The Soft Pitch

Our Fiscal Year 08 is over…and July 1st starts 09 for us. I can’t tell you how we did unless I do my next blog entry from jail. But suffice to say that we did better than the previous year…and if you watch our quarterly results that would be just a da. Q3 was sure forgettable but I personally feel it was another good year as we start to market all the reasons like we acquired 9 companies that will add value globally…blah blah blah.

I would rather make my observation that our people development is the key…employee engagement scores are up (annual survey by Watson Wyatt) again, but I do not need a survey to tell me that…I can tell it when you see the smiles, body language and enthusiasm of our folks when I travel or just walk the hallway.

We have consistently made good investments in our employee training, recognition and morale programs. A few examples are enhanced training in 4 areas; when folks arrive, interns (see Michelle’s last blog), operational excellence and sales efforts that improve our results. My favorite employee program of late was when our morale folks rented out two movie theatres in PHX as our employees paid for discount tickets to see the new Indiana Jones flick…I saw warehouse, sales, operations, finance and management all show up with their families…it was cool.

Steve Church and Mary Ann Miller lead our HR/development effort and are becoming well known as they are sought after in speeches and press…I recommend you really get the scoop from them. In our service business people do make the difference, and we have 13,000 plus doing a damn good job.

One person missing will be Dave Rapier who just retired. We had a very nice small surprise party for him Friday which Roy Vallee and Ed Kamins lead. His wife and 5 kids, plus other family members were there and were so happy and proud. He has 19 grandchildren which should keep him busy. He leaves a legacy of integrity, kindness and a successful career. An Avnet officer and 26 year veteran here he lead our telemarketing effort in the 70’s and direct sales online in the 90’s and our customer loyalty survey data…his innovation still impacts our efforts everyday…best of luck…good guys can finish first.

PS

More importantly the Cubs are in first at mid-year…that is rare, thank you GOD. I’m holding my breath. Also important is we have two stellar countries Spain and Germany for Avnet who will not be thinking of selling component parts or computer solutions today and celebrating tomorrow who wins the football championship of Europe. I love the energy of Spain’s team but my Euros are bet on the reliable Germans.

I’ve heard the talk about Gen Y – about how they act as though they believe they’re privileged or entitled and want to jump right in and take on major responsibilities.  I’ve heard the complaints, which to me at times sound more like whining from those of us who are in the boom years.  Jump right in and take on responsibility? What could possibly be wrong with that? Sounds like an eagerness to make a contribution, and I say bring it on!  I love what I’ve seen of Gen Y employees coming in: they are energetic, bright and full of fresh ideas. If anything, I’ve found they challenge my own thinking and have helped me explore new paths of my own.

Take, for example, our summer interns. Used to be a summer internship meant you got to hang around the “real workers” and maybe stuff envelopes or file. That’s all changed.  These interns WORK. They’ve been recruited from some of the best schools across the country.  Most have some sort of supply chain or technology background.  A few participated in Avnet’s recent Avnet Tech Games. So we sent them through orientation, gave them some training, and put them into real jobs. But most interesting to me is that they are helping us to shape our intern program themselves.  Why? Because they are part of Gen Y, they have great ideas and who better than they can help us understand what it will take to recruit the best of the best of their generation?

Last year, we took their desire to make a contribution from the beginning to heart and designed a program that put them into regular contributing jobs after a short training program.  That class let us know, that as much as they like having a regular job, they also wanted to learn more about how the company functions overall.  So this year we built in more time for them to learn about technology distribution and Avnet in general. Plus, this class of interns will be helping with some community projects. They like to make a contribution, remember?  So participating in a community project is right up their alley – plus it supports Avnet’s value of community involvement. So this summer, in addition to the training classes and their job responsibilities, they will participate in a project for several non-profit community organizations that Avnet supports. Michelle Chung leads this program for Avnet, staying in touch with the students through a blog and guiding them through the 10-week program. She’s a great one to talk to about internship programs and what makes them work for both students and employers.

The best part?  We hired several interns from last year’s program and they’ve jumped right in and are working hard to make a difference. Thank goodness, because we need them for us to stay competitive in the future.

I have to sneak something on baseball. First my Cubbies are doing very well. I am holding my breath.

The best thing I heard all week was seeing Philllies manager Charlie Manuel bench his all-star and League MVP Jimmie Rollins when he didn’t run hard after popping up…the ball dropped and when he should have been standing on 2nd he viewed the play from first.

Rollins did not complain, and said my manager has two rules, hustle and be on time. I did not do and deserve to be benched. 

It’s sure great to see a manager stick to his guns and the pampered pro not act like a spoiled kid…both are pros in my book. 

I just came back from the BMA  Business Marketing Association annual conference in Las Vegas which was an excellent experience on tech/social media activities and good old basic networking. Jeff Hayzlett from Kodak is the new prez…he is Mr Energy…love being in the same room. I was asked to discuss employee engagement with Profoundly Simple founder, Tom White (who knows his stuff) which I found very intriguing that it’s still such a hot topic…it is a no brainer isn’t it? I came away very proud of the fact Avnet was the case study used to see how brand/shareholder value etc are impacted by employee engagement…

Avnet has been doing employee surveys for years but the past 4 under the guidance of our Chief HR/OD leader Steve Church we have used Watson Wyatt the premier research company in this area. Our recent scores show we continue to move towards the right and up and so do our EPS stats…sounds like we are reaping the rewards of a positive culture…which is values and performanced based…looking for real data that proves these points or examples of what is working ask Steve.

Globalization isn’t anything new. There’s been a slew of books pointing out the globalization of just about everything from Starbucks to Sony to Siemens. Just take a walk down any shopping district and you’ll see brands representing every region of the globe. But in the world of computing resellers and systems integrators whose bread-and-butter customers are local, mid-market businesses, globalization has been talked about more than actually implemented. Until now. I’ve heard journalists from the computing trade publications ask are resellers really interested in globalization?  Do you know a reseller who is doing business globally that I can talk to?  The answer is yes and yes.  Avnet’s Technology Solutions operating group has launched a Global VAR Advisory Council just to work with VARs (value-added resellers) on the challenges of doing business globally.

Harry Edwards, Avnet’s senior vice president of Global Strategic Vendor Integration and Solutions for the Avnet Technology Solutions group, acknowledges doing business internationally can be challenging. “Worrying about what political pitfalls to avoid, quoting in different currencies, negotiating payment terms and ensuring products get from one location to another is a lot like throwing darts while blindfolded and hoping to hit the bull’s-eye. The problem is, it really distracts resellers from doing what they do best, which is proposing and delivering solutions to their customers.”

The VAR council has seven global resellers, but Avnet Technology Solutions Global President John Paget says he knows of at least 35 actively doing business globally and the number is growing daily.  A couple quotes from Avnet employees on the topic of globalization I thought interesting:

“Even in the Polish market we find companies that want to become more multinational. Global means more power, which gives us more financial strength, business relationships and growth capabilities in terms of best-practice sharing. The idea should be that we think globally but act locally, because every country has a specialized market and still some vendors let them have the power to decide locally. Every initiative should be tailored to the local market.”

– Adam Dyszkowski, Country Manager, Warsaw, Poland

“it is customers who drive us to think and act globally. While our customers pave their way for global expansion, we need to have Avnet operations close to those of our customers to canvas more business. Actually, it is the key driving force for Avnet to set up an integration center in Tianjin, China, to support international customers.”

– Sophie Li, General Manager, Tianjin, China

From Poland to China.  I guess the world is flat even for resellers.