FRONT-LINE LEADERSHIP · DISTRIBUTION · WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS

Your supervisors were promoted for doing the work. I teach them how to lead it.

Will Quinn — The Distribution Guy® — helps distributors and associations build front-line leaders who hire well, train well, and hold the standard on every shift. Marine Corps veteran, 25 years on distribution floors, and author of Steel-Toed Leadership and Modern Warehouse Management.

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Will Quinn presenting to a distribution executive roundtable, a slide reading Current Trends in Distribution on the screen behind him
25 YEARS
Running distribution operations
TWO BOOKS
On the work and the people
80+ ARTICLES
Across the industry's publications

PUBLISHED IN

MODERN DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY GROUP AMERICAN SUPPLY ASSOCIATION INBOUND LOGISTICS SUPPLY HT FEDA NEWS & VIEWS

PROGRAMS

Three ways to develop your front-line leaders.

Every program is built from work I've actually delivered, and every one ends with a plan your leaders will run on Monday.

Steel-Toed Leadership

Keynote, 45–60 min. The 15 leadership traits and 11 principles the Marine Corps taught me, tested on distribution floors.

Recruit. Onboard. Develop.

Workshop, 90 min, with an optional peer follow-up. Practical frameworks for hiring, onboarding, training, and keeping front-line talent.

Critical Skills for Front-Line Leaders

Four-session program, live or on demand. Delivered for the Foodservice Equipment Distributors Association in 2026.

See the programs

BOOKS

Two books for people who run the building.

Modern Warehouse Management is about running the operation. Steel-Toed Leadership is about leading the people in it.

Steel-Toed Leadership: From the Corps to Corporate by Will Quinn Out now Steel-Toed Leadership From the Corps to Corporate Modern Warehouse Management by Will Quinn Available now Modern Warehouse Management Steel-Toed Leadership That Drives Performance
Explore the books

LATELY

Eighty articles. Twenty-five publications. One point of view.

Warehouse operations, frontline leadership, AI adoption, and continuous improvement — written from inside the building, for the people running it.

All articles

HEARD AND SEEN

On podcasts, panels, and stages.

Distribution Talk. Supply Chain Now. Around the Horn in Wholesale Distribution. The Warehouse Underground. Sessions at ProMat, ISA, NAED, BLUE HAWK, and the FEDA Frontline Leadership series.

See the full record
ProMat ISA NAED BLUE HAWK FEDA Stratosphere Applied AI for Distributors We Supply America

Notes from the Floor.

One email a month. The articles worth your time, what I think of them, and one thing to try on your floor. Unsubscribe anytime.

SPEAKING

Planning a conference, chapter meeting, or leadership day?

I speak to distributors, associations, and operations teams about warehouse performance, frontline leadership, and what technology can and can't fix. Tell me the audience and the date — I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right fit.

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