When it comes to alliances, it used to be the case that many were waiting on the technology to catch up.

Now, we’re waiting for people to catch up to the technology — which means leadership needs to craft partner-centric cultures that align with these advancements.

But it’s worth the effort — because a core competency in partnering is a core competency in anything.

So says Mark Birgman, Author, Sp eaker & CEO at PARTNERNOMICS , who joins the show today to share the many insights he gained from a long career in partnering that spans heading Sprint’s program to his current role helping others with a sound methodology for creating their own. 

In this episode, we discuss:
The challenges, complexities, and, ultimately, rewards in the partner space
The need for top-down vision to shape a partner-oriented culture
The plans you need in place before ever signing a partnership deal



Here are some additional episodes featuring other ecosystem leaders that might interest you:
#121 Aligning Ecosystem Strategy with Your Customer as the North Star with Lara Caimi, Chief Partner Officer, ServiceNow 
#122 There’s No Easy Button For Partnering with Nicole Napiltonia, VP Of Alliances and OEM Sales, at Barracuda 
#106 The Secrets to Managing Alliances Like Microsoft with David Totten, Chief Technology Officer, US Partner Ecosystem at Microsoft 
#97 Why Quality Always Beats Quantity in Software Ecosystems with Tom Roberts, Senior Vice President at the Global Partner Organization over at SAP. 

Links & Resources
Learn more about how WorkSpan helps customers accelerate their ecosystem flywheel through Co-selling, Co-innovating, Co-investing, and Co-marketing. 
Subscribe to the Ecosystem Aces Podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, St itcher, Google Podcast.
Join the WorkSpan Community to engage with other partner ecosystem leaders on best practices, news, events, jobs, and other tips to advance your career in partnering.
Find insightful articles on how to lead and get the most out of your partner ecosystem on the WorkSpan blog. 
Download the Best Practices Guide for Ecosystem Business Management 
Download the Ultimate Guide for Partner Incentives and Market Development Funds
To contact the host, Chip Rodgers, with topic ideas, suggest a guest, or join the conversation about modern partnering, he can be reached on Twitter, LinkedIn, or send Chip an email at: [email protected]



This episode of Ecosystem Aces is sponsored by WorkSpan. 

WorkSpan is the #1 ecosystem business management platform. We give CROs a digital platform to turbocharge indirect revenue with their partner teams at higher win rates and lower costs. We connect your partners on a live network with cross-company business applications to build, market, and sell together. We power the top 10 business ecosystems in the technology and communications industry today, managing over $50 billion in the joint pipeline.