Channel Futures' 2023 Channel Influencers Dish on Work Philosophy
Our Influencers' work philosophy might change the way you approach your job.
March 23, 2023
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Ross Artale
CEO
Spectrotel
“The customer can be our associates, channel partners, suppliers, everyone in our ecosystem. We are in a service business, and it all starts with a passion to deliver the very best service.”
Kam Attwal-Kaila
Partner & President
IT By Design
“I have a pillow that someone sent me. It has ‘GSD’ embroidered on it. Our staff was always saying, “Kam gets s*** done,” and until I got that pillow, I didn’t realize it was a real expression. I thought we’d made it up. But it’s true — I’m all about getting things done.
“There are visionaries and there are implementers. I fall somewhere in between, in that I have the vision, but I am steadfast in any project I take on. I will execute it and I will execute it with excellence. I am OCD-level about that.
“Every year I’m trying to be better. I’m not competing with others. I’m competing with myself. Where am I? How am I growing as an individual? How am I leading to that next level? When I work, I work hard. If somebody asks me for something, I will make sure that I give them the best version of myself that I can. I try to pay really close attention to detail and create an experience for people that they wouldn’t get somewhere else.”
Kelli Ballou-McMillan
Director, Global Partners (Channel)
Five9
“I would say that my philosophy is around connecting the dots. I believe that I’m a really good people connector and to do that, you have to be a really good listener show interest in whom you’re talking to. Anytime that you’re engaged with someone, you should be able to take things away from that conversation to that elevates or educates you. Did something they said give me a different lens through which to view a situation? And is there someone in my network that I need to connect them to?”
Mike Baur
CEO
ScanSource
“My work philosophy is traditional and simple – work smarter than the competition by providing an incredible customer experience. And it begins with treating our ScanSource people extremely well and building a long-term relationship with our suppliers. We believe in ‘a fun and happy work environment’ while delivering world-class service to our customers.”
Kobi Elbaz
Senior Vice President & General Manager, Global Channel Organization
HP
“My philosophy includes possessing long-term vision for the UC space so that HP and Poly can capitalize on a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redefine the way work gets done.”
Scott Evars
CEO & Co-Founder
Bridgepointe Technologies
“My philosophy is simple — the best team wins. I show up every day ready to help the Bridgepointe team win.”
Jennifer Gallego
Executive Vice President, Global Sales
Avant Communications
“When it comes to building high performance sales teams and leadership teams, I believe in motivating them to achieve beyond expectations. I work to remove barriers and then step out of the way so that they can thrive. Leading by example is a big part of this. Having a good work ethic and integrity are also essential to establishing and growing strong teams. I believe cross-functional relationships between the various teams (sales, operations, finance, engineering) that we’ve established here at Avant are key to our success. When everyone shares the same mission, getting to goal goes much smoother and faster.”
Scott Goree
Vice President, Global Partners & Alliances
Skyhigh Security
“It’s one that I’ve evolved over my career. Early in my career in my generation, it was really grind, grind, grind, grind, keep going and keep the motor going. Now, as I kind of evolve in my career, it’s about balance. It’s about balance in your day. It’s about balancing what you do. It’s a balance in your core responsibilities. I want one leg in the things that I do quite well. I’m comfortable and I bring strength to it, and I want this for my team. And I want one leg in the uncomfortable because that’s where I’m learning. And so my work philosophy is to do a bit of balance … making sure that you balance the work and just the stress of work with your family life, your health and just the resetting. It helps with the recalibration of your brain”
Wendy Harmon
Assistant Vice President, Channel Marketing
RingCentral
“I enjoy more than anything else building teams of incredible individuals, motivating them, getting them excited, setting expectations and then really getting the heck out of the way and letting them shine,” Harmon said. “It’s about helping them understand what they need to do and then seeing them surprise and delight themselves with what they’re able to accomplish.”
MeiLee Langley
Senior Director/Head, Channel & Field Marketing
LiveVox
“My work philosophy has everything to do with helping your team stand out. Uncover what makes you or your company or product different and embrace and lead with the difference. Don’t be afraid to take risks or to try something new or get a little weird. Difference is such a powerful gift when you use it in a good and meaningful way.”
Louise McEvoy
Vice President, US Channel
Trend Micro
“I get paid to do a job. I step into this job and I work really, really hard, and then I’m offline. I’m a firm believer that you need work-life balance, but I give it my all when I’m here. It’s this is my job and I take it really seriously. And then when I’m not working, I take the rest of life seriously. Family, friends, my passions in life, that’s all very important as well. So my philosophy is very much about a balance.”
Kaye McMillan
Senior Vice President, Sales Development & Communities
TD Synnex
“It’s about the people. It’s about working with respect, promoting diversity of thought and embracing change.”
Craig Patterson
Senior Vice President, Global Channels
Aryaka
“I grew up in the Midwest and learned at a young age that nothing in life is given to you. I was taught that hard work creates opportunity and that you’re nothing without integrity. I’ve always embraced this throughout my career. My work philosophy is to leave the channel better than I found it by working hard, building key relationships, looking for ways to make the channel more relevant and developing the next generation of channel leaders.”
Andrew Sage
Vice President, Global Distribution Sales
Cisco
“I would like to be a leader that other leaders want to work with. That is sort of the core of it. But I think to be that person, you’ve got to have a passion for what your company does. You have to have a passion for the role you find yourself in. It’s hard to be your best when that’s not the case. So it starts with that. But I also think that you’ve got to get yourself into a situation where you really love the people you work with and you love your customers.
“You don’t wake up thinking oh my God, I hope this phone doesn’t ring. You want to talk to your customers. You want to engage with your people. You like it. It’s a big part of success.
“And then one other thing I’ll say is that you should always think big.”
Ryan Walsh
Chief Strategy Officer
Pax8
“My own personal work philosophy comes from being in a sports family: If you put the work in, the reward will be even better. Sometimes it’s hard, but I watched my dad embrace this on all fronts.
“My dad played college basketball. Popular opinion at the time was, ‘You’re not going to make any money at that, so you better do something responsible.’ So he gets his law degree, then receives a prominent job offer in Washington, D.C. He walks out of that offer, calls a basketball coach and says, ‘I want to take the assistant basketball coach job.’
“I didn’t really understand that until later in my life. I couldn’t imagine what his dad said to him about going to law school and then becoming a basketball coach. Ultimately, he really got into the profession and became the general manager of a professional sports team.”
Editor’s Note: Donnie Walsh assistant coach of the Denver Nuggets from 1977-78 and head coach from 1979-80. From 1984-86 he was assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers, from 1987-2006 was general manager and from 2007-08 was CEO. From 2008-11, he was general manager of the New York Knicks before returning to the Pacers in 2012 to serve as president of basketball operations. He remained with the team in a consultant role before stepping down in 2021.
“My lesson from him is do what you love, put in the work and try and have fun along the way. So that’s my that’s my philosophy.
“You know when you’re not happy. If you don’t do anything about it, you become miserable and burn out. So I always give that advice: Chase your joy you’ll be better at it.”
Ryan Walsh
Chief Strategy Officer
Pax8
“My own personal work philosophy comes from being in a sports family: If you put the work in, the reward will be even better. Sometimes it’s hard, but I watched my dad embrace this on all fronts.
“My dad played college basketball. Popular opinion at the time was, ‘You’re not going to make any money at that, so you better do something responsible.’ So he gets his law degree, then receives a prominent job offer in Washington, D.C. He walks out of that offer, calls a basketball coach and says, ‘I want to take the assistant basketball coach job.’
“I didn’t really understand that until later in my life. I couldn’t imagine what his dad said to him about going to law school and then becoming a basketball coach. Ultimately, he really got into the profession and became the general manager of a professional sports team.”
Editor’s Note: Donnie Walsh assistant coach of the Denver Nuggets from 1977-78 and head coach from 1979-80. From 1984-86 he was assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers, from 1987-2006 was general manager and from 2007-08 was CEO. From 2008-11, he was general manager of the New York Knicks before returning to the Pacers in 2012 to serve as president of basketball operations. He remained with the team in a consultant role before stepping down in 2021.
“My lesson from him is do what you love, put in the work and try and have fun along the way. So that’s my that’s my philosophy.
“You know when you’re not happy. If you don’t do anything about it, you become miserable and burn out. So I always give that advice: Chase your joy you’ll be better at it.”
Listen to this year’s exclusive group of Channel Futures Channel Influencers. The philosophy they bring to work each day might just rub off on you.
Our more than four-dozen honorees range from vendor execs to channel partners, sales consultants to analysts. Channel Futures editors selected this year’s winners by considering their accomplishments in 2022 and what we expect to see from them in the years to come.
They all have traits in common — a belief in their teams, communication and transparency.
We wanted to dive a little deeper into what makes them tick. In the slideshow above, a select number of our influencers expound on their work philosophy. Each got to where they are today in part from the way they approach their jobs day-to-day.
Once you’ve read their tips on work philosophy, download our digital issue featuring Channel Futures Channel Influencers of the Year Craig Patterson of Aryaka and Fred Voccola of Kaseya. If you want to read about all of this year’s honorees, check out our image gallery.
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