About Norma Watenpaugh

Norma Watenpaugh is the founding principal and CEO of Phoenix Consulting Group (www.phoenixcg.com) which provides education and consulting services with expertise in go-to-market strategy, channel and alliance management, and ecosystem development. She was named a Woman of Influence in Silicon Valley by the Silicon Valley Business Journal for her work in advancing best practices in Collaborative Business Relationships and was inducted into the Forbes Business Council, an invitation only community of successful business leaders.

Agile Collaboration – A Better Way to Partner

Or "Seven Steps to a Successful Agile Collaboration" as published in Forbes.com As organizations transform to more digitally savvy business models, I am seeing that it is more than business processes that need rethinking. I believe transformative digital business models require ecosystems of partners and a faster, more responsive way of working within these networks [...]

By |2019-05-04T23:17:24+00:00May 4, 2019|

The Profile of Successful Alliance and Partner Leaders

star performers The role of a partner manager is to enable innovation, growth and competitive advantage through partnerships. That’s quite a tall order and implies quite a skill set to deliver. There are defined skills, aptitudes and attitudes of a highly successful partner manager.  They are skilled at adapting to an ever-changing environment [...]

By |2019-07-24T20:01:21+00:00February 27, 2019|

Better Together – The Ten Ingredients to the Secret Sauce of Successful Partnering

As published in Forbes. com It’s no secret that companies of all sizes are facing some daunting challenges in digital transformation, globalization and the constant pressure to do more with less. More and more companies seek out partners to buffer the impact, gain skills and access innovation. More than half of CEOs, particularly those that [...]

By |2019-01-17T05:00:11+00:00January 16, 2019|

Balancing Trust and Control in Alliance Governance

Governance isn’t exactly the most exciting topic. Yet, it is essential in any partnership. At its heart, governance is a system for managing performance. Most of the partner managers I’ve known that positioned themselves as relationship managers are long gone from the profession, laid off in the one of the last economic downturns. Those who [...]

By |2018-12-04T02:03:35+00:00December 4, 2018|

What Metrics Matter?

When you ask an alliance manager "What metrics matter?", more times than not you will hear revenue, revenue, and revenue. Revenue is the most common yardstick for measuring business value. Yet, a single metric cannot give you the insight necessary to manage all the ingredients required to manage a sustainable business. Many businesses have moved [...]

By |2018-09-15T23:40:37+00:00September 15, 2018|

Phoenix Consulting Group Accepted into Forbes Business Council

Forbes San Francisco Business Council Is an Invitation-Only Community for Successful Business Owners and Leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area San Jose, CA (January 15, 2019) — Phoenix Consulting Group, a consultancy focused on improving the value of collaborative business relationships, has been accepted into Forbes San Francisco Business Council, an invitation-only community for [...]

By |2019-01-23T23:49:32+00:00September 15, 2018|

Value Creating Negotiations – Getting to Win/Win

Partnerships are about creating new value that could not be easily achieved alone. So the focus of negotiations should pivot on partner math 1 + 1 > 3. Your first discovery conversation with a potential partner is usually about how you create more value together. Then, how do you each realize value in the partnership. [...]

By |2018-07-27T18:50:24+00:00July 2, 2018|

Collaborative Innovation and the Role of Alliances

Diversity is an Opportunity to Create Value Innovation takes many forms. We often focus on innovation as technological breakthroughs and indeed those are important to fuel new revenue streams and corporate growth. But there are other forms of innovation which can be just as powerful and just as disruptive to the status quo in creating [...]

By |2018-09-10T17:32:45+00:00May 15, 2018|

Collaboration Bliss

Finding the Right Partner Qualifying the right partner can have an immense impact on the eventual success of a partnership. Too often I’ve seen companies rush into a partner relationship, because “we like those guys!” While chemistry is important in a successful partnership, there has to be the right fit in other dimensions as well. [...]

By |2018-09-11T18:13:52+00:00March 19, 2018|

Are you Ready to Collaborate?

Imagine you have just joined a new high-flying company, leading the partnering organization.  You are full of aspirations and optimism.  This is going to be great!  A nascent partner organization that you can shape and grow to meet the astounding growth potential of this booming market. Then you quickly come to realize that this organization is [...]

By |2018-09-11T18:25:42+00:00March 13, 2018|