The Soft Pitch

I’m 62 today, easy to reflect on positive things…of course my parents, family on both sides, wife and son and my belief in God, and good health or I would be struck by lightning. Beyond my luck and some wonderful friends like MJ and Rich, Art, Russ, Viv, Wool, Jan, KK, Frank, Bob, Steve and Rich…here are some reflections….

1) Growing up in the technology evolution era since 1950…I have benefited from crayons to fax to computers to ipads from dial phones to pdas….then comes twitter and social media tactics. Black and white small Tv’s to huge monitors. Consumer products, AC and cars that go zoom zoom.

2) Grew up in a gang, the Baggers who enjoyed life and sports and learned how to communicate and be a team member. Those folks are the foundation of my life…period.

3) Grew up in Chicago the greatest city in the world and also living in Scottsdale AZ…palm trees and blue sky almost everyday is special…but the excitement, architecture, culture, lakefront, and Chicago sports teams have made life very enjoyable. Greats like Hull, Jordan, Payton, Butkus, Sayers, Banks and Santo…Harry Carey, Lloyd Pettite and Jack Brickhouse who told those  stories.

4) Learning everyday to being a good communications person and giving me the rope to enjoy the job, theme parties, employee morale, video and create a brand for Molex from the Krehbiels and a few leaders like Krafthefer, Black, Slark and Hecht…to now with Avnet. Working with the Avnet Executive Board has been so rewarding…they are so nice and talented. Roy Vallee is simply the best communicator and leader any company can have. Plus we have some laughs. Starting w my leader Steve, Karen and then Ray who busts my chops everyday. Rick Hamada is going to do a great job.

5) To accomplish #4 I truly needed my wonderful staffs, fellow employees and great vendors to make my ideas come to life…even when they thought I was crazy…they were not afraid to do things for the first time. More importantly they always did things better than I could imagine.

6) I have enjoyed being entertained by comedians like Dangerfield, Carlin, and even Woody Allen…and rock and roll music…seeing most of the stars…Bill Haley and Comets, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Connie Francis, Turtles, Tom Jones to folks who only need one name on the marquee; Frank, Barbara, Cher and Elvis. Then the Who, Stones, Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Prince and probably the best..Michael Jackson. Today? Black Eyed Peas are my fav.

7) Hopefully made a difference in the community with the Toy Foundation and other programs…with some very nice people who think of others.

8) Playing 16 inch softball has given me an opportunity to play ball and have lifetime friends like from the neighborhood to Molex’s excellent teams and now here in PHX. I have been allowed to learn the history of this great sport…and create a documentary with Tom Tillisch on the game and then establish the Hall of Fame with some amazing board members..

9) I Still want to give back more in PHX and the Business Marketing Assocation is at the top of the radar screen. Learned alot from my BMA PHX peers and new friends…now is the global scale.  I want to accelerate the success of B2B marketers with more knowledge and networking ops. Our awesome national board, Landon-Farrey team and chapter leaders can do it.

10) My biggest accomplishment? It has been enjoying, guiding and watching Zack grow up into Eagle Scout and now doing his own av business. That was not always easy…but so far so good. I love when he creates softball videos. I know he thinks we are a bit out there some times…he says we put the fun in dysfunctiional.

 I have seen alot of history. Nam, civil rights, Berlin wall falling down to Kennedy and 9-11. Landing on the moon was awesome…Apollo 13 maybe even more so…I have had the pleasure to meet Kranz and Lovell. Can’t wait to see what else happens…maybe people will stop hurting each other and we can cure some diseases too.

So retirement is not going to happen too soon…I’m really enjoying life and work inside and out of Avnet. Lots of excitement and challenges ahead but can’t wait to see what unfolds.

Thanks to u folks who make my life so enjoyable and rewarding. I really miss a few that are not with us anymore. Michaelle thanks for everything and your love, ideas and support and keeping me balanced by telling me Im wrong and need to shape up, daily….she cant control me but she has contained me. I’m going for 62 more years. May need it if I’m going to see Cubs win World Series.

Last week, the Business Marketing Association (BMA) held its annual B2B marketing conference in my home town, Chicago. Most topics for 3 days centered around the increasing importance of organizing content, data and internal and external communications to create strategic competitive advantage.  The event theme was “unleash” and 12 keynote and 11 breakout sessions did just that. Branding, innovation, life balance, career success, business strategy and culture were some of the main topics.

Our Chairman and CEO Roy Vallee, the first CEO to ever speak at the BMA conference discussed the CEO’s point of view, importance of internal and external communications to impact the business results, and show to integrate communications into corporate culture. He noted” Communications are the voice of the CEO; they drive the brand, and research shows that branding drives the stock price.”

As usual he was “on” and he made our folks so proud. Everyone was envious that he was our leader. Consistent theme from folks who stopped me…wish he was my boss. (his speech video will be available soon)

Other conference highlights was the Roush Fenway #16 car with the Avnet and BMA logo that would race Saturday night. Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne was on hand to sign autographs…great kid. I loved the Odyssey Chicago boat cruise which departed the Sheraton and went through an opened Lake Shore Drive bridge to Lake Michigan on a picture perfect evening. I have not done that in decades.

The keynote speaker was the famous Seth Godin, who gave a rousing speech discussing his most recent book, Poke the Box, which urges people to take immediate action.  Seth encouraged empowering experimentation, ”If failure is not an option, neither is success.” That is a strategy I have always lived by…hence the NASCAR entry.

For some strange reason the 2160 members have allowed the board of directors to let me be their chairman for 2011-2012. Our board has some great agencies and sr leaders and CMO”s of Siemens, IBM, Motorola, Emerson, GE, Tellabs, Google, LinkedIn, AON and Bloomberg. What are they thinking, they look like stable people?

Here is the Cliff Notes (that shows my age) plan…I want to Inform-Engage-Inspire our members. How? With networking opportunities like in Chicago and content, content, content…the power of BMA is our members…so I intend to get great content from them…ranging from videos, survey, research and white papers and enhance our website with it. That I hope translates into knowledge and then more members. And members who will learn so much and network with other pros that they will increase sales and profits…be recognized for it and get get promoted and make more money.

So if your a marketer who wants to get ahead…look up marketing.org…let’s see if we can help you acclerate your success.

Trevor Bayne almost stole the race Saturday in last seconds…and went from 35th to 3rd in Chicago. Our Avnet/BMA car looked great. Could see our logos easily and was on TV for at least 5 minutes. After the race Trevor did an awesome interview on ESPN…wearing an Avnet white hat and he mentioned Avnet and BMA…the cherry on the sundae. Trevor is such a nice person he attracts the coverage…he is going to be a star.

First Happy Easter…

Ok you may not be able to take to the bank every prediction but…

1) It’s opening day for baseball…yes I’m predicting the Cubs will get to the World Series…I have been doing that most of life, and failed. But I have a good feeling about this team, they are underrated which where they need to be. I liked what I saw this spring. Great bench and team chemistry is why I think they will do it. No Milton Bradley. Thank GOD.

2) Avnet will buy another company.

3) Avnetondemand.com…will continue to be the tech video educational portal for our tech supply chain. After our 1st anniversay there are plans to keep it viable and even more informative. (stay tuned)

4) Maag Toy Foundation will raise a record number of toys and dollars this year to benefit children and teens and add smiles. Want to help make that happen? maagtoyfoundation.org

5) Ya gotta love Butler in NCAA title game…the little school versus Duke, does it get any better. Being a Cub fan u know who I’m rooting for. BUT Duke will win. I picked Kansas in the pool.

6) Chicago BlackHawks will win Stanley Cup for first time since 1961.

7) Our local BMA Chapter will continue to grow and educate…

8) The AZ Sports Hall of Fame inductee event is Thursday at the PHX Convention Center…a record crowd is expected. Please join us…go to PHX Sports Commission website. Lute Olson, Sean Ellis, Billy Mayfair, softball star Billie Harris (my fav) and Bob Baffert are going in…

The Business Marketing Association (BMA) Phoenix and the Arizona Technology Council held the first ever Marketing Technology Summit 2009 on September 15th at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa. More than 375 marketing and technology professionals attended the conference, which featured a keynote presentation, two panel discussions and a networking and technology showcase with 50 exhibition booths. MY fav was our own Michelle Gorel with Cisco’s Brad Whitworth. Marketing experts shared real-life perspectives on what’s working, what’s not, and how to measure success in the emerging world of digital and social marketing.

The overwhelming response to this event points to an underlying need in the Arizona business community for more information about technology that can enhance productivity, creativity and ultimately the brand of companies. The Marketing Technology Summit connected marketing professionals with people and businesses versus just luncheon speakers that most associations put on. Rumor has it no BMA chapter has done this before, and based on the success of the program we will do it again here. This is what makes me tick, doing things not done before…BUT our BMA PHX Chapter board made it happen…a board that works, wanted to make a difference and helped educate seemed to really resonant with everyone. What also kicked butt was the smiles on the faces of the exhibitors who were getting quality leads…many had ever done anything like this before.

Emceed by Steven Zylstra, president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council, the conference revealed how marketers must contend with the radical changes that technology is driving in their field…like search optimization. Marketing executives discussed strategies for implementing technology to advance their brand and demand generation efforts and shared insights on measuring returns on investment for the C-Suite…which of course no one knows.

The coolest thing was BMA National president and big kahuna Gary Slack and B to B magazine’s editor Ellis Booker both flew in from Chicago to be at the program. They were kind to be on a panel with me for just our local members…they were the pros that know everything…wish we had them on for longer! One question i wanted to hear is my hometown Chicago getting the Olympics? They know there are hurdles but we have a good chance.

I’m the local president of BMA…could not be prouder.

To view photos, videos, and presentations from the event, please visit http://www.bmaphoenix.org/events.asp

To view feedback from attendees via Twitter, search #PhxMTS here: http://search.twitter.com/

The Business Marketing Association, Phoenix
Begun in 1922 as the National Industrial Advertising Association, today’s Business Marketing Association represents a lifetime of expertise in business-to-business marketing and communications strategy and tactics. The Phoenix chapter was established in 2008. They meet every third Tuesday afternoon with workshops and programs that enhance members’ marketing knowledge and careers.