International Women’s Day 2024: Insights from Leading Women in the Channel

With Channel Partners just around the corner, acknowledging and amplifying women’s contributions is more important than ever.

Today is International Women’s Day (IWD), a time when we recognize and celebrate women’s achievements across various forums. For me, it’s extremely timely that this year’s IWD falls on the eve of Channel Partners. As I’m preparing to head to Las Vegas, I’ve been reflecting on the women that have changed the game in the Channel – as inspiring trailblazers heading some of the largest players in the industry, as mentors who coach, encourage, and push emerging female leaders, and as entrepreneurs and agents for change in an industry that has traditionally been dominated by men.

Fortunately for me, I’ve been lucky enough to cross paths and connect with many of these powerful women – some who have mentored me directly, others who have built strong relationships with my peers and colleagues across the space.

For IWD, I reached out with a simple request – what’s a piece of advice you’ve received that impacted the course of your career, what was your “aha” moment as a woman in leadership, or what trends or changes are you seeing in the channel that women should watch. The goal? To share the knowledge and experience that they’ve gained for the benefit of the Channel community.

Here, in no particular order, is what they had to say:?

The Rise of the CRO and Its Impact on the Channel

As the CRO role continues to gain traction with vendors across the industry, Channel teams need to aim upward to continue to see success, says Meredith Caram , President at JSG . Meredith is a champion of the channel, having spearheaded the AT&T Partner Exchange during her 18+ year tenure at the industry giant. After AT&T, Meredith set the stage for channel success at Intrado and Cytracom, before sharing her talents more broadly with the Channel community through her leadership at JSG.

“The CRO role encompasses so much more than just sales, and the Channel is one of streams that feeds into a CRO’s growth strategy. If your organization’s CRO doesn’t understand the Channel, securing the buy-in and investment you need to grow – especially as the market remains tough – will be an uphill battle,” Meredith notes.

“Successful female Channel leaders will understand just how important it is to build a strong relationship with their CRO and will set their sights on that role for themselves to create a truly Channel-first organization,” recommends Meredith.

Own Your Expertise

According to a KPMG study from 2020, Advancing the Future of Women in Business: A KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit Report, fully 75% of women executives reported having personally experienced imposter syndrome during their careers. For women who question their capability on the regular, Jasmina Muller has timely advice: know the value of the experience you bring to the table, and push through self-doubt with confidence.

Jasmina’s time at notable firms including Orange Business, CenturyLink Business, 8x8, Everbridge, PartnerTap and others (not to mention, a big announcement coming this Monday on her new role), has equipped her a wealth of both strategic understanding and executional expertise on which to draw. “It can be easy to forget our unique value or take our skills, talents and knowledge for granted,” Jasmina explains, “but what might seem to be matter-of-course for you is going to be inspiring for others.”

Confidence in your skills is key, says Jasmina: “When you confidently speak to what you know and consistently demonstrate that expertise in action, you’ll make an impact wherever you are in your career and gain credibility with your peers – and soon, you’ll see it for yourself, too.”

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Authenticity and Integrity Are More Important than Ever

There’s a reason that authenticity and integrity combine to form the keystone of any great piece of advice. Nancy Ridge , Founder and President of Ridge Innovative , and Past President and Co-Founder of the Alliance of Channel Women, shares this truth most eloquently when asked about the best piece of advice she’s received: “Always remember to Be your best self; live in possibility, demonstrate accountability, integrity, creativity, and the rest. Then you’ll know what to do, the next indicated step towards fulfilling your purpose and achieving your goals. From there you’ll be sure to get what you’re supposed to have; that is success, recognition, compensation – whatever that looks like to you. But always start with Who You Be.”

With all the technology, training, and tools available to help women level up their careers, why should authenticity and integrity still be at the top of everyone’s mind? Nancy shared some data from McKinsey & Company’s Women in the Workplace 2023 report, which showed that last year, women made up 48 percent of the entry level workforce, but that representation steadily dwindled across Manager, Director and Vice-President roles to 28 percent at the Senior Vice President and C-Suite level. And this decline disproportionately impacted women of color.

This is where authenticity and integrity come into play, says Nancy. “Women are more ambitious than ever, yet our ability to get to top level leadership is hindered in middle management,” she states. “This “broken rung” is what McKinsey & Company suggests is the reason why we haven’t made significant strides in leadership yet. Women must remain focused on continually renewing our commitment to each other, especially women of color, if we are to make progress.” Supporting women in the workplace isn’t just a rallying cry or a month of the year, but rather women continuously leveraging their authenticity, integrity, and creativity to mend the broken rung that stalls our careers and the careers of other women.

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Never Underestimate the Power of Feedback

Good feedback has staying power – and the impact of a kind word or thoughtful comment can have impacts even decades later. This is the wisdom imparted by Lauren Ventura , who heads Global Partner Marketing at Check Point Software . With a career that’s included impressive stints at industry juggernauts like Cisco and agile start-ups alike, Lauren is still inspired by feedback she received thirty years ago. “In 1994, the Head of Worldwide Sales at the time attended a presentation I gave to our sales team. He was complimentary of my presentation and said those who had heart, hustle and passion were the ones who had the best chances to succeed in business,” explains Lauren. “I’ve always kept those three attributes close in the way I wanted to embody what I needed to demonstrate every day.”

As Lauren notes, women have so many attributes that set us apart, and “when we demonstrate these attributes, we exude confidence and capability, and at the same time, empathy.” Taking the time to share thoughtful feedback, especially to new women in the Channel, may be more impactful than you think; the compliment or piece of advice that you give today may serve as a compass for a future leader even decades down the line.

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Mentorship is a Two-Way Street

While the corporate world has extolled the virtues of mentorship for decades, it can be a hard thing to get right. “When it comes to mentorship, it’s important to know that it is always a two-way street,” states Heather K. Margolis , SVP Marketing at 360insights . Heather founded Channel Maven Consulting in 2009, which was acquired by 360insights in 2021. Starting with Channel Maven, Heather has championed formalized mentorship programs, where the program was critical to ensure that value of diverse experience was leveraged at the organization.

“On every occasion where I’m paired with a mentee, I learn as much, if not more, from them then I feel like I share. We can all learn from each other,” says Heather. ”From our COO to our executive assistant, we’ve all had different experiences and will benefit from sharing,” she adds.

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Leadership That Transcends Metrics

As your career progresses, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of new and prestigious titles – making the move from Manager to Director to VP and beyond are all important milestones. But, as Vanessa Rizzo , Head of Global Operations at Mandoe reminds us, a title isn’t the measure of leadership. With over a decade spent in tech operations, Vanessa would know.

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“I recently read this quote “One measure of leadership is the calibre of the people who choose to follow you,”” Vanessa shares. “To be a successful leader, you need a great team of people around you. And more than just doing the work, they need to believe in the work if your team is to be successful. So as a leader, your role isn’t to merely manage – assign tasks, measure KPIs, etc. – but it is to innovate, empower, mentor, and challenge the status quo in an ever-changing environment. True leadership transcends “getting it done” and instead focuses on getting it right, together,” explains Vanessa.

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?My Takeaway

The Channel is truly lucky to have so many experienced, creative, and razor-sharp women in its ranks, and there’s still room for more diversity at the table. Although there’s progress to be made to ensure women have a voice in the conversation, McKinsey & Company’s data does show that change is happening, albeit slowly. This IWD, let’s focus on working together to expand our conversations across the industry.