The Legendary Hank Aaron

"My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging." --- Hank Aaron, Major League Baseball Hall of Famer

Good Monday morning all and welcome to this edition (No. 74) of "With That Said" (WTS), an almost-weekly newsletter powered by your friends here at Supply Chain Now . Baseball is back and it's a beautiful thing! In just a few short days, we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of Hank Aaron breaking Major League Baseball's home run record. So to start with today, we're reaching back into the vault and sharing perspective from a message that Scott Luton delivered a couple of years ago:

"We can learn so much from this iconic game of baseball. Lots of history, that oftentimes spills far over from the base paths - - to impact society, thankfully in a powerful & positive way.

48 years & 1 week ago, on April 8th, 1974, Henry Louis Aaron, the pride of Mobile, Alabama and known throughout Major League Baseball as "Hammerin' Hank", would hit his 715th home run. It would break one of the most hallowed records in all of professional sports & would propel Aaron past the legendary Babe Ruth as the greatest home run hitter in the history of the game.

53,775 were in attendance, including Hank Aaron's parents: Herbert & Estella Pritchett Aaron. Hank Aaron grew up in a poor family in the Toulminville area of Mobile, Alabama. He was one of 7 children. Aaron's parents couldn't afford real baseball equipment. Hank had to make-do with what he found. Amongst the things he found in life, was massive inspiration from the extraordinary Jackie Robinson. It's been written that Hank Aaron once skipped school one day as a teenager so that he could hear Jackie Robinson speak in person. From that moment on, Hank Aaron was determined to play professional baseball.

So back to that moment in Atlanta, almost 50 years ago, after Hank Aaron broke one of the biggest records in all of sports history, his mother, Stella, would come running up to him on the field. She couldn't wait to get her hands & arms around her son, knowing all the hate that Hank had endured for months on end (years, really). Despite it all, Hank would boldly persevere and go on to accomplish historic feats. Stella Aaron was just so proud and in their embrace, she just about squeezed him to death.

Hank Aaron would remark after the game: "?? ?????????? ???????? ?????? ?????????? ?????? ???? ??????????."?

What a story. What an eternal inspiration for humanity. If only we could all be a little more like Hank."

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We invite you to join us for these upcoming LIVE events:

--- MONDAY, April 1st @ 12 noon ET / 6 pm CET: Join us TODAY for our weekly episode of "The Buzz", a show focused on global supply chain news & analysis. On Monday, Scott will be joined by a special guest co-host: Elba Pareja-Gallagher . Additionally, Scott & Elba will be speaking with Patricia Coan , Chief Operating Officer with Pura . Join us at noon TODAY on any Supply Chain Now social media channel (including LinkedIn via this link ).

--- TUESDAY, April 2nd @ 12 noon ET / 6 pm CET: Join us for an intriguing conversation focused on the immense costs of not using the right technology in your business. In this unique & frank discussion, we'll focus in on the story of Neon Logistics and their Transportation Management Software journey. If you're a freight broker or 3PL evaluating a new TMS, this is a cautionary “grass is greener” tale you do not want to miss. Neon Logistics Founder and President Cody Graham will explain why they chose Turvo Inc. , then jumped ship for a rival TMS, only to return to Turvo again. Scott & Mary Kate Love will host Cody Graham and Turvo's Anthony Ceritelli in this live discussion. Learn more & sign up to join us via this link .

--- WEDNESDAY, April 3rd @ 12 noon ET / 6 pm CET: Join us for an eventful livestream discussion where Scott & Kevin L. Jackson, CISSP?,CCSP? will be joined by Alex Haines and Matt Kuper from Bastian Solutions . Listen in as we dive into automated point solutions: discrete material handling systems positioned within existing distribution processes to deliver a heightened level of accessible automation. Learn more about how point solutions often provide a simpler alternative to complex and permanent material handling systems, at much lower capitalization, while enabling a more accessible automation solution. Learn more & sign up to join us via this link .

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Join us on April 29th as we celebrate National Supply Chain Day. This year, we'll especially be celebrating all the people that keep global supply chains moving forward. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3TEkEaU

In case you missed it, check out some of these points-of-view and perspectives from around global business:

--- Did you know that by 2028, 70% of workloads will run in the cloud according to Gartner? From Jo Peterson , read more about how Amazon Web Services (AWS) GuardDuty under GM Ryan Holland works to make intelligent threat detection better for customers: click here

--- From Bob Carver : "At every cybersecurity event I attend, CISOs and other security professionals discuss the challenges of finding, hiring and maintaining a team of cybersecurity professionals. Not surprisingly, ISC2 recently revealed that the industry is experiencing a nearly 4 million person workforce shortage — and that number is growing." Read more here .

--- Don't miss the latest edition of "Freight Forward", where Cathy Morrow Roberson reports on the wide world of freight. In this most recent edition, Cathy shares a variety of updates on the situation at the Port of Baltimore: click here

--- Have you heard of "AI washing"? Andy ThurAI shares: "I get multiple AI briefings per week on a regular basis. A lot of them claim “???? ?????? ?????? ??????????, ???? ???? ?????? ?????? ????????, ???? ???? ?????? ?????? ???????? …” using AI to do this (or doing this for AI). But, when you open the kimonos, and do a deep dive demo, it quickly becomes clear that there is nothing there." Read more here .

--- Have you checked out Rob Tiffany?? and "IoT Coffee Talk" podcast yet? The latest release is the "Carbon Emissions Episode" and Rob is joined by Pete Bernard , Leonard Lee , Jan Pingel , Andreea Timberlake , Steve Brumer , Dimitri Volkmann and Bill Pugh?? to discuss the great generative AI security gap, the Battlestar Galactica of Gen AI, Rob's report out on the Carbon Tracking & Reporting Conference 2024 in Houston and sustainability innovation born out of necessity (and so much more). Check it out here .

--- In his latest "Good News" message, Scott talks about how he & Kevin interviewed "the one & only Jennifer McKeehan from Walmart last week, as we continue a series of intriguing conversations sponsored by our friends at Microsoft . It is remarkable to see the ongoing transformation taking place at Walmart. And I loved how Jennifer put it: "People led & technology powered". Stay tuned for the release coming soon!" Read Scott's message in full here .

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