Moving to a new town, attending a new school, starting a new job, these are all things that fall into the potentially scary category. Heck, check out the photo below of me expanding my horizons at the recent Embassy Spring Conference by wrapping a 40-lb. boa constrictor around my neck — kind of scary (but very cool at the same time)!

Large snakes aside, Supply House Times continues to embrace change. On the heels of our recent website redesign and expanded social media platforms, you’ll notice a new look to the magazine you are reading right now.

We’re still presenting the same relevant and useful information that helps you with your job, but with an updated and fresh look. We also are introducing some new sections in the magazine over the next few months. One in particular is a new section dedicated to people and company news that can be found two doors down from me in the print issue. If your company hires or promotes somebody or holds a customer appreciation event, send it to me at miazgam@bnpmedia.com. A new statistics-based feature debuts in the May issue (that includes our exclusive annual Premier 150 distributors ranking).

At the time of this writing, I recently returned from the WITand Embassy buying groupspring meetings where change and innovation were important topics of discussion. In a long chat with COO Charlie Moorhead, he told me WIT is continuing to look for ancillary ways it can further help its owners succeed in their marketplaces.

With Embassy, President Mike Lepley added a waterworks division in 2014 that is paying dividends for the buying group with its continued growth both on the member and vendor sides.

Change also is happening throughout the industry with the makeup of the workforce and the continued emphasis on the recruitment of talented young executives. I encourage you to read an item on page 40 in this month’s ASA news section that talks about how our industry national association will help its ASA members prepare for a local job fair right down to providing turnkey tools and resources to use when recruiting job seekers.

Speaking of young executives, this is one of my favorite issues of the year where we highlight 20 individuals under the age of 40 who are making a difference at their companies. You can head over to www.supplyht.comto meet even more young executives from our Class of 2015.

I also visited with ASA Young Executives Division Chairman Rogers Earl Jr. (who graces our cover this month) in Southern California earlier this year. He has an interesting story to tell about how he got involved in the industry and the innovations West Virginia-based Valley Supply has made in recent years to better help its customers.

In this day and age in the business world, change, while potentially scary, is a virtual necessity. If you are not embracing the latest technologies and improving your strategies and processes to best serve your customers, there’s a competitor out there that certainly is.

To borrow a phrase from our innovation columnist Dirk Beveridge, don’t be afraid to become a change agent.

Your customers will thank you for it.