At a standing-room only session at the Dell World Global Partner Summit, the Dell Heroes program was launched by Mithu Bhargava, SVP, Global Commercial Presales and Vince Affatati, Director, Global Channel Presales. What is the Dell Heroes program? Well, it connects Partner SEs with Dell’s technology and creates a community for them.
The word “hero” can bring many different examples to mind – some referenced were fictional superheroes, sports heroes or more unassuming leaders like Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa. There was also discussion around technology heroes who are changing the world with technology. With the world dependent on technology like never before, SEs have the opportunity to be technical heroes for customers – leading, enabling and accelerating their businesses.
This program was created for our partners – you are Dell Heroes and we believe in the power of building this community for you to have access to the latest information on products, solutions and technology where you live and work. We’ve heard your feedback that you want something focused on technologists and focused on partners. The Dell Heroes program has three key elements:
- Heroes Exchange: Quarterly events for Partner SEs and Architects featuring Dell technical products features, roadmaps, competitive positioning, solutions and use cases. These are 100% partner focused with the Partner SE in mind – consider it to be a Partner User Group community. They will be hosted at “cool” venues with scientific, historical or cultural significance. These focused technical training events are intended to be complementary to Partner Academy and other training offerings from Dell. And, you’ll have the opportunity to hear more from the Dell Heroes partners: Cisco, Intel, VMware and Brocade.
- Partner Technical Advisory Boards: Semi-annual invite-only events for Partner SMEs and Tech Directors designed for Dell to receive Partner input and advice into programs, products and feature development.
- Partner CTO Summit: An invite-only annual event for Partner CTOs for Partner Executive interaction with Dell product executives.
To support the Dell Heroes launch, one of Dell’s well-known IT heroes was present: Chad Sakac, President, Dell CPSD Division. While he had shed his super hero costume, he’s still a hero at the core who brings deep experience from his days as an SE to his approach to leadership and life. He encouraged the audience to always be curious as SEs and to remember that they practice the art of persuasion, convincing people that technology is cool. Then, a real world hero joined to discuss fearless leadership: Carey Lohrenz, the first fully qualified female naval aviator to fly the F-14 Tomcat in the United States Navy. She shared that operating with purpose, understanding what to focus on and executing with discipline is what enables the ability for a team to achieve extraordinary results. She also said that great teams always embody two qualities: belief and trust. Her final takeaway was for the audience to be brave and take risks because nothing beats experience.
If you want to be extraordinary, be a part of Dell Heroes by contacting us at Dellheroesprogram@dell.com.
