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Sonic Wall’s Michelle Regusa McBain Joins Ultimate Guide to Partnering®

Dive into Michelle Ragusa-McBain’s inspiring journey, from her tech career to her advocacy for women in technology and business. Listen as Michelle, SonicWall’s Global Channel Chief, speaks on cybersecurity partnerships, tech career growth, and the evolving role of MSPs. Join her and Vince Menzione as they discuss SonicWall’s innovative partner program and effective cybersecurity strategies. Discover key tips for successful partnerships, overcoming industry challenges, and setting goals for personal and professional success.

In Her Own Words

Michelle Ragusa-McBain is a highly visible thought leader in the global technology channel and serves as Vice President and Global Channel Chief at SonicWall. Her mission is to enable partners to grow and profit with the boundless shift to cybersecurity. 

Entrepreneur Magazine named her as one of the top 4 people to inspire women to pursue a career in Tech; SMB Magazine recognized her as one of the 150 most influential people in the global IT Business Community. CRN named Ragusa-McBain nominee for Women of the Year 2023. CompTIA named her Advancing Women in Technology Leader 2021. Channel Futures awarded her the Circle of Excellence for Channel Leadership & Innovation and the DE&I 101 award, and she was the recipient of the prestigious Cisco Worldwide Innovation and Growth Award.  

Michelle has keynoted the largest and most influential technology conferences globally, including Channel Partners, CRN, CompTIA, IT Nation, and Kaseya. In her free time, she is a passionate advocate for Women, Diversity, and Inclusion in Technology.  Michelle serves as Chair Emeritus of Advancing Women in Technology for CompTIA, sat on the board of CRN’s Women of the Channel, is Co-Founder of Tech Worlds Half non-profit; a longstanding member of the National Women in Technology Group and most recently serves as Florida Leader for Alliance of Channel Women. 

In her free time, she loves spending quality time with her husband, daughters Brooklyn and Cali, and ever-growing  fur kids, including Husky, Auggie-Doggy,  Calico Kitten, Luna-Meow, and fish Strawberry and Blueberry.  She loves volunteering and giving back to various organizations, including the American Heart Association and Ronald McDonald House. She is a passionate wanderlust who loves traveling the world with her family, 90 countries to date, and all seven continents! 

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What You’ll Learn

I am thrilled to welcome you into a world of unparalleled insights, best practices, and essential information designed to unlock your full potential as a partner and propel you towards your most ambitious goals.

Our journey began nearly seven years ago with a vision to empower partners in the complex world of tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and AWS. Today, Ultimate Partner is a beacon dedicated to revolutionizing your Cloud Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy and fostering ecosystem-led growth through this experience platform, including digital and live events, advisory services, and much more.

In an era defined by tectonic shifts, such as the global pandemic, economic headwinds, and the rise of AI, the role of hyperscalers has become increasingly critical. With investments of billions of dollars in ecosystems, technology, and customer acquisition costs, they have secured over $200 billion in customer commitments to durable cloud budgets. We stand on the precipice of a marketplace moment where simplifying and streamlining economic models associated with co-selling and ecosystem-led growth will shape the decade ahead.

Yet, as vendors and organizations demand more from us while resources diminish, we ask, “Where do we go? How do we navigate these seismic shifts? How do we thrive during this decade of the ecosystem?”

If you’re a partner, you’re likely grappling with these questions. The watering holes of the past no longer offer the guidance required to transform into a Cloud GTM and embrace ecosystem-led growth. That’s why Ultimate Partner exists – to be your trusted compass amidst the noise.

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Transcription – by Otter.ai – Expect Many Typos

Ultimate Guide to Partnering – Michelle Ragusa-McBain

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

partners, sonicwall, organisation, programme, people, great, important, ultimate guide, channel, years, career, vendors, love, michelle, business, support, grandmother, partnerships, acquisition, listening

SPEAKERS

Vince Menzione, Michelle Ragusa-McBain

Vince Menzione  00:00

Do you want to hear from a global channel chief, leading the transformation of a legacy Channel programme into a force in the cybersecurity space? Do you want to know how this person didn’t take no for an answer and propelled her career as an award winning woman in the channel? And are you interested in the opportunities ahead? As we each prepare for success in 2024, then you’ve come to the right place. This is the ultimate guide to partnering the top partnership podcast. In this podcast, Vince Menzione, a proven partner sales executive shares his mission to help leaders like you achieve your greatest results through successful partnering. And now your host Vince Minzy. Welcome to or welcome back to The Ultimate Guide to bartering. I’m Vince menzi on your host and today, I will. Michelle Regua McBain is the global channel chief at SonicWALL, a leader in the cybersecurity space, and Michelle and I have an engaging conversation in this world of technology partnerships, channels and ecosystems. Michelle also shares her insights into her exciting role and Sonic walls evolution within the channel. We also discuss her career journey, and how never saying no help propel her path to this amazing success in her career. I hope you enjoy and learn from this discussion as much as I enjoyed welcoming my friend Michelle Regua. McBain Michelle, welcome to the podcast.

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  01:45

Thank you, Vince, I’m so happy to be here with you today.

Vince Menzione  01:49

I am so excited. You know we could, you and I were having a little bit of a conversation just before we got started today. So we have a really great working relationship. We’ve known each other for a long time. And I’m so excited to welcome you as a guest on Ultimate Guide to partnering. You’re the global channel chief at SonicWALL, a leader in the cybersecurity space. So I’m really excited for our conversation today.

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  02:13

I’m delighted. Yeah, I’m really excited also to be a part of SonicWALL. It’s a great place to be. Yeah.

Vince Menzione  02:20

we’re gonna dive in on that. So you know, you and I know each other for quite some time. We’ve been on stage at the same time. In fact, same events. I bumped into your husband every once in a while. We’ll talk more about that at some point you do it looks, it looks like he might be travelling from now. Occasionally you’re both travelling for the one or two people that don’t know you. I thought maybe we’d start there. Right. Tell us a little bit more about you, Michelle, and the exciting role that you have at SonicWALL. Sure.

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  02:56

Well, I am really excited. I’ve been in the technology channel for about 20 years, always working with partners. I began in about 2005 as an engineer in a global Academy with Cisco. And I was there for many years. For 12 years I did a lot of different roles at that time working in commercial enterprise telco, public sector, public sector, state local education, and distribution. So I thought I did all of the things I do and took a different opportunity. I pivoted and I went to Office Depot during the CompuCom acquisition, there were two companies that were thought of to go bankrupt that year. It was Office Depot and Toys R Us and we know what happened at Toys R Us. So I was happy to be a part of a transformation. I thought that was very exciting. And really helping to lean in and pivot up traditional brick and mortar retail into tech services was really something very exciting for me. After that I went on to consult for a few years with the JSW group and I love that I got to work with incredible vendors and distributors. And then I returned to Cisco for a few years where I led the global SMB MSP mission. And now I am at SonicWALL for about eight months now, which is good news that happened fast. And I am very happy I started as their North American channel chief four months later, I was promoted to the global channel chief and I get to work with an incredible leadership team many of which have been there many years my my boss or CRO Jason Carter has been at the company for 17 years, which is incredible. Our CEO Bob and Kirk were co-CRO and now CEO. So we have two really passionate long term people leading the company leading the ship and a team that is very diverse. We have new hires, Spencer Stark, he’s leading a mia we have devashish Who’s in a PJC we have Oscar, who’s now leading Last time, we have just an incredible group of people that are new, bringing different diverse thoughts and perspectives. We have a new cmo and a new head of product. So Christine Bartlett and Shandra. Prasad. So all around you mix people that have been at SonicWALL, 1020 30 years, with people that are very new and different. And bringing those two worlds together, we have a lot of love. We’re 100% channel vendor. So all of our work goes through the channel, and we love our partners.

Vince Menzione  05:30

love that. First of all, you talk about the huge legacy, right? You have leaders there that have been there. 17 plus years, right. So the legacy of the business understanding the business that’s deep. And then as you said, the diversity new new fresh faces, new fresh minds coming into the organisation. I love that infusion of the to that inclusiveness of the organisation. You mentioned it, this huge legacy in the channel, right. I think the number was 10,000 partners that I read. But now you’ve been on a tear, right? 17,00?

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  06:00

Yeah, 17,000

Vince Menzione  06:02

borders. Okay. You’re now in. And you’re new. Ron, congratulations on your role. Wow, is it first of all, is eight months, it doesn’t even seem like it’s been a month since you that you announced that you were going to SonicWALL. And now taking over global. Eight months went by this year went by fast we’ll jump in there a little bit to

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  06:22

get the faster it goes. You have to cherish every moment especially?

Vince Menzione  06:26

Absolutely. So tell me about what you’re doing with the programme. I am seeing that you’re reimagining the programme. What do you hope to achieve in 2024? With the new programme?

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  06:36

Yeah, great, great question. So we, we did what we call outside in and what does that mean? It really just means, you know, a lot of vendors, they operate in a vacuum, they launch something and they wait for anticipation of results. After the launch. They didn’t seek feedback, they didn’t seek input. And sometimes things fail that way. Right. So when Bob took over our CEO, he spent a year really doing outside in and encouraging every single member of the ELT down to the, you know, highest and lowest ranks of the organisation to get out there. seek feedback. So, in the last, you know, several months, we’ve been to close to 60 events around the world. We’ve done a lot of quarterly business reviews, we’ve met on site with new and future partners, asking what works, what doesn’t? How can we innovate? How can we make you more successful and more profitable? How can we be easier to do business with what do you need from a vendor or SonicWALL to really drive your success. So in that conversation in those thoughts, we had a lot of good feedback, a lot of good discussion. So our new secure first programme, that’s the first time we’ve really changed it in the last eight years post del release, we were owned by delta post acquisition, and now we are private equity backed. So we have a brand new programme that’s really exciting. A lot of our silver partners are being promoted to gold gold partners are being promoted to platinum, we’re reducing the rebate threshold so more partners can earn incentives and drive their business with us. We’re also accruing MDF. So if you do business with us, and you’re strategic, we want to co brand co market who innovate with you and put money back into your organisation so that you can do great things with us by your side helping to support you. In addition to that, we have our MSP programme. And we have merged the two so that a lot of our partners now whether your customers choose to procure an end product, or they want recurring revenue, monthly payments, Pay As You Go cancel any time billing in arrears. Either way, we have a plan for you. And we can earn points. So regardless of how your customers are choosing to procure, you’re going to get those benefits, and you’re going to earn up the ranks of our pyramid in our partner programme with us. And then we have some great acquisitions that we’ve made recently. So one of the ones that was most exciting in the managed service provider space was the acquisition of solutions granted, so having an MDR solution that we can help. There’s about 83,000 MSPs in the world, and they don’t all want to be mssps, although majority of them are selling security in some way, shape, or form. And so how can we help you stand up a practice that does MDR cloud readiness, evaluation, vulnerability assessments, all of the things that we know it’s not if but when a cyber attack is going to happen? And it could be the end to a small to medium business 60% of small to medium businesses that are attacked in cyber breaches go out of business. So this is people’s livelihoods. It’s their By the way, they put food on their table and pay for their children’s education and keep the lights on for their business and their employees. We want to keep them safe. We want to keep our partner safe. And so we’re really looking to continue to invest in that acquisitions around sassy and zero trust, and really exciting portfolio that is going to really lean into making this a new dawn for SonicWALL. And for our partners.

Vince Menzione  10:24

I love the energy of what you’re doing. First of all, the listening to her so important to listen to your partners. I wish more organisations did more of that. And then it seems like you’ve tailored the programme to to or stratify the programme in such a way that you’re solving for each individual group of partners, each constituency group and said, Oh, I’m hearing.

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  10:43

Yes. And really, instead of dividing it, it we’re really trying to bring it more together. Because a lot of times if you say how much of your portfolio, like you see a lot of companies are going towards a subscription consumption, recurring revenue model. A lot of vendors, Cisco, HPE, Dell, Lenovo, many, many vendors are now looking at recurring revenue. So a lot of MSPs. Well, a lot of traditional VARs, 73% of them say they want to be MSP 83% of those MSP. So they want to be mssps. So we’re living, we’re living in a transformation. And you know, post COVID Every company is a technology company right now. So every vertical needs help, right? Even though they want to utilise technology, they want to implement it, they want to design it, they are not all experts in it. So they were they rely and depend on virtual CIOs and trusted advisors, which are these MSPs that are going to help keep them up and running and safe and protected, and give them peace of mind. And so there’s a lot of noise and clutter in the in the space, because there’s a lot of conflicting priorities. But for me, it’s all about the partners, if we know what their needs are, and we can help provide them not only the right products and technologies, but the right support the right enablement, the right ability for them to scale their business, then I think that will be mutually successful. And that’s very important.

Vince Menzione  12:09

Bringing your depth of expertise into the organisation, I think has been invaluable to SonicWALL. What are you seeing? We’ve talked, we’ve talked a little bit about this right, the greatest opportunities, what about the threats that we’re seeing is we’re kicking in now into 2024?

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  12:24

Yeah, we do a great. We have over a million sensors around the world in 215 countries and territories over 32 years. So we collect a lot of data. And we’re using this data, AI, machine learning predictive analytics to really foresee what is happening in the threat landscape. And we’ve seen some really interesting things in our recent Security Threat Report, which I’m happy to share if anyone wants or you can Google it. But I would highly recommend reading it because it’s important to see what’s happening. Because if you’re aware, you can defend against it. And some of the high level things that I’ve seen, we had a decline of ransomware. So about a year ago, I think I was on stage right after you. And I did my my speech. And one of the things I said is every 14 seconds there was a ransomware attack. It was very telling at that time. Well, we’ve seen a 41% decline of ransomware. However, there was a rise in April, May in June. So it couldn’t be back. It could be coming resurging and back on an incline. So be aware of that. But we did see a rise in crypto jacking by 399%. So I believe that cyber criminals we believe that cyber criminals are trying to go more into the shadows, it’s a little bit of a longer process. But there’s a lot more discretion that’s involved in that there’s infinite mining that can occur. So there’s a lot of possibility of wealth very quickly, very secretly. And in addition to that, you know, people were really looking down on cybercriminals. So there are things that you can go on the dark web, and you can buy ransomware as a service, the criminal cyber hackers are getting much more crafty, but they also prey upon the vulnerabilities of those in need. How many people got a link during COVID? Listen, I’m sorry, your package has been delayed due to COVID. And it was very easy for people at that time to be susceptible to things right. In addition to that, one of the things that we saw that was very threatening, you know, the war with Russia and Ukraine or, or Hamas and Israel, like people will take advantage of timely political situations they would you like to support a family. Click here to learn more donate or what have you. And so in these situations, there’s a bunch of people that were not technical, that are now technical are forced to be in some way, shape or form. And you know, you’re only as good as your weakest link. So phishing attacks are also on the rise, malware attacks, IoT malware and In the verticalization, right? Again, state, local education and government are under siege, like those were the two biggest areas that were hit. And a lot of times, I would say we did a great webinar on E trade opportunities and how to recession proof your business because we know we’re facing economic headwinds. There’s political instabilities, there’s, you know, China’s reset, you know, it kind of economics are going down, which impacts the world. And so in these changing landscape, your business model has important and schools are being attacked, this is a really important place to keep our children safe. And there was a great, a great webinar that somebody provided, and they said, you know, they went in and they tried to breach a bunch of teachers, they just said, Hey, can you give me your password, and seven out of the 10, teachers just handed it over, right? And so this is an example of how we need to really be on guard and protect the vulnerable during these challenging times.

Vince Menzione  16:00

Well, you brought up education, I like you, I also spent time in the public sector space. And in on the Microsoft side alone, there are 60,000 academic licences. So that’s how many licenced so many licenced customers Microsoft has in that space, and the sift the lack of sophistication in those organisations to your point, you know, there’s a lot of its do it yourself. So they are so vulnerable, because they don’t have the sophistication of a bigger organisation that locks them down, right. And they buy a lot of different software, and they cobble things together. And there’s a lot of holes in that. It’s crazy. Zero

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  16:35

trust is there for a reason, gives zero checks, the people.

Vince Menzione  16:41

It’s scary the level of threats. And again, I being where I was before, I got to see and witnessed some of the being in the room and some of these more sensitive conversations, we’ll call them. But it we really all have to protect ourselves any advice really just for users that you want to share? What we all should be doing along along the lines of securing ourselves?

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  17:04

Yeah, I think that the most important thing is to get a vulnerability assessment to see where your risks are, I would also highly recommend if you haven’t already talking to an expert in the cybersecurity insurance space, because we know that these threats are imminent, and you don’t want you know, you go to an expert who has superpowers for a lot of things, right? I wouldn’t go to somebody who had limited expertise on something that was so important, like there are nice to haves and there are need to have. And this is some of the things that are in need to have. So where are some of the gaps? How do you continue to train even your own workforce? Regardless of the position, right, we know that our technicians are going to be very technical, but our administrative assistants are gatekeepers? Do they have understanding? Can they help train those people within the world that exists that you’re supporting? On those really pivotal things? And then how do you protect yourself? You’ve been breached? What’s your incident response plan? How do you recover? How do you have your disaster backup? If you do get a ransomware attack? Do you negotiate with a terrorist, right? There’s a lot of pro con, but you have to go through all of these kinds of permutations and combinations of of possibilities in order to be protected. So we have a great vulnerability assessment in our solutions granted team, but there’s others out there as well. And I recommend just talking to somebody so you feel safe. And you’re prepared.

Vince Menzione  18:36

You know, you mentioned backup and recovery. So critical to you know, dealing with these ransomware attacks, right, the ability to get back up on your feet, if you’re so chosen to be attacked. But we could go on for a long time here. But you know, Michelle, this is the ultimate guide to partnering right? And so we do focus in on the art and science because it’s both an art and science around partnering. So I asked all of my guests this question, what do you see from the best partnerships? You’ve been around this space for quite some time, even though you’re still very young, but 17 years? What do you see from the best partnerships? What do you see from the best of the best?

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  19:16

Yeah, I think this is probably the easiest question for me. Because I believe that relationships are still that immortal principle and foundation of people buy from people they like, people they know and people they trust. And that sort of that old adage people buy from people they like it never really changed. But in order for you to, to have that relationship to earn somebody’s trust is it takes a lot of time. It’s not an instantaneous go to a show one time we tell them what we do. We have a lot of bells and whistles and we leave. It’s a lot of conversations and it’s a lot of development. It’s a lot of understanding what’s what are their customers like what’s important for them. What verticals are their specialised in what geography? Do they specialise in? What help do they need? Do they need more marketing help? Do they need more training and certification help? Do they need more money help how everybody’s different, and everybody’s at a different age or stage of their development. And for me the best relationships, and I use the story, I love the story. And I’m going to give a shout out to my friend, Rob Ray, who is now at PAX eight. But we we joke that Rob has had a beer with every MSP in the world, I’m pretty confident he is true. I don’t think it’s a false. He’s a legend and a legend. And I joked with my Canadian husband that I’m not sure which is my favourite Canadians. But I will say, we were at a bar at a hotel lobby bar where I think most of the relationships and conversations happen in the IT channel and on a napkin at two in the morning. And I was talking to a partner and Rob offered him a beer. And they said, Oh, at the time, Rob was with Daddo. And I said, Are you a Datto partner? And the partner said, No, but I feel like I should be Rob’s always so nice and kind. And he’s been buying me beers for the last 12 years, you’d like and I said the story to rob after and Rob said, it’s all about the long game. And I laughed, because it’s true. It’s it’s a relationship that’s watered and happened over collective periods of time, that allows us to really nurture and grow like I would say, the grass is greener, where you water it, right. And I think that if you invest in it over time that it develops, and it builds. And I do believe that that’s part of the reciprocal, the reciprocal nature of listening and learning, because it can’t be one sided, I don’t ever want to pitch at customers and partners, I don’t ever want to force my products are my, my, my vendor on them. I want to make sure that they understand I understand their needs, and that I can associate how we can help them. And that’s where I think we build trust.

Vince Menzione  22:00

I love that. I love that. And it is for the long game, right? I mean, I think back on all the things I’ve done over the years and the people that you know, I built up so many great relationships over 20 plus years, right? And they they come back into your life and one form or another over time, right we shoot I believe in that reciprocity, so bridge.

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  22:25

Again, that’s my life rule. You never know. So some people are short sighted, but you’ll have to think about the long term.

Vince Menzione  22:32

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Michelle Ragusa-McBain  24:05

I’ve been a part of other organisations, different organisations that that use, let’s say, words, but not actions, if you will. So say I say I’m listening to you, but you’re telling me the same thing five times and nothing changes. Do I really feel? Do you feel that I really listened that I really understood that I that I really wanted to make a difference. So I think it has to be twofold, right? It’s not just the listening part of it. That’s one aspect of it. But it’s the action that happens is a correlation of what you heard. And so that’s why we relaunched our new secure first programme. That’s why we took two different programmes and merge them together. That’s why we made the acquisitions that we did, because we heard our partners. That’s why we’re making the integrations that we’re making and that we’re connecting with the RMS and PSAs and born in the cloud distributors and all the things that are important to our partners to The simple and easy to do business with SonicWALL. That’s why we’re enhancing and really changing rapidly. Our our roadmap, our technology roadmap, because we heard you and we, we heard what you love, and we heard what you need. And I think those are the things that are very important. It’s not just one sided. But But beyond that. I also think that some people just say things I learned very early on very early on, it’s okay not to know the answer. It’s okay to have to not have the answer. I think about the movie, the holiday movie Santas in the room. So I have to note him, but a miracle on 34th Street where Macy’s did not have the product that they need it and they sent them to a competitor. And I think that was a very telling moment, where you say, I may not have everything you need, and that’s okay. But I want to make sure that you have everything you need to be successful. And it’s less about me and more about you. That’s a partnership, we have to help each other. And if I just care about me, then I’m not helping you. Because it’s one sided and selfish. So I do think that the partnerships that fail are the ones that don’t consider or have full transparency or honesty, or or care for the other person in that relationship.

Vince Menzione  26:23

Yeah, I’d like to think about the the I call it a scarcity mindset. And it becomes more like a transaction than a partnership. Yeah. respects?

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  26:33

Yes. And you’ve seen that right? Or they don’t have the right support. They don’t have the right team supporting, I could go and tell you how many partners I go. And I say, Do you know who your channel account manager is that they can identify it if they don’t have somebody supporting them? That’s a problem, right? And even, you know, there’s many different types of models that vendors can have to support partners. And I know there’s so many partners and you have to scale. But it’s really important that they feel the love that they feel the love from the vendor that’s supporting them.

Vince Menzione  27:04

So exciting times at SonicWALL. You’ve got I feel the excitement in the room here. And so for the partners listening today that want to work with you and your organisation, how do they do so?

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  27:16

Well, a few things. First, you could just go to sonicwall.com. Easy peasy. And we have a our secure first programme is there. So if you’re not signed up as an MSP, but your SonicWALL partner, we can do that we can get you signed up, because you don’t want to miss that opportunity. It’s a great programme. And again, it’ll count towards your, your, your levels, your tearing, so you’re going to earn more back if you’re in that programme. In addition to that, if you’re not a SonicWALL partner, we know it’s hard, right? If you’re already invested, and you’ve made a relationship with somebody else, to pick up everything you’ve done and move it over here. That’s a process. And we support that. And we want to encourage that because we know it’s a challenge for you and your team. So we’re doing what we call tear match plus one was that mean? Basically, any partner out there, we don’t care who you’re working with today, we will honour you at the level you are with whatever competitor you’re working with today. So you’re gonna get the exact same discounts, plus one with us. And it doesn’t matter who you’re working with. Of course, you have to show us can’t just tell us, I’m a Platinum Partner, like you have to kind of show us some somehow. But in addition to that, we will grandfather you in, we’ll give you all of the help and support, you need the enablement and training you need to get you up and running and hit the ground running because it would be futile for us to get you in our programme and not help you be successful in transactional as well. So you’re gonna get a lot of support, and grace from our team in order to understand what you need to do. But we want to make sure that you get the right discount that you need. We’re also doing new customer deal, Reg. So if you bring us any new customer, this for new and existing partners, we give you 50% off that deal, we want you to win the opportunity and put SonicWALL in so 50% of the deal. In North America, that might vary globally. But that is our goal, we’re going to make sure that we help you win those new opportunities, and we’re gonna give you the best price points that we can to do.
.

Vince Menzione  29:15

I love it. I love it. And we’re gonna put links in the show notes so people can find you and find links to the organisation. But I’d love to pivot. Michelle, I’m fascinated with the career journey, as you might know. And I’m also fascinated and helping to share with others. How a leader like you got to this incredible spot in your career. You talked a little bit about the journey with us, but I was hoping you can share was there a pivot point? Was there a spark that got you on this path to this incredible role as the global channel chief for SonicWALL? Yeah, honestly,

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  29:49

How far back do I go? I’ve been sharing the story recently and if it’s okay with you, I’ll just take a moment and go backwards and forwards Because I think it’s really important for anyone listening who thinks I can’t do that, or I won’t do that, or I’m not able to do that. And I want everybody listening to know that they have their superpowers, and they can do anything they set their mind to, and that with the right mentorship and champions in support, you can achieve it. I also as a woman in technology for the past 20 years, and very passionate about getting other women and diverse individuals to participate in a career in tech, we’ve had a quarter of women leave careers in technology during COVID. So in a stagnation and a decline of women even entering careers in tech for the last 10 years. So there is a lot of opportunity still left to be had. We all love our careers, we have flexibility, we can go to wonderful locations and meet incredible partners and worked with great team lucrative careers, you know, all of the great things, and yet we’re not able to attract, retain and promote top talent. And diversity, equity. Inclusion is very important to me. So I share this for that story.

Vince Menzione  31:08

That’s important to me as well, by the way.

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  31:10

Thank you and your and your girl dad. Also you have some daughters, right? How many daughters do you have?

Vince Menzione  31:17

No, I have one daughter. I have one daughter. But I’m also passionate about this, this topic and being a male ally as well. And I don’t want to Yeah, so I want I want you to get back to your your spot there.

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  31:29

Yeah no, I love that, honestly, an ally ship is very important, right? If most positions of power are held by men, it’s very important that you have allies and champions that understand and can help support and champion and build a bench to help mentor young women coming early in their careers or getting to that next level. So it’s very, very pivotal. I thank you for saying that. But basically, my story started with my grandmother and my grandfather and another grandfather who immigrated to America. They were entrepreneurs. I have one Native American grandmother who was born here, but all of the rest emigrated. So I was born in a first generation family, who had, you know, language barriers, socio economic barriers, hardships. My grandfather went to war, my grandmother got sick. My mother and her brothers and sisters went to an orphanage for a few years, my great aunt foster them. So all of these complexities, right, my, my mother married my father, he wasn’t a great guy, she ended up having to leave because he was abusive. And we went to a domestic abuse shelter. There was a lot that, you know, I learned grit and determination and overcoming adversity very early. And I didn’t have mentorship. I didn’t know. I didn’t know anybody who knew anybody who worked in technology, if I’m honest with you. So I didn’t know what I wanted to be. But I was the first in my family to go to college. I was the first to get an MBA. And I was the first to work in technology. And I’ve been here for two decades. And I can tell you that that journey started because of man lumic le still remembers him dearly. He asked me if I could sell him a router. And I said, I don’t know what a router is. But if you teach me, I’ll sell you three of them. And he said, I like your answer. I like you. You’re a good candidate. And he ended up being an area vice president at the time of Cisco. And he told me about their global Academy. And he brought me under his recommendation for this very competitive programme where every seat had 800 people compete for one seat. So it was very challenging. You had to have three phone interviews, if you passed those they flew you out. If and only pass those, they flew you to RTP, North Carolina, we’ve had I’ll call it speed dating interviews, three in person interviews with 50 other people in the room interviewing at the exact same time, a bell would ring you have to get up and go to the next person. And if all six of those people did not vote for you, you did not get the job. And the last interview that five I did great. The last one, he looked at my resume and I’ll never forget because he laughed in my face. And he was like, I don’t think you’re cut out for this. And I was just so blown away. Because I’ve gone this far. I didn’t come this far to only come this far. And I said, I think you’re wrong. Can we complete the interview before he told me what I am and I’m not capable of doing? And he said, Okay, and we went through the interview. And at the end I said, Do you think I’m a good fit for the role? And he said, I think you’re a good fit when you didn’t take no for an answer. And that changed my life. I got my foot in the door pivoted many times. Always with the love of partners though. That was my dream. You know, to one day be a channel chief and for me, mentors like Lou and like Wendy bar and Pat Finn and sales leaders that I had in my career. Were very important to me. And I remember you know, I had Wendy on my podcasts and one time she said, I said, What is your biggest weakness? And she said, I’m not good at math. And I said, you were the channelled chief of Cisco, how is that possible? She goes, I hire Well, I surround myself with people that are good at things that I’m not good at. And I just I learned things from so many mentors, Janet shines, and you know, Nancy hammer thick and wonderful women and men who taught me so many different things throughout my career and kept me here, that I can be a working mom, I can have work life balance, or I’ll call it integration, I can have heart surgery and still come back stronger than ever. So my career has been very interesting. But not exclusive. It just takes the right support system and the right tribe to have your back and to guide you. And to remind you what your superpowers are and why you’re there.

Vince Menzione  35:53

Never take no for an answer. never remember that.

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  35:57

Never, ever. So

Vince Menzione  35:59

inspiring. I love your story. Thank you. And congratulations for your recent recognition for the whip the women of the channel. Thank you. Yeah, so so awesome.

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  36:10

Such an honour. Yes, thank you.

Vince Menzione  36:13

And it’s well deserved. So I have a favourite question. Okay. And this is a favourite of mine, because I think it kind of answers a lot of questions. So we just get to it. You’re hosting a dinner party. And you can invite any three guests from the present, or the past. Some one person actually pick people in the future that they want to invite to this amazing dinner party. And we could talk about where you’re going to host it so we’ll get into that next. But whom would you invite? And why?

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  36:47

You know, I pre read this question, and I thought a lot about it. And over time, so many different people have entered my mind that I’m just you know, enamoured with or fascinated with or, like, you know, inspired by, you know, Oprah Winfrey, Edgar Allan Poe, Jesus. But at the end of the day, for me, the one person that I would really love, because personally, my grandmother was my mentor, my role model that I overcame all the adversity with my mom, who taught me how to become a strong, resilient woman. She passed away one month before I met Jay, my husband, so she never met my husband, and she never met my children, and whatever you believe, but after she passed, I kept seeing a yellow butterfly. So I like to believe that she’s still with me. So I would like to bring together my grandmother and my husband and my children so that they can meet each other because they’re probably the most important people in my life.

Vince Menzione  37:49

I love that. I love that. Where are we gonna host this dinner party?

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  37:52

Oh, well, that’s I didn’t go that far. Let’s see. All the food that my grandmother she she came from Poland. So be great to go to Poland and have some good put on easing capacity.

Vince Menzione  38:07

Sounds like a great dinner. Maybe I’ll come and bring a beverage and come I would love it. Well, that sounds wonderful. It just sounds wonderful. And she, you know, I have a sense that she’s with you as well.

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  38:20

I believe that too. And your mom was I believe our cherished people never leave us I always believe.

Vince Menzione  38:26

Yeah, always. So one last question. Sorry. I can’t believe it’s 2024. Ready? I mean, what happened to 2023?

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  38:35

I don’t know, we blinked.

Vince Menzione  38:39

Like the year just flew by this year. And you know, we’re kind of on the precipice of this new year. And all of us are sitting there going, what do we need to do better or differently? And how do we optimise for success? What advice do you have? For all our amazing listeners of the Ultimate Guide to Partnering on how they can best optimise for success this year?

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  38:57

Yeah, that’s a great question. I think firstly, everyone needs to pause and reboot. Take the time over the holidays over the New Year to relax, rejuvenate, I can’t tell you how many people I meet that are like, I’ve never taken a day of PTO. And I’m like, is that an award that you’re proud of? Like? Are you leading a team that’s just, you know, you need to rejuvenate so find balance and find time to to refuel, to have precious time with those you love yourself. You know your verb kids, whoever it is right, enjoy that time. And then I think it’s important to evaluate reflect on the past year, what worked, what didn’t? How do we what opportunities what would I do differently? What would my partners teams want to see more of less of? And I also like to check in with other people see what their answers are to this maybe a LinkedIn post for those lazy likers out there that are not posting a lot of content, I think it’s a good opportunity for you to evaluate how you’re, you know, defining your brand defining your company and how you’re recruiting feedback. So I think for me, once you have the reflection, then you have to set goals, right? And what do you want to manifest in the year ahead? You have to draw a line in the sand. And maybe those vision boards that people do, I’ve never done one. But I have a goal to do that, and just finding time, but maybe when my time that I rejuvenate, I could do a vision board. And I would say, What do you want to achieve in the next, you know, one year, three years, five years and putting it pen to paper or putting a picture down, and really just for seeing how you want your life to go. I was just reading a Facebook post the other day, and I don’t want to bring it down to this. But somebody said, my, my employee didn’t come into work, we thought he was sick. And we found out that he passed away. He was 60 years old. And so you read stories like this, and it just gave me pause. Because we all think we have so much time. And as somebody who had heart surgery at the age of 39. I can tell you when they put you in under anaesthesia. The last thing you think about is the you know emails that you have to send or the conflicts that you have or the work stresses that you have. You think about what really matters most and the little things in life. There’s really nothing bigger. So if you can reprioritize refocus and just take in those moments and really understand what is it you want to do what are your bucket list items because no time is granted? What do you want to achieve professionally? What do you want to achieve personally, and start working towards those goals because my favourite Native American proverb is pray to God but roll away from the rocks. So keep, you know rowing towards your Northstar and you will achieve it.

Vince Menzione  42:00

I love that. I love that. Michelle, you had been an amazing guest so so great to have you my friend Don Ultimate Guide to partnering and sharing your wisdom with our listeners. It’s wonderful to see you. So wonderful to spend the New Year with you. So looking forward to more together this year here in South Florida and elsewhere. So I’m hoping to see you at other events I know we’re probably going to be on the slated a couple of events this year together.

Michelle Ragusa-McBain  42:26

So I look forward to having Thank you, Vince and to you and to all your listeners Happy New Year. Wishing you love health, happiness, laughter and prosperity and all the best things.

Vince Menzione  42:39
Thanks so much for listening to this episode of The Ultimate Guide to partnering with your host Vince Menzione online at Ultimate Guide to partnering.com and facebook.com/ultimate Guide to partner. We’ll catch you next time on The Ultimate Guide to partnering