Ideagen Radio
Ideagen Radio
Leading with Authenticity: Gretchen O'Hara on Navigating the Tech Industry, Post-Acquisition Success, and Partner-Centric Culture
Discover the strategic insights of Gretchen O'Hara, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Channels and Alliances, as she unravels the transformative journey of Splunk Cisco post-acquisition by Cisco. Recognized as one of the CRN 50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs for 2025, Gretchen shares her unique perspective on steering major tech organizations like Splunk, Cisco, and Microsoft with a focus on ecosystem collaboration, digital resilience, and a purpose-driven mindset. This episode promises to equip you with strategies for navigating complex organizations and insights into the necessity of agility and authenticity in today’s fast-paced tech world.
Join us as we uncover the power of partner centricity and how adopting a partner-first culture leads to success. With compelling anecdotes from her leadership journey, Gretchen delves into the importance of understanding customer needs, fostering empathy, and maintaining authenticity to build strong partnerships and trust. You'll also hear her thoughts on flexible work environments, the emphasis on outcomes over rigid schedules, and how these approaches contribute to both personal and professional success. Dive into Gretchen's inspiring journey through major companies and learn what it truly takes to lead with adaptability and authenticity in the dynamic tech landscape.
#Splunk #Ideagen #GLS2025
Gretchen's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gretchen-ohara/
Learn more about Splunk here: https://www.splunk.com/
View the entire 2024 Global Leadership Summit here: https://www.ideagenglobal.com/2025globalleadershipsummit
Welcome to IdeaGen TV live from Washington DC here today with the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Channels and Alliances at Splunk Cisco, gretchen O'Hara. Gretchen welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. It's so great to see you.
Speaker 1:We have the dream team back together here in Washington to talk about all of the incredible work that's happening at Splunk Cisco, now that Splunk has been acquired by Cisco. So I want to make sure we state it properly.
Speaker 2:Perfect. No, that's great.
Speaker 1:And so, gretchen, I want to first start by saying congratulations. Congratulations on being named among the crn 50 most influential channel chiefs for 2025, which was recently announced.
Speaker 2:What an incredible accomplishment thank you, george, thank you so much. No, I'm really proud of that and it's it's really based on the team. Yeah, obviously it's. You know, you can only be as good as the team that you have built around me, and I have a fabulous organization and I feel very lucky about that.
Speaker 1:Yes, you do, and it's also important to note that you were named last year as well, which is quite remarkable and is a testament to your incredible leadership. And, that said, there's such a fast-paced evolution in the channel.
Speaker 2:I'd love to hear, for our global audience, what it is that you are seeing from your leadership vantage point in this area yeah, so I think that, um, there is, there is a lot going on, and when you think about technology channels, you're talking really about lots of different partners with different business models that are part of an ecosystem, and I think that one of the things that is really significant significant is we are shifting, as a technology sector, out of a particular channel to realize that in the world of cloud and the world of AI and the world of digital resilience which every customer, every partner has to understand, which is how do they make sure that their organization, customers are secure from threats, threat actors, bad actors, et cetera.
Speaker 2:And that takes an ecosystem, takes a village. We talk about cross-sector partnerships and the important thing in the tech sector and the thing that I've been really pushing on is it takes a village. It's not one particular person that is going to create and help and build digital resilience of the customer. It is going to be a lot of people across a lot of different areas and they work differently. They have different business models on how they approach things, but it's those cross partnerships in the ecosystem that gets us across the line, and you're going to see more and more companies like Splunk and Cisco really change to. We're going to go and approach customer centricity first and we're going to surround that customer with lots of different partners and we're going to embrace that and I am very excited about that because it's something that I think in my business has been very focused on a particular type of partner and a particular type of how you'll go to market and the realization in the cloud is you need that village, you need that ecosystem. So lots of change.
Speaker 1:Well, there's no smarter or more effective leader than you in this industry. You spent many years I'll say many years at Microsoft.
Speaker 2:You're trying to date me.
Speaker 1:No, but you were at Microsoft at one of the most transformative moments. Yes, you had the privilege of working with so many and they had the privilege as well of working with you. So many CEOs and leaders there, yes, and now channel chief at cisco splunk. How, gretchen, do you navigate these companies?
Speaker 2:how, what?
Speaker 1:does that look like?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think one of the things that you know, I have found, is that companies of that size, you know, bring a lot of natural complexity. Everyone has an individual agenda. Every particular group might have what they believe is their priority, and so how do you then navigate through all the complexity to get anything done Right? That's bureaucracy, you know. You see it in everything. As you get bigger and bigger, more people, more process, you know the agility and being nimble starts to become more challenging. And I think one of the things that both Splunk and Microsoft have done really well is how do we cut through this complexity and this bureaucracy so that we can be agile in the market? Because the reality is in technology, it's always changing. It's always changing right. So you've got to be very nimble to respond to market conditions, to different things that are happening, and if you're stuck in the muck, you know you never get there and you lose that first mover advantage. And so back to your question, george, on like, like. Then how do I do it?
Speaker 2:I think the very first thing that I always look at is okay, what is our purpose?
Speaker 2:What are we trying to do collectively?
Speaker 2:And then I really set a high bar and essentially bring everyone to the table aligned to really a you, really a mission driven purpose, and we get really clear on what ultimately everyone's sort of component in that big flywheel, the cog that you play.
Speaker 2:And when we get alignment like that, you can go really fast. And I think Microsoft's a great example of that. And turning to you know the work on AI Splunk has been incredible on that and recognizing that you know it was a software company and needed to move to the cloud. So when you can all align what the biggest, biggest purpose is, we can all sort of walk and fly in formation, not quilting any great ideas, but now you're coming to the table all aligned on something bigger than yourselves, and I think that is really the key that I have found to success is don't lose your authenticity, don't lose your perspective and point of view, but think bigger than yourself, think bigger than what your mission is and be clear on, ultimately, what we're trying to do holistically in the company, and then people move much faster around that well and you've navigated that so incredibly well.
Speaker 1:And I recall when you were at microsoft not so long ago there was something called the growth mindset that satya and everybody in the company sort of espoused, and I think that's what you're talking about right yeah, that's the growth mindset.
Speaker 2:That's exactly right.
Speaker 1:Continue to grow, and so Splunk was recently acquired, as we said, by Cisco for $2 billion, third largest software deal 32 billion. Yeah, 32 billion, I'm corrected 32 billion, not 2 billion.
Speaker 2:32 billion, that's a slightly different number A little bit of a different number.
Speaker 1:The yes. What is the leadership style that you're now employing to help you navigate the transition, because it's never easy? I mean, you're transitioning an entire company into another company, so what does that look?
Speaker 2:like. Yeah, I would say a lot of acquisitions will fail. Being at Microsoft and working on acquisitions the other direction now I have the privilege to be the one that's being acquired and a lot fail. And there's a couple of reasons why. First can be culture, and if you have very different sort of set of culture, that people reject the culture and you know, you start to go there. So the first thing that becomes really important is okay, what again are we trying to aspire to? Be holistically at Cisco? What does that look like? And then, if that means, look, we acquired Splunk because it is going to be the growth engine for the future, then let's look at what is the culture that we need to have, what is the growth mindset we need to demonstrate to go after the biggest goal and not be afraid of what is that going to look like to you in your organization or even as an individual?
Speaker 2:If you lead and lead the team through with a broader purpose, uh, listening becomes absolutely key and active listening becomes key and collaborating, as you know, and the whole one of the purpose of idea gen is collaboration and I think when people have fear, when people aren't clear on, you know what they're trying to do as a bigger, uh sort of bigger than themselves. Um, you drive a fear-based culture in those acquisitions and two things normally happen. Either the company that's getting acquired just says, mea culpa, I'll just do what we need to do at this point. Or you see massive attrition of very incredible talent and both of those situations are not good. So that becomes like active listening, coaching my organization to meet in the middle, understand that there's going to be things we have to work through, but not really killing everyone's idea of what that growth looks like, but having a growth mindset of like, okay, what does one plus one equal three? Like how do we be bigger than ourselves coming together to really get after what is the big goal? Not an individual team or an organization or even a cross organization, and so that's kind of really the key.
Speaker 2:It's really, it's sounds simple, it's really hard. It's really hard and it always has been, because it's. Unless a company is acquiring just for the technology, the ip of the technology, you have people, and people are what make that organization uh amazing. It's the talent, the developers, it's the marketing that explains what you do. It's the channel that I run, um, you, it's the channel that I run. You know it's the operations, it's finance. Again, you know the idea behind it is sounds very simple, but you've got to break through the fear. You've got to have courage to believe in what we're trying to do and you've got to talk to each other.
Speaker 1:And you've got to talk to each other. I think what I've picked up from everything you just said is that it's all about people in the end, isn't it?
Speaker 2:it is.
Speaker 1:It's all about people whether you're talking about government or you're talking about the private sector or you're talking about ngos without people, nothing's happening, and the fact that you're helping to drive the integration of Splunk into Cisco is why it will be successful, because you understand the culture, you understand the process and you understand the people. Yeah, so that's a big part of why I'm so excited that you're there and you're helping to integrate this company into Cisco, and why it will be and is successful.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's. It's a very exciting time, lots of change, but the other just tip just from leadership, or your leadership is. I just encourage everyone to embrace change, because change is the only thing that's constant and people that resist change and resist change ultimately uh you know sort of lose out on the opportunity ahead. So you know and I think that's a life, it goes beyond business about, beyond acquisitions it's like there will be change in your life. There will be change in your life every day. Do you fight it or do you embrace it to make yourself better? And you got to make yourself better and you got to get over the fear. And it's hard again, easy to say, hard to do, and I recognize that. I work on myself every day on that.
Speaker 1:Make yourself better. I love that. That's sort of my personal mantra Make yourself better. I love it.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 1:And so you've been a channel leader blank 20 something years. So I won't get into that because of you know noting numbers here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I started when I was 10.
Speaker 1:That's exactly right. That's what's remarkable A long career.
Speaker 2:What did it feel?
Speaker 1:like at 10 years old, to be starting on this journey. But what is your channel philosophy, gretchen? What is that philosophy? We've heard a lot about it, but you've brought it forth. Now to this integration, this $32 billion acquisition. That's just incredible. But what is your philosophy around that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think there's a couple of things. First of all, partnerships are a force multiplier, and I think we're going to hear across all of the different panelists, uh, this week that, uh, when you come together, you can only do so much alone. It becomes a force multiplier when you do that partnership and in technology it's absolutely no different you can't get and continue to grow if you don't have partnerships that are going to help take you along the way and ultimately get to new places. So that becomes really important, as partners are a multiplier. The second thing that I always bring in is partner centricity, and what I mean by that is we always focus on the customer. What the customer needs always very important.
Speaker 2:But then how do we actually make these partnerships successful?
Speaker 2:What is the experience that they are having? How do they do business easier with a company like Splunk and Cisco? And then, ultimately, how do we ensure that they are betting on us and profitable in the business they're driving? So they pick on Splunk. They said you know what? I'm going to invest people, I'm going to invest time, I'm going to invest education, I'm going to be the best to the customer, but if I'm losing money, then at some point I kind of have to give up on that partnership. So part of profitability becomes an absolute pillar for me when I think about that, because again in life if you're not doing well, if you're not actually in business side being profitable, then ultimately they're going to abandon you. And so those are the things that I try and drive.
Speaker 2:And then we talked about culture, george, the last thing I always bring, and it just depends on the company, but I also bring what's called a partner first culture, not necessarily partner led, which a lot of companies have, which means like I ultimately fulfill my stuff through a channel partner. When I say partner first, that means when we think about anything in the company, whether we think about what the technology looks like, how they interact with us, how we price and pricing strategy with the negotiation with the customer looks like, we're thinking about the partner all through the life cycle, not just at the end when it's time to actually do a transaction. So it's one of the things that I brought to Splunk, it's one of the things that you know I brought to Splunk, it's one of the things that you know I'm working really well with Cisco and how they're thinking about their own channel transformation, and I think it's a really important thing on the culture for the company.
Speaker 1:And you've heard the global audience that will watch this program just heard leadership lessons around having the partner be first, and so I'd like to end this incredible interview. We can go on for days, for sure. Gretchen, what are some of your life lessons? We've heard elements of the life lessons throughout this interview, but what are those key life lessons that you would like to share with our global audience today?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you know I started as a leader, george, and I thought that you know, the harder you were on people, the more you drove people, you know, the better you would be, and that was such a flaw in that. And I think the biggest life lesson for me has been as I matured as a leader over time. I was a leader very early in my career Again, you mentioned this, George, and it's my very first pillar and it's a life lesson, which is it's about the people. If I don't have the people on board, trusting each other, building a culture of trust, building a culture that we can be vulnerable together, building a culture where we support everyone to be better, ultimately, if you don't think about the people, you will not be successful.
Speaker 2:So, in any organization I lead, I always start with the people and my life lesson has been that it has to be with empathy and that's my biggest life lesson. You know I evaluate a lot of my, I would say, maturity as a leader and I evaluate a lot of leaders today and one of the things that you know for me has been I need to reach out to the people. I need to understand how they're feeling, I need to know what the challenges they might be taking. It could be home, it could be with family, it could be with friends, it could be with work, it could be with another colleague. Whatever that is, I have to step in their shoes and help, support, navigate ultimately where they go. And so I think, to wrap this all in a bow, george, I think my biggest life lesson is really changing my leadership style to one of empathetic leadership and not feeling as a female leader in a very large organization, as an executive, that I have to be a certain persona that I have to sort of cover on. You know being really hard or, you know, being really driven, because otherwise, you know, no one will take me seriously. And I really had to change that to be my authentic self. And I bring my authentic self every day to every meeting, every partner, customer engagement, and I lead with empathy.
Speaker 2:And I think that works with partners, it works with our customers, customers and, most importantly, it works in the organization that I lead, because people want to want to work together if they know that your leader understands you and understands those situations, because the work will get done. How you get to the work being done, everyone has natural sort of routes. You know and I'm less about. You know you have to work a certain amount of hours or be in the office a certain amount of hours, or what that is, and recognize that life is there and people are navigating challenges every day. Let's focus on the end game, let's focus on getting through to what we want to accomplish and so, um, I have found that I have thrived as I've embraced that life lesson and you know, as you just mentioned, you know it's been very rewarding around recognition in the industry as one of the top 50 across the globe. So, yeah, Gretchen O'Hara.
Speaker 1:Cisco, Splunk, Splunk, Cisco, leading the way leadership defined my friend. Thank you so very much.