I was excited to host this first interview episode today, joined by former colleague Eric Loper, Microsoft's National Solution Provider - NSP Leader.

From Venture Investing to Enterprise Sales, Eric is a 16-year industry veteran focused on delivering people centered innovation.  In his time at Microsoft Eric envisioned and built a $39M customer offer engine, consulted senior leadership on competitive strategy and pioneered Microsoft’s managed partner marketing model.  Today Eric leads the National Solution Provider Sales Business at Microsoft focused on driving revenue with the most strategic US partners.

Eric shared his perspective on the evolution of the business, how partners have evolved their model and the new business opportunities emerging from the intersection of technologies such as: Big Data, Azure and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Eric speaks to the attributes of some of the best Microsoft partners and how to best engage his organization to drive growth and success engaging with Microsoft.

Towards the end of the episode, we dove into Eric's personal and professional journey, his leadership philosophy, role models, core principles and advice he would give to others.

Eric's life statement is to : "Focus on living each day intentionally, without fear, with a spirit of power, love and self-control to leave a legacy in the lives of others." A great aspiration!

Eric recommended two books on professional development - links are here:

-Turn This Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders, by L. David Marquet https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AFPVP0Y/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

-Living Forward:A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want, by Michael Hyatt  https://www.amazon.com/Living-Forward-Proven-Plan-Drifting-ebook/dp/B012H10GBW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489616679&sr=8-1&keywords=living+forward+book

Please "like" this Podcast on iTunes and Facebook .