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Adriana McLane
Founder, Fulfilling Strategy · Charlotte, NC
C-suite strategy meets warehouse-floor reality. Strategic advisory for mid-sized distributors.
About Adriana
Adriana McLane is the founder of Fulfilling Strategy, a strategic advisory firm that partners exclusively with mid-sized distributors to sharpen execution and build strategy systems that keep pace with changing markets.
With six years in distribution and a Fortune 100 background spanning business development, commercial strategy, and Six Sigma, she brings C-suite strategy to warehouse-floor reality. Adriana has presented at NAW's Large Distributors Roundtable and co-hosts the Truly Transformative podcast.
Recent appearances & writing
Distribution Talk
"Using AI to Enhance Employee Collaboration and Commitment with Adriana McLane and Dirk Beveridge"
Frictionless Commerce
"The Digital Tipping Point: Why This Time Is Different for Distribution"
National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors
"Fueling Your Organization's Ability to Execute Strategy"
Distribution Strategy Group
"When AI Threatens Your Core Value Proposition"
Truly Transformative (Co-host)
Strategy + culture for mid-market B2B leaders.
What Adriana talks about
Strategy That Survives Contact with Reality
A strategic plan has a hard time holding up when C-suite strategy meets branch reality. I'll walk through where plans tend to break between the boardroom and field execution, how to design strategy as a system of daily discipline, and why shorter planning cycles matter more than they used to.
The Digital Tipping Point in Distribution
Mid-market distributors are feeling pressure from several directions at once — AI, customer expectations shaped by consumer experiences, private equity consolidation, and the infrastructure investments Grainger and Fastenal are making. I'll cover what's shifted, what's different than it was five years ago, and where leadership teams can focus their attention in the next two quarters.
When AI Threatens Your Core Value Proposition
Most distributor value propositions rest on a set of assumptions — price bands, knowledge scarcity, disintermediation, interaction preferences, delivery expectations — and those assumptions have held for a long time. AI is starting to put pressure on several of them at once. I'll walk through the five assumptions worth pressure-testing and the leadership moves that help a distributor stay the customer's obvious choice regardless of market conditions.
When Waiting Becomes the Riskiest Strategic Move
Distribution leaders are trained to weigh risk carefully, and that instinct has served the industry well. I'll talk about the situations where that same instinct can work against a company, and how leadership teams can tell the difference between prudent patience and expensive avoidance.
The $10 Million Question: Finding Your Real Strategic Priorities
I ask leadership teams a hypothetical — if someone handed you $10 million to invest in the business tomorrow, where would it go? The answers often surface priorities that aren't reflected in the current strategic plan. I'll share what that exercise reveals about the gap between the plan on paper and what leadership teams actually believe matters most.
Sample interview questions
Copy-paste ready questions to make prep easy.
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Q1
You've said strategy that ignores field-level reality won't survive contact with the market. Walk us through what that breakdown actually looks like inside a distribution company.
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Q2
You work with privately held distributors who are watching Grainger and Fastenal invest in digital infrastructure they can't match dollar for dollar. What's the real strategic question they should be asking?
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Q3
Your DSG article asked what happens when AI threatens a distributor's core value proposition. What are you seeing leadership teams do well, and where are they getting stuck?
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Q4
You use a $10 million hypothetical to surface what leadership teams actually believe are their biggest priorities. What shows up that surprises people?
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Q5
You use a 90-day planning cycle as an alternative to annual planning with your clients. What does that actually look like inside a distribution company?
Book Adriana as a Guest
Adriana brings sharp, actionable insights grounded in active client work and arrives ready to make your show easy to produce.