The next time you want a cheeseburger, you might consider hopping a plane and flying to Germany. Or France. Or New Zealand. Basically, anywhere but the United States of America.

Our work should provide value to someone or something, otherwise why do it? When we build our personal kanbans, we’re building a board that drives us toward completing our work. But is that work worth doing?

For suppliers, one question comes up again and again in their distributor relationships: Should you treat your distributors like employees, or should you treat them more like customers? The answer isn’t always clear.