About

This marks the Centennial Episode of Ultimate Guide to Partnering with a unique podcast, celebrating 100 episodes with a spotlight on amazing friends and guests. I am beyond grateful for their generosity, their grace, and their willingness to help shape the dialogues on both what makes partnerships successful as well as how we can make a positive impact on our world. As I approached this 100th episode, I couldn’t help but reflect on how we got here and why.  It all started in the fall of 2016 when I left the tech giant and opened my heart to new possibilities and let forces – and wonderful friends like you – help shape what was next. There was the friend who turned me onto the podcast medium, which I became an immediate fan of. There was another friend that suggested that I do my own podcast on partnering. And it made me realize that there was a huge gap that I might be able to fill with my experience and expertise. You see, I knew from my nine years as General Manager of Partner Strategy at Microsoft, that partners often struggled to successfully navigate their work with the tech giants. There were a small handful of technology organizations that had the decoder ring and had gotten it right. But most were falling short. So I started the podcast to help the many thousands of partners in the Microsoft ecosystem better optimize for success and deliver during this time of intense technological transformation. From the beginning, I was incredibly blessed to have so many incredible friends and industry leaders as guests on the podcast. At times, there were doubts. Has this really been worth it? Spending dozens of hours each week to perfect the process and reach the audience who would most benefit from it? And just when I needed it, a third friend coached me about consistency. So I plodded along for 60 episodes, and learned so much along the way. And it wasn’t just about the principles of successful partnering; it was also the personal and professional journey – the grit, determination and resolve to overcome and to do and to be more. But after 60 episodes, I strayed from my path and put the podcast on the shelf to pursue what I thought would be the dream gig leading the alliance at a billion-dollar Microsoft partner. And in some ways, it was because it gave me new insight from a completely different perspective. When I relaunched the podcast in June of 2020 , I was convinced more than ever that partnerships could accelerate growth and be a catalyst for survival during this time. I now had experience from both sides: at Microsoft as a channel chief, and also as a partner to a tech giant. Not only did I know intuitively what was required to make partnerships successful for both parties, I had also seen firsthand why they often failed, and how culture, mindset, commitment and maniacal focus were pivotal to both success and failure. When I brought the podcast back last summer at the height of the pandemic, the country was in agony. And so I relaunched with a personal conviction – one that I've held in my heart and soul for some time – that we in the tech sector could and SHOULD be a force for good. That to manifest the change we wish to see in the world requires that we as leaders address deep-rooted issues in our society. What you have seen in the 40 episodes I’ve recorded over the last ten or so months is that the podcast is much, much more. Yes, this is the Ultimate Guide to Partnering where business leaders come to share the strategies, business principles and leadership required for successful partnerships. But more than just a podcast on partnering, it has become a forum for leaders to tell their stories about overcoming adversity, driving change in business and making a difference in our society and our world. So many incredible leaders, so many great stories, so much to learn from these trailblazers in the industry.  Now, here’s the hard part…how do I sum this up for you in one concise podcast epis...