The Soft Pitch

It used to be that that quote “Good things come in small packages” made me think of the ruby bracelet my husband bought me for our 10^th wedding anniversary. Nowadays I veer off to thoughts of an iPod Shuffle the size of lapel pin or my newest toy, a Flip Mino HD.  I decided to give it a try and jump into video blogging after I heard Brad Whitworth from Cisco talk about how the ease of use convinced a top Cisco executive to blog for employees and customers using it.

 My first try? Definitely shaky cam style. I used it to interview the judges for the Avnet Marketing and Communications Awards.  I haven’t heard of other companies doing this – but Avnet has been holding an internal awards competition for its marketing professionals for more than 10 years now.  It recognizes the best of our marketing efforts, but also encourages Avnet marketers to try new things and benchmark themselves against their colleagues globally.

 (Hold on there Avnet employees – I’m not giving away any secrets here of who won.  You’ll have to wait for the awards ceremony to learn that!)

We have seen in our customer and community scores that we have increased in our brand preference by 15 % due to company personality…the trust in our employees and things they do in the community top that list.  

I believe that my favorite past time has had an impact on that score.  As I reflect on the opening of the Chicago 16 Inch Softball Hall of Fame today in Forest Park, Il. Avnet has indeed been able to enjoy our brand being noticed by being involved in the sport/sponsorship.

Out 7th annual 16″ B2B Tourney for Businesses is scheduled for Nov 14th…there is a buzz about it…starting with the 28 teams from last years venue and the all the CEO’s who played in the “featured game” on TV vs the XTRA Sports 910 Radio squad (the CEO’s won). By the way the games on TV were the # 2 show on Phoenix Tv during the day both years  it was shown. ( I must admit it is is either really good TV or what are those folks doing on that day?…geez get a life).

The venue has a great impact on morale for companies here, many of which are our vendors, suppliers and customers, which is good thing ! I know people want to work us because of the vibe. We have been able to raise money for charities too. This year we will support the Phoenix Sports Commission Youth programs and AZ Sports Hall of Fame effort. Last an most important I know our employees enjoy playing it, and it’s great for morale. Men and women play and we have from senior leaders to sales to warehouse players involved.

Did you know the great game of softball started in Chicago in 1887…when bored alumni of Yale and Harvard were waiting for ticker tape scores of the big football game between the two schools? They wrapped up a boxing glove and started hitting with a broom stick. Want to know more about 16 Inch softball? 16Inchsoftballhof.com  By the way our HOF Inductee Park looks great. Special thanks to KODAK, March manufacturing and Vienna as sponsors…trust me Avnet’s name will be noticed there too.  Looking forward to the ceremony and celebrity game. By the the GOV of Illinois declared by proclimation, today is 16 Inch Softball Day in Illinois. If in the area stop by from 11-3 and say hello

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…

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.

Today was cool. Our queen of employee morale here in PHX is Lisa and she rented out two Tempe theatres for over 500 employees and family members to attend the new Indy movie. Great to see him back on the silver screen and also to know I lived long enough to see it. The matinee tickets were paid by employees…with only a portion paid by Avnet. It was great feeling to see so many smiling folks. Lisa does a great job of running sporting events, getting discount tickets and other programs to enhance our company culture, pride and employee experience/engagement.

Oh by the way: I enjoyed the flick but was expecting a bit more…bottom-line go see it. Another good day here.

When I think of the movies I think of one our key Avnet family members, Jon Avnet. Jon is the grandson of our founder. He is a well known producer of quite a few movies; Fried Green Tomatos, Risky Business and award winner with Broadway hit Spamalot. I had the pleasure to meet him and his family at dinner a few years ago when he came for our 50th anniversary event. An excellent story teller but what impressed me most was that he was not a name dropper… we had to drag out stories out of him about the Hollywood crowd. Then as the big day unfolded his passion for his family legacy and apprecaution that we kept the Avnet brand going (we didn’t screw it up) and successfully was very apparent..more good times here. He would be worth interviewing as a past employee who made assemblies, maybe he will make a movie about us one day.