Recently, I was reminded of the book ‘Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (1993)’ by the American author and Relationship Coach, John Gray. While facilitating an alliance workshop between two high-tech partners, I was reminded of a suggestion the book makes; there are incompatible differences between the way that men and women act in any given situation, and that conflict arises from these different viewpoints. One partner was a global systems integrator and consultancy; the other was an equally large (and global) software company. The workshop was to discuss the current state of the global alliance relationship that they had formed many years ago and reset the vision for the alliance.

Despite the number of senior key stakeholders at the workshop from both parties representing: product lines, consulting practices, sales, marketing, R&D, and corporate planning, the two global managers leading the discussion caught my attention. Experienced Vice Presidents in their respective companies, both responsible for managing global relations, the only obvious difference was their gender. For the purpose of this article let me call them Sally and Simon.

During the course of the workshop, we addressed the question of ‘Joint Business Value Propositions’, and I asked the question: “What is the Joint Business Value Proposition for this alliance? What is different and exciting to the customers about using the combination of both of your company’s products and services?”

Simon immediately jumped right in: “Well, it’s obvious right? Between us we control a large degree of market share in our chosen fields, we are both acknowledged leaders in our respective products and services, what I need is to agree on a target figure with Sally about how many of our software licenses her company will sell this year.”

Sally replied: “What are we trying to achieve with our offerings here? Between us, we need to understand better how we come across to the market and I’d like to know more about Simon’s business strategy and how my team can help him.”

Simon: “Great! That’s just what I said… now let me tell you in detail about my sales targets territory by territory around the world and we can then agree on what numbers you will allocate …!”

And before I could stop him he jumped up to the whiteboard and started doing just that!

The incident put me in mind of the Mars versus Venus debate sparked all those years ago.

If one is to consciously observe and compare the language that Simon is using, which is, ‘me, I, my targets, my objectives, my territories’ to Sally’s conversation which is, ‘us, we, our team, our common goals’, it wouldn’t be hard to differentiate between the leaders. One might say this is negligible and unimportant, however, I believe it is indicative of a deeper mindset. 

Whilst flying home I ruminated on our conversations in the workshop, I confess I couldn’t decide whether the fundamental difference highlighted by the two professionals was the difference between men and women or the difference between sales executives and alliance executives.

In traditional sales, the business landscape is quite clear. I am a seller and you are a buyer; my job is to convince you of the suitability of my products and services to your challenges and needs and I will use appropriate and suitable tools and methodologies to help me do that (e.g. Challenger Sales, Consultative Selling, SPIN Selling, Relationship Selling, Closing Techniques, and on and on). The language involved in the conversation is focused on the seller. It’s a binary type conversation. I win, you ‘lose’ (because you pay out the highest price I can negotiate).

In alliance selling on the other hand it’s a little more subtle. Sally isn’t trying to sell to Simon, she’s trying to understand how they can both together sell to an (as yet) unknown customer, and do it in the most efficient and effective way possible.

The conversation is peppered with words like Us, Our, Joint, Collaborative, Together, Consensus, Joined-Up Approach, and so on.  During my flight I thought about two different scenarios:

  • The different background, mores, and language used to typically describe men and women and,
  • The different background, mores, and language used to typically describe salespeople and alliance people

In both cases, I daydreamed about the words that I had heard used in the past to describe the two groups and I wondered if there was some kind of connection.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you can’t have good male alliance managers and I’m not saying that you can’t have aggressive and hard-driving female executives, but the more I thought about my own experiences with all four groups (men, women, sales, and alliances) the more I resonated with the differences and the apparent connection between the two groups.

Could it be that women are more genetically ‘programmed’ over many thousands of years to view harmony and collaboration in the family unit as preferable to personal advancement?

The jolt that I got as I hit the runway in Birmingham (my hometown) jerked me awake and afterward I couldn’t decide whether it was clear thinking and deep insight or pure gibberish?!

What do you think?  I’d love to hear from you!

If you’d like more information or would like to contribute to this research, feel free to contact me at [email protected]

About Mike Nevin
Mike Nevin is a highly experienced international strategic alliance consultant, coach, and author. Mike was the founding Chairman of ASAP in Europe (ASAP is the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals) which he launched in March 2002. and his seminal work (The Strategic Alliance Handbook) is recommended reading on MBA courses throughout the world.
https://www.amazon.com/Strategic-Alliance-Handbook-Business-Business/dp/0566087790

We are so excited to announce the launch of #empowHERaccess campaign this month.

#empowHERaccess is an annual digital advocacy campaign by Women in Cloud to generate greater economic access for women in technology. The inaugural 2020 campaign focused on the disruptions women in technology founders were facing, and anticipating, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, while WIC’s 2020 programming aimed to offer the access and opportunities women technology professionals need for recovery and continued success.

The 2021 #empowHERaccess campaign will bring together a number of facets to better understand the Global Crisis the pandemic has created for women entrepreneurs, and celebrate the many stories of pivots and perseverance.

As we were shaping the narrative, the community and Fortune companies wanted us to provide solutions to involve women tech founders as part of the digital transformation roadmap. Based on the feedback, I brainstormed the Forbes article to highlight tangible practices that can be implemented now to double the supplier diversity to create billions of dollars in economic impact using the collective power of Fortune 1000 companies.

So, What can Fortune 1000 companies do?

Systematic change requires collective action by organizations large enough to influence and maintain change. Some groundbreaking ideas to doubling the supplier diversity in Fortune 1000 companies for digital transformation could be:

  1. Strategic digital transformation planning with diverse suppliers. Digital transformation is shifting the competitive landscape for many organizations. As you seek to partner with new partners, it is important to look for diverse suppliers who are willing to work with you on the journey while you extend your talent workforce.
  2. Policy Refinement. Research conducted by the Harvard Business Review claims that 52% of women in STEM careers will eventually leave because of hostile work environments where the company culture is not accommodating of women. The gap in the pipeline can be addressed by establishing policies within Fortune 1000 companies changing the landscape, forever allowing women to lead and develop solutions for the future and bring them into supplier ecosystems.
  3. Underwrite certifications. To accelerate the rise of women-led supply chains, Fortune 1000 needs to take on the onus of underwriting certifications to reduce the burden on diverse technology suppliers trying to build and raise their business. Supplier certifications are a huge investment that largely contributes to small businesses with a lack of funds being unable to deliver to their full capability.
  4. Focused networking with buyers. It is a no-brainer that networking is an essential element for business growth; however, facilitating focused networking sessions will help explore unique and creative solutions developed in a diverse environment.
  5. Solution Showcase. Sixty percent of digital sales are carried out through online marketplaces already, and the number of new marketplaces is growing rapidly to create visibility of potential solutions. Access solutions from Women In Cloud solution marketplace that helps buyers access enterprise-ready solutions developed by women founders for Fortune 1000 companies to incorporate in their supplier network. 

The solution is quite simple to pinpoint, if we double down on investments and engagements with female founders, the world’s largest organizations could succeed in abolishing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship while accelerating economic recovery. 

At Women in Cloud we are committed to developing solutions and generating resources that are dedicated to enabling Fortune brands and enterprise companies to create an economic impact; 

1. WiCxFortune100 Initiative: A turn-key equity advancing solutions for Fortune 100 companies to come together and collectively solve gender-equity challenges through representation, recruitment and relationship building.

2. WiC Solution Marketplace: A one-stop-shop for technology solutions and services for the mid-to-enterprise market, created, owned, and operated by women entrepreneurs.

3. Fortune 100 Lunch and Learn Series: A high-level networking experience designed to open the doors for leading fortune companies and brands to connect with technology business builders. 

I invite you and your brand to get engaged with us to unlock economic access while making the supplier programs diverse and inclusive in the ecosystem.

Website: https://womenincloud.com 

Calling all female tech founders to take 2021 Edition of Covid19 Impact Survey to help us identify and build economic relief and recovery solutions

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