The Soft Pitch

I always enjoy watching the NCAA Women’s Softball World Series, but tonite was unbelievable. ASU is wining 2-0…but now bases are loaded and the Bama coach Patrick Murphy takes out his leadoff hitter, Brittany Rodgers who is batting .350…oh she is an All-American senior…for a freshman Jazlyn Lunceford. Talk about controversy…talk about egos and upset people…well Brittany never complains, pouts or sits dejected and is the biggest Bama cheerleader at the top of the dugout…Lunceford is 2-2, 2 outs and then jacks it deep to LF for a grand salami…everyone goes nuts and eventually ASU loses. What a moment in sports.

Brittany was being watched by everyone, the pressure was on the coach…replacing a star with an unknown was a potential alumni killer…well it paid off. Brittany was a class kid no matter what happened she was a winner. Her coach is a winner to not because of the decsion but because she handled it so well, sportsmanship is a great word. Team first…what a concept

As we all know thousands of people have been laid off in our industry…Avnet is no exception. What hurts and I wonder about are a few decsions I have seen when a few veterans here laid off…they did nothing wrong…been here 25 plus years, but someone made a tough call to replace them with someone or just drop the resource for now. What has truly amazed me that I know 4 people who just left in the last few months and 2 have sent very kind emails wishing us well and saying how great it was to work with us…and one person gave me a hug and said she understood why and hoped to be back one day…another person still showed up for an event because he said he would be there and held no grudge because he loved the Avnet people and culture. What? Laid off reactions are not that way. These people should be pissed and throwing things and saying why me?

Just like Brittany tonite who held her own and showed alot of class not getting uptight and understood the coaches decision (he was going for the big blast, she is punch/slap hitter)…her parents should be proud of her and the coach they sent her to play for…he has developed a great culture.

Makes me think, Roy Vallee and our executive team have  established a great culture at Avnet too, and that will pay dividends…just as it did Bama with their win.

O goodness I’m not drinking all the Kool-Aid, sure some folks did not write letters or say good bye or show up for anything and they are probably still looking at their ceilings…but the facts are people do like it here…our employee engagement scores say so…when business picks we will see how voluntary turnover goes. In any case it makes me very proud when folks walking out the door still say goodbye and give best wishes. Culture… maybe thats one reason why we are the Fortune’s Most Admired Company in our indutry…maybe. I know one thing dont bet aganist our people or right now Bama.

Do yourself a favor if you want to impact your career and businesss efforts the national conference is coming up in Chi-town at the Drake Hotel. Last year the program was superb…if going would love to meet any peers who want to network. www.marketing.org

Getting quick answers to technical questions can be a bit frustrating as most of us know.  My daughter’s laptop froze up recently, so I did a quick online search, found the answer in a technical forum in just a few minutes (unfortunately looks like it’s something I can’t fix like replacing a battery, everything is indicating static electricity zapped her mother board). For design engineers, the problems are considerably more complex and best answered by other engineers and technical experts like those at Avnet. 

So last month, quietly and without much fanfare, Avnet Electronics Marketing launched online technical forums . Some of the questions are way beyond me, like on the discussion forum for the Spartan 3A Evaluation Kit someone asks:   “Can I do a microblaze design with the Webpack?” Apparently the answer is yes, and anyone asking the same thing will get an instant answer by checking the forums. Just another cool way Avnet is helping its customers get done what they need to get done better and faster.

You can check out the forums at: http://community.em.avnet.com/avnet/ .

Being a huge Cub fan I’m use to losing, but seeing Kris Allen beat Adam Lambert tonite I was not prepared for…are the folks that voted for Kris deaf, stupid or or just have an agenda? What were u really thinking? I cant wait to read what the media has to say…

My wife, very good friend and I were stunned when the verdict was announced. Just to be clear we do not agree on everything, heck were Republicans and Democrats.

Our opinions are simple, we are sad for Kris not Adam…Kris knows he is not better (at least he had the class to admit it on stage) and will have to live with that forever. Heck he is not as good as the girl with red hair. So if you voted for Kris think about all those IDOL shows the next few months where he will be greeted warmly and Adam will get all the praise except in Kris’ own or neighboring states. Kris will take pride in his accomplishment but always look over his shoulder and see Lambert. And be known as the guy who really should have been Avis…not Hertz.

The show producers should have been celebrating about a great season and awesome closing show that was lost in the results. Now they have a huge problem…they can’t trust the American public anymore and they can’t change the rules because that will make Kris and show look worse. Our guess is also fans will not invest their time and energy next year because if the most talented may not win again…so why watch? Sponsors will feel the same way…especailly at $1.3 million per 30 second spot. Adam was one of if not the best ever in 8 seasons, so they will probably not catch lighting in a bottle again.

This is the first in 80 columns I for one cant tie the draft subject to Avnet, sorry but I’m morose and too stunned…

Ok I do not want to break the streak…the only thing that perks me up is I work for Avnet and not for a competitor.

I’m not a Trek fan at all, but went with my wife who is and the new Star Trek movie was excellent…go see it.

Can’t help but think about how much technology that goes into movie making today and how technology impacts space exploration. Boy has  it changed in my adult life…There were no computers, cell phones, cameras, PDA’s, internet, etc…hell I remember when the first color TV’s came out…Bonanza was the 1st color show I think.

One thing about technology it has had a tremendous impact on the space race and getting to the Moon. Did u know we have been involved in the space race since the begining too? Yep, the Avnet’s sold connectors and also tested the equipment for NASA (we have one instrument in our lobby museum)…kind of cool we have been involved so long. Looks like we will for a long time…maybe we will have something to do with “beaming someone up” for the first time. If you would like to know more about our efforts here conatct me.