"Only the paranoid survive, how to exploit the crisis points that challenge every company" by Andrew S. Grove - Recommended by Oliver van Dijk (Global Alliance Leader at Hitachi Vantara)
“Only the paranoid survive, how to exploit the crisis points that challenge every company” by Andrew S. Grove
This book caught my attention in terms of constantly challenging the status quo of myself within an organisation, a team, an ecosystem with regards to the contribution provided by myself. So I learned from the book to constantly be on the lookout for the unknown and to never ever take things for granted.
What is the book about?
Under Andy Grove’s leadership, Intel became the world’s largest chip maker and one of the most admired companies in the world. In Only the Paranoid Survive, Grove reveals his strategy for measuring the nightmare moment every leader dreads–when massive change occurs and a company must, virtually overnight, adapt or fall by the wayside–in a new way. Grove calls such a moment a Strategic Inflection Point, which can be set off by almost anything: mega-competition, a change in regulations, or a seemingly modest change in technology. When a Strategic Inflection Point hits, the ordinary rules of business go out the window. Yet, managed right, a Strategic Inflection Point can be an opportunity to win in the marketplace and emerge stronger than ever. Grove underscores his message by examining his own record of success and failure, including how he navigated the events of the Pentium flaw, which threatened Intel’s reputation in 1994, and how he has dealt with the explosions in growth of the Internet. The work of a lifetime, Only the Paranoid Survive is a classic of managerial and leadership skills.
Best takeaway
The key take away was to make sure to action before being actioned upon.
5 May, 2024
30 Sep, 2023
"The Art of Strategic Partnering - Dancing with Elephants" by Mark Sochan - Recommended by Mark McKinzie (Former Partner Marketing Director at Dell, Oracle & TCS)
“The Art of Strategic Partnering – Dancing with Elephants” by Mark Sochan
Partner Marketing Director at Dell, Oracle and TCS
Why should you read it?
I relate to Sochan’s shared experiences establishing strategic partnerships within the tech industry because I’ve encountered similar situations. This isn’t your conventional business book; it feels more like a candid conversation with a seasoned colleague. You’ll discover genuine insights and real-life anecdotes on building strategic partnerships. It’s refreshing to receive practical guidance from someone with firsthand experience in navigating intricate partnerships that resonate with your own experiences.
What is the book about?
Think of it as your go-to guide on how to form and manage strategic partnerships. It’s not just theory; it’s a practical playbook. This book covers the whole spectrum – finding the right partners, nailing down contracts, and nurturing partnerships for the long haul. It’s filled with real-world examples that will help you reinforce your current strategies and succeed at forming new partnerships.
Best takeaway
It’s risk vs. reward. Companies can establish market dominance through effective partnerships to achieve their goals. Strategic partners can create significantly greater value propositions in customers’ eyes. This book delves into the strategies for pursuing partnerships and evaluating when the rewards surpass the risks.
30 Sep, 2023
4 Sep, 2023
"Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol S. Dweck - Recommended by Vineet Sharma (Global Alliances Leader at Rocket Software)
“Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol S. Dweck
As channel & alliances leaders, we must have a “growth mindset”. The most successful channel chiefs have such mindset. Microsoft is a shining example of a company thriving on its growth mindset since Satya Nadella took over.
What is the book about?
Here are the key highlights relevant for channel leaders (lead without a title):
“Believing that your qualities are carved in stone—the fixed mindset—creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over”.
“People in a growth mindset don’t just seek challenge, they thrive on it”.
“The growth mindset does allow people to love what they’re doing—and to continue to love it in the face of difficulties”.
“Those with the growth mindset found success in doing their best, in learning and improving. And this is exactly what we find in the champions”.
Best takeaway
Partnerships are all about growing together. People in a growth mindset don’t just seek challenge, they thrive on it and create new opportunities.
4 Sep, 2023
3 Jul, 2023
"The Strategic Alliances Fieldbook: The Art of Agile Alliances" by Gavin Booth, Mike Nevin and Jim Whitehurst - Recommended by Vince Menzione (Founder & CEO at Ultimate Partnerships)
“The Strategic Alliances Fieldbook: The Art of Agile Alliances” by Gavin Booth, Mike Nevin and Jim Whitehurst
Podcast Host & Producer of Ultimate Guide to Partnering
Why should you read it?
The Ultimate Guide to Alliances!
I’ve finally found a handbook geared to the Alliance professional – executive and practitioner. This book provides both the foundational knowledge necessary to understand the framework and principles, then applies a blueprint to the successful implementation in your own organization. It is complete, almost a textbook at times, but relevant to early in career, seasoned practitioner and ecosystem executive. I highly recommend it to partnership and ecosystem leaders everywhere!
What is the book about?
The Strategic Alliances Fieldbook compiles a century of the authors’ experience of leading joint businesses to solve the problem of how to go fast and avoid common issues that delay alliances. The reader will get a detailed analysis of professional services companies and technology companies and how the dynamics of their collective culture and operating model are shaped when working in partnership. The book provides a ‘blueprint’: a library of methods that includes 15 templates which can be applied to accelerate any alliance as well as multiple case studies to illustrate real-life situations.
3 Jul, 2023
29 May, 2023
"Channel Excellence" by Axel Schultze - Recommended by Harald Horgen (CEO at the York Group)
Recognized by Allbound as one of the “Top Partnership Influencers of 2023”
Why should you read it?
The book provides practical advice. The author stared and ran what became Europe’s largest distributor, so he speaks from experience.
What is the book about?
It covers all of the basics a software company needs to know – why a channel makes sense, the key elements of a successful program, margins and partner support, as well as a section dedicated to SaaS solutions.
Best takeaway
It isn’t always the best product that wins. Superior distribution will always beat a superior product!
29 May, 2023
18 Apr, 2023
"How Emotions Are Made" by Lisa Feldman Barrett - Recommended by Markus Brunner (Partner Manager at Supermetrics)
Recognized by Allbound as one of the “Top Partnership Influencers of 2023”
Why should you read it?
Ever looked into someone’s face without knowing how to read the facial expression? This book helped me understand how emotions develop and how to approach different people from different cultures keeping in mind that emotions might be expressed entirely different. Especially in a business context, it’s vital to get a clear picture of how the other person feels during a conversation. Did you for example know that in ancient Rome smiling was considered inappropriate in public? There’s a lot to learn here!
What is the book about?
Lisa Feldman Barrett dives into a controversial take on how emotions come into existence and how they develop in a human being as well as how they are expressed. While this is quite a scientific book, the author writes in an understandable way and makes sure to give you all the basics to learn a thing or two from this book.
Best takeaway
Being scared and being surprised looks rather similar in most people’s faces!
18 Apr, 2023
18 Apr, 2023
"Never Split The Difference" by Chris Voss - Recommended by Heather K. Margolis (SVP Marketing at 360insights)
Former Founder & CEO of Spark Your Channel and Channel Maven Consulting
Why should you read it?
This book puts negotiation into perspective as it’s been written by a former FBI negotiator. He states that in the same way you can’t split a hostage in half… how do you figure out how to make both parties happy?
What is the book about?
The book focuses on negotiation skills by finding out what the person really wants or needs and making both parties happy.
Best takeaway
Figure out what’s important to everyone you deal with!
18 Apr, 2023
16 Apr, 2023
"Predictable Revenue" by Aaron Ross & Marylou Tyler - Recommended by Krishanth Thangarajah (Co-Founder of Partner Champion)
“Predictable Revenue” by Aaron Ross & Marylou Tyler
Co-Founder at Partner Champion, EU Partnership Crew Ambassador, Partnerships at Konnect Insights
Recognized by Allbound as one of the “Top Partnership Influencers of 2023”
Why should you read it?
I can’t recommend ‘Predictable Revenue’ enough for anyone starting out in partnerships. When I first started in my role, I was looking for resources that would help me improve my sales knowledge and build strong partnerships. This book was exactly what I needed. The authors provide a comprehensive guide to creating a successful sales process, with a focus on managing cold emails, SDRs, and AEs that I found incredibly helpful. The lessons I learned from this book have stayed with me throughout my career and continue to inform my partnership practices today. If you’re just starting out in partnerships, or looking to improve your sales knowledge, help partner improve their sales/SDR teams, I highly recommend giving ‘Predictable Revenue’ a read.
What is the book about?
The book is divided into two parts. Part One focuses on building a successful sales team, and covers topics such as hiring, training, and managing salespeople. Part Two is dedicated to creating a scalable sales process, and includes chapters on generating leads, managing cold emails, creating effective sales scripts, and more. One of the key concepts in the book is the “predictable revenue” model, which involves creating a repeatable and scalable sales process that generates consistent revenue over time. The authors provide practical advice on how to implement this model, with real-world examples and case studies.
Best takeaway
If I had to pick only one idea from “Predictable Revenue” that is most relevant to partnerships, it would be the concept of “alignment” between sales and partnership teams. In the book, the authors emphasize the importance of aligning the sales team with other departments, such as marketing and customer success. From a partnership perspective, this means ensuring that the partnership team is aligned with the sales team and working towards the same goals. This alignment can be achieved through clear communication, shared metrics, and a strong understanding of each team’s strengths and weaknesses. When partnership and sales teams are aligned, they can work together to generate leads, close deals, and drive revenue growth.
16 Apr, 2023
22 Sep, 2022
"INDIRECT ROUTE - How to develop and manage a network of channels in the technology sector" by Denys Vojnovskis (Partner Account Manager at Qlik)
“INDIRECT ROUTE – How to develop and manage a network of channels in the technology sector” by Denys Vojnovskis (Partner Account Manager at Qlik)
Former Alliance & Channels Manager at Verint, Altitude Software, HP, Nortel and others
Why should you read it?
I believe that two large audiences can benefit from the information contained here: professionals who already work in this segment or who want to prepare themselves to work and students and professors in similar areas. With regard to professionals, the content of this book applies to everyone involved in an indirect sales ecosystem, both on the manufacturer and channel sides (distributors and resellers), both novice and experienced. The newly arrived professional in this area will have a complete detail of how our segment works. He will learn specific terms and concepts that will make him a much safer professional to develop his new job. The more experienced professional will have access to a broad overview of the most important issues in the area, review some forgotten points and have an important reference for consultations at hand. Regarding the academic area, I am convinced that this book will also be very useful for teachers and students, especially in the areas of engineering, administration and marketing. It is a teaching material that describes in detail the peculiarities of B2B marketing, indirect sales and the ICT segment.
The book is currently published in Brazilian Portuguese and will become available in Spanish shortly.
What is the book about?
With clear and didactic language, this book aims to consolidate, in a single place, updated, relevant and detailed content about all the activities and peculiarities that surround an indirect distribution environment. Based on extensive theoretical research and over 20 years of experience in the market, Denys Vojnovskis presents the best practices for the management of indirect channels, especially for the Information and Communication Technology sector. The knowledge gathered here, however, also applies to other segments that work with indirect sales, especially in the B2B market, filling an existing gap in the literature on marketing channels. Essential work for students and professionals working in the indirect sales ecosystem, both on the manufacturer and channel sides, especially in the areas of sales, marketing, operations, finance and technical support.
Best takeaway
I wrote this book with the aim of consolidating, in one place, up-to-date, relevant and detailed content about all the activities and peculiarities that surround an indirect distribution environment. I was concerned about combining both the theoretical part and the practical knowledge that I gained in my more than 20 years in this area. I tried to put a lot of emphasis on practice, on HOW TO DO IT. I believe this is the biggest differentiator from most publications in this area (the overwhelming majority are only available in English). There are some very good books on channels and indirect sales, some of which are cited in the references. However, although they describe the theoretical part and WHAT should be done very well, they do not focus on the practical part, on a daily basis. They do not show how to turn channel theory into practice.
22 Sep, 2022
15 Sep, 2022
"Making Channel Sales Work" by David Davies & Marcus Cauchi - Recommended by Eran Rosenblum (Managing Partner at Inner Onion)
“Making Channel Sales Work” by David Davies & Marcus Cauchi – Recommended by Eran Rosenblum
The book guides the reader through the complex world of partnerships, managing and selling via third-party: a minefield of complexity, for those in the know. If you are new to the partner ecosystem, whether you already have a channel process in place and you want to improve or revitalize it, or you are aiming to create your first channel program from scratch; that this is, hands down, the book for you.
What is the book about?
Managing partnerships requires outstanding people skill, exceptional organizational and strategic planning capabilities, a highly attuned sense of commercial reality, and the ability to prevent and neutralize conflicts. This book introduce partnership professionals to the skills and practice knowledge they need to be successful, build a fast growth, high profit, high repeat business channel with the lowest possible cost and the least possible wasted effort.
Best takeaway
“If your partnership channel is not working, look in the mirror and ask yourself a question: whose fault is it? And the answer should always be 100% yours.”
