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.

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