The Soft Pitch

Yesterday a record 210 people (many from out of town) converged on Scottsdale to play golf and come for dinner to support my families 9th annual venue here in AZ benefiting needy children with toys. Our goal is simple add smiles to kids. It’s our 19th year of doing this in Chi-town.

I would like to believe they all came to support me personally but the reality is our executive team were the magnets. Even in a recession people traveled to AZ to combine biz with pleasure,  the opportunity to meet our leadership team and benefit the needy. If you wonder about our folks this maybe the real difference is their personalities. They know some folks are there to greet them and will ask me is there anyone you want me to meet? Our leaders are just nice people.  Hell one guy who was just laid off at Avnet still came…can u imagine that. I would have ducked my head in the sand or held a grudge…Charlie did not. Classy.

Recession? Let me repeat quite a few folks traveled and gave us great auction items and sponsorships…my favorite was an air conditioner from SunState Mechanical, 12 hotel packages with the help of HelmsBriscoe ( no airfare though bummer), 10 golf packages, jewelry from Tiffanys to home made…home assessories from Vintage Villas, Obama autographed NY times day of election, tech gagets from our customers, and of course signed sports stuff. We even had cultural programs like ballet and symphony and teambuilding at The Challenger Space Center. 128 items in all…wow. Nice people who were volunteers like Karen, Lisa, Tara, Chris and Dawn.

We invited two people to tell us what they do with some of our funding…a young impressive teenager, 15 year old Michael Young who raises money for dogs who help kids get better at The PHX Children’s Hospital and Lyndsey Hughey who creates blankets for the needy…Blankets for Babies.  The dog was the highlight of the night.

Very cool stuff being done…you would like to know more about what we do to support children…go to our new website….maagtoyfoundation.org. Donate if you like so we can send more kids to ball games or to movies or have a bike.  Today my buddy Richard and I will deliver over 300 toys to to the Crisis Nursery….it’s a good feeling to act like Santa.

Yes it’s tough out there but I think Avnet folks are doing their best to the beats the odds and help folks….thanks

I had the opportunity of being included in a business roundtable with Zhou Wenzhong, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the U.S. There was a nice turnout of business leaders – some of the usual suspects – other large companies with a significant presence in Phoenix like Intel and Honeywell.  But there were also some smaller companies that one might find a bit surprising such as small manufacturing companies exporting construction hardware.  Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong’s main point was that we – the U.S. – have a mutual interest with China: growth and economic success. Of course, political differences exist, but still he spent a fair amount of time presenting his country’s position that we all benefit by working together as “friends.” Couldn’t agree more, and I was reminded of my mom’s old saying that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. He also explained China’s philosophical commitment to environmentally-friendly policies and urged caution when it comes to protectionist policies.

It’s interesting to see how quickly we can build bridges across borders in the business world, establishing connections all over the world.  For example, Avnet’s business in China is now more than $2 billion annually, we have 24 offices across the country and almost 1700 employees. We’ve been able to grow quickly in part fueled by the growth of the Chinese economy, but also because we adhere to a market-led philosophy: With more than 30 different business units globally, each market Avnet serves has different priorities and requirements, based on their unique business environments. Avnet leverages its global scale and scope to create local value propositions that address customer and supplier expectations in each market. What that boils down to is we give the local management a great deal of autonomy in making decisions and running their businesses in their market. As the world’s largest value-add technology distributor, the strategy seems to be working.

Most companies on their websites, in executive speeches and in marketing materials will somewhere make a statement that basically goes something like – “Our people make the difference.” –  “Employees are our most important asset.” —  “What makes us different is the quality of our people.” Same message, different words. Heads nod and reporters yawn.  So, I’m going to commitment the same sin and say “It’s all about our people.” But let me take it a step further and say what that means to me is that it’s about the expertise of specific individuals. Just as in the real world, a body of people is really a collection of individuals with varying levels of talent, expertise, knowledge, commitment, etc. Some catch our eye because they are particularly good at something.  I like to talk to these “experts” because I’ve learned they usually earned the recognition for a very good reason: they have a level of knowledge in a particular field that goes beyond what you would normally expect.  They have a lot to share and often make good speakers for industry events.

Here’s a couple I heard about recently that would make good subject matter experts:

Microsoft Names Dan Saniti Most Valuable Professional

Microsoft recently honored Avnet Field Applications Engineer Dan Saniti with its Most Valuable Professional, Windows Embedded award. Saniti is based in Minneapolis.

Microsoft most valuable professionals (MVPs) are recognized for sharing their high-quality, real-world expertise with its users and Microsoft. Saniti joins an elite group of just 85 Microsoft Windows Embedded MVPs across the world. He is the first Avnet employee to receive this honor.

To read Saniti’s MVP profile, visit Microsoft’s MVP site

Doris Gray Receives Contract Management Outstanding Fellow Award

Doris Gray, Avnet senior contracts manager, has been selected to receive the National Contract Management Association’s (NCMA) 2009 Outstanding Fellow Award.  The Outstanding Fellow designation is NCMA highest award that it grants its members.  This award is given to those few who have made significant and outstanding contributions to the field of contract management and to the NCMA.

The Outstanding Fellow Award recognizes Doris’ achievements through the years as a member of the Council of Fellows, which include Motorola’s CEO Award, and the Black Engineer of the Year President’s Award. For more details on her background, read the full announcement.

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Journalists if you are looking for a story on employee engagement start here. Avnet’s Chairman and CEO Roy Vallee made two speeches this week to over a hundred HR pros in the valley and approx 75 folks at at the reknown Thunderbird University. Same simple message…engaged employees plus happy customers equal profitable growth…dah. The tough part is if you believe it and execute on it. We measure both with outside firms. Our engagement has increased globally for 6 years…engagement equals their commitment to company and line of sight…do they get info and understand where and how we are getting there and their role in the process. Tie that to customer engagement scores we review, you get the picture.

So how do we do it? The foundation: 5 core values based a culture of values and performance at all times and supported with clear and consistent communication to 13,000 talented employees. For more info on how we do it and the metrics that back up the story contact us…

Our 3rd annual outing in the spring was enjoyed by approx 300 employees at Avnet Day at Ho Ho Kam stadium with 14,000 other Cub and Angel fans. The highlight was when one of our lead warehouse guys threw out the first ball (low and outside one bounce), while new EM president in Americas Ed Smith was helping out on the sideline. We could have sold more but we had a early deadline. Anytime Avnet’s name was mentioned it drew a nice cheer from our faithful, not bad when biz is slow…the moral of this story is morale and team.

Our folks invested most of their own money to be there…so no one made them come. Warehouse staff, lead executives, middle managerss, sales people, HR, and admin, came from both groups and Inc. Nice folks enjoying great AZ weather and the rights of spring…when everyone feels their team has a chance to win it all. Right now we are trying to win it all too and it feels like spring training again. A year ago is when biz starting going south and biz is still tough, but my gut feel is we are performing well aganist the competition.

The basics which are taught at spring training seem to be the key here too…employee engagement, great customer service and the needed supplier products. One advantage we have right now is our financial strenth helping customers get through these dark days. It’s like having a great clean up hitter who knocks in the runs.

Again these venues are great for morale. In tough biz conditions morale is even more important. It is an investment we still make…like prudent marketing. We are here for people who need our support.  And like spring training we are playing in front of smaller crowds but the season will begin soon…and our lineup looks damn good and we feel good too.

O…my Cubbies lost…because it spring training I do not get upset…I’m saving my blood pressure pills for the season.