority formed by platform leaders, financiers and founders, data scientists and coders, and even industry vendors, who, in a way, govern us. We must ask them to help us live the lives we have the right to live. We must demand that they support the way we want to work. And we must insist that technology be put to work in the service of human aspirations.
Let’s do this together—as an alliance in the supply chain, working for society, thinking bigger, and accepting responsibility. Let’s do more than adopt technology. Let’s create and build. Let’s lead as rebels worthy of our time.
Here’s why I think all this is possible: Just as tool and die shops played a critical role in sending Apollo astronauts into space, distributors, working with suppliers, can launch a modern-day moonshot to build a future-ready economy and society.
Distribution alone is an $8 trillion industry, representing about one-quarter of the economy. Distributors have people, facilities, and inventory embedded in every community. They work side by side with customers. Before ecommerce, they were the eyes and ears of all things local for manufacturers—not just for commerce, but for building brands, imagining new products, enhancing reputations, and catalyzing innovation. They can be more than that again, collaborating with suppliers not just for sales and marketing, but for strengthening society and building a flourishing economy.
Innovating distribution means crafting business models. Distributors are not just the last mile of the supply chain; they are the first step in imagining and creating new value for customers and communities. Manufacturers are not just suppliers or partners; they are co-creators.
To guide our efforts, I’ve developed a framework for thinking and writing about the future of distribution. It shapes my posts here on the Distribution Strategy Group blog and continues to evolve through my Substack series, Innovating Communities. Writing across both platforms enables me to explore synergies between industry and community, sparking ideas that benefit workers, businesses, and our nation’s shared future.
This framework centers on three themes:
- The supply chain is a critical national security asset.
- Proximity as a technology North Star for leadership and competitiveness.
- And innovating communities as a foundation for well-being, resilience, and prosperity.
Together, these themes form a field guide for helping customers and communities. And they lay the foundation for a year-long effort that culminates in our nation’s 250th anniversary. Now is the moment to channel the founders’ spirit of independence, citizen-led change, and bold optimism for the future.
Our plan of action
These bold steps won’t be easy, but I think they will be worth the effort. A few notes about our journey:
Why a field guide? Because we’re real people, not algorithms, operating in the real world. We’re in the field, navigating uncharted terrain, solving problems in real time, and responding to others with real needs. The field guide doesn’t dictate. It equips. It offers tools, direction, and shared language for those doing the work, those ready to act, not just click. A field guide helps its user recognize what matters and know what to do next. It’s grounded in practice, not theory.
Here’s what I will do. I’ll write articles here on the DSG blog and in my Substack newsletter, Innovating Communities. Everything I write draws from conversations with readers and from the headlines, podcasts, and research defining our world. I’ll pay special attention to those helping us understand the American Revolution, and what it can teach us now. I’ll bridge gaps, offer ideas, and suggest ways forward. I’ll participate in panels and web events. If you call, I’ll answer.
Here’s what I ask you to do. Join in. Think about the future. Share your experiences. Leave comments. Better yet, ask questions. Help push our work forward.
Today is only the beginning. About a year from now, around July 4, 2026, I’ll help publish a new manifesto: not a declaration of independence, but a declaration of common cause and self-rule, a call for a constitution for living and working as humans in the digital age, anchored in distribution. Together, informed by history and moved by purpose, we will launch a revolution to build the future of distribution in the digital age.
We have not yet begun to fight. Let’s seize the moment. Unite. Act. Thrive.
I’d love to hear from you: Leave a comment, send a message, or reach out directly at mark.dancer@n4bi.com.
Together, let’s launch a revolution for what comes next.
Mark Dancer is a writer and speaker focused on innovating distribution to help customers and commerce flourish in the digital age. With more than 25 years of experience, he brings forward big ideas for transformative change. As a Fellow of the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence, he authored Innovate to Dominate: The 12th edition in the Facing the Forces of Change® Series. His Substack, Innovating Communities with Mark Dancer, explores how reimagining the places we all live and work can help build a better future.