Practice Leading is for emerging and curious practice leaders of Microsoft partner businesses.
I’m Neil Benson and, if you’re anything like me with an unquenchable curiosity and zero tolerance for BS, you’ve come to the right place.
Together we’ll learn from innovators and investors, executives and entrepreneurs, and business leaders and business coaches that have already left their stamp on the world and those that are exploring new and smarter ways building their businesses. Whether it’s ground-breaking innovations, hiring high-performing teams, or the sheer force of will to disrupt our industry, each episode is a masterclass from the trailblazers who have achieved significant success.
Find Practice Leading on YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and learn from the mentors you wish you had earlier in your career.
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#14. This is - probably - the final episode of Practice Leading. I created the podcast to chart my journey growing Superware, the Microsoft partner business I founded in 2020.
But my time at Superware has come to an unexpected end.
A huge thanks to all the guests who joined me for the lessons they shared: Mohamed Mostafa, Joel Lindstrom, Ben Vollmer, Areti Iles, Bob Bell, Edit Kapcari, Kathrine Hogseth, Chris McNulty, Nancie Calder, Lucy Bourne and Ole Gjerde.
Wins and Challenges in Growing a Managed Services Practice (MSP)
Épisode 13
lundi 21 juillet 2025 • Durée 42:45
#13. Ole Gjerde, CEO of TruNorth Dynamics, Ole built a custom software business, before running a managed services business, before running a business applications business so he’s seen run the full gamut of business models.
Ole shared lessons from years of building, merging, and separating MSPs, and why focus and clear division of teams are crucial for success.
We discussed when it’s smart to outsource your own internal technology support for any Microsoft partner, and if you’re going to launch an application support practice or MSP business, how to structure pricing for real client value, and why it’s more important than ever to prioritise transparency and partnership.
KEY LESSONS
Focus is everything: Ole stressed the importance of keeping business lines like managed IT services and business app development truly separate—unless you’re large enough to support dedicated teams and leadership. Otherwise, you risk operational headaches and stunted growth.
Onboarding customers (and their baggage) is tough: Inheriting support for systems built by someone else is inherently challenging. A strong onboarding process is a must to manage the friction and uncover those “skeletons in the closet”.
Designing win-win support models matters: There’s no universal delivery or pricing model. Empower your customers with options, but be wary of making your operations too complex in the process. Striking the right balance can help foster healthier, longer-term partnerships.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Security concerns of a fully remote business
00:29 Neil Benson introduces Practice Leading and today’s themes
02:32 Ole Gjerde’s journey from IT services through MSPs to business applications
04:18 Is it a bad idea to combine managed services and a business apps practice?
06:20 Deciding what should be covered by your MSP offering
Building Diverse and Empathetic Leadership with Areti Iles
Épisode 4
lundi 10 mars 2025 • Durée 37:58
#4. Today I'm learning from Areti Iles. She's the Head of Professional Services for Enterprise Applications at Telefonica Tech in the UK. Having started in technology with end-user organisations transitioned into consulting in 2016 and joined Telefonica Tech in 2021. She's active in her local user group community, and committed to helping others advance their career, especially women and people from underrepresented backgrounds.
Areti shares her unique perspective on leadership, broadening it beyond traditional constraints and emphasizing its multifaceted nature beyond just dealing with people. Her insights challenge conventional leadership notions, encouraging a broader understanding of what it truly means to lead.
🔑 KEY LESSONS
Broadened leadership definition: Leadership isn't just about managing a team—it's about influencing and inspiring, often without a formal title. Whether you're steering projects or guiding personal growth, leadership starts with yourself.
Empathy as a core characteristic: While managers might focus on task completion, true leaders invest in creating a supportive, nurturing environment. Empathy plays a crucial role in understanding your team's goals and helping them achieve them.
Diversity drives innovation: Surrounding yourself with diverse talents addresses potential blind spots, fostering better decision-making and innovation. This isn't just a buzzword—it's a strategic advantage.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 The challenge of uncommunicated expectations in promotions
00:38 Welcome to Practice Leading with Neil Benson
02:27 Definition of leadership beyond traditional roles
04:28 Differences between leaders and managers
07:06 The importance of empathy in leadership
13:49 Can missing leadership traits be complemented?
17:08 The role of diversity and inclusion in leadership
The future of pricing models in the Microsoft partner ecosystem with Ben Vollmer
Épisode 3
lundi 24 février 2025 • Durée 32:55
#3. Ben Vollmer is a Senior Vice President at RSM US responsible for growing their Power Factory offering. He is probably best known in the Microsoft community as the former global director of Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Field Service business. Ben’s a prolific presenter at Microsoft conferences with a reputation for helping partners level up their pricing and delivery models.
Ben and I have a fascinating discussion about the evolution of pricing and how Microsoft partners and customers might exchange value. Traditionally, partners have delivered services and charged based a timesheet and a rate card. How is that model changing?
One option we discuss is outcome-based pricing, but do customers really want outcome-based pricing? There are challenges here too.
We also pull apart the user-story point estimation and pricing approach that Superware uses.
And, we ask whether blended teams are necessary for success and how customers should eventually assume full ownership of the applications partners build.
KEY LESSONS
The Evolution of Pricing Models. The conversation delves into the shift from traditional time-based pricing to outcome-based pricing and other innovative pricing models. Ben offers a deep dive into how pricing can both reflect and drive a company's culture and strategy. While value-based pricing presents opportunities, implementing it successfully remains a challenge.
Empowering Customers. Ben emphasizes the importance of customer empowerment and enablement. He suggests that partners need to focus on training and ensuring clients have the knowledge to manage applications independently post-deployment. As Neil Benson notes, building empowerment capabilities could be a key area of growth for Superware, aligning with the need for blended teams and client self-sufficiency.
Focusing on Micro Verticals. Ben advises honing in on micro vertical segments — niche markets where tailored solutions can bring significant value. This focus allows for streamlined implementations, enhancing client satisfaction and business predictability.
What's your "Why?" for becoming a leader? with Joel Lindstrom
Épisode 2
lundi 10 février 2025 • Durée 31:37
#02. Today I'm learning from Joel Lindstrom. Joel is a senior director at Hitachi Solutions America, where he oversees the Power Platform, Low-Code and Automation team. Before joining the Microsoft channel as a solution architect with Customer Effective, Joel sold office equipment. Customer Effective was acquired by Hitachi Solutions seven years later, and Joel has been building his career there for over a decade. Joel has a long history with the Microsoft MVP program and he also played a pivotal role in giving Neil a break in podcasting back in 2017.
KEY LESSONS
Defining Leadership Goals: Joel emphasizes the importance of understanding why you want to be a leader. It's not just about the impressive title or the increased salary; it's about embracing the additional responsibilities and making a positive impact on your team.
Managing Yourself First: Before taking on a leadership role, Joel advises assessing your personal habits and time management skills. Can you manage your own mindset and health effectively? These are crucial skills for managing a team.
Empowering Your Team: One of Joel's greatest joys in leadership is seeing his team members succeed. He believes in the power of nurturing talent and celebrating the achievements of others, even if it means they surpass him in rank.
Monday Morning Updates: Joel shares a practice of sending out Monday morning messages to his team, acknowledging successes and setting priorities for the week. It's a simple yet effective way to maintain team cohesion and focus.
Continuous Learning: While Joel values keeping technical certifications current, he acknowledges that every leader can show commitment to continuous learning in their own way. It's about setting a strong example for your team.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Joel on managing a project vs. a team
00:46 Introduction to Practice Leading and guest Joel Lindstrom
01:46 Joel Lindstrom's career journey
Culture Over Hierarchy: Tech Labs London's Unique Recruitment and Retention Strategies
Épisode 1
lundi 27 janvier 2025 • Durée 40:18
#1. Mohamed Mostafa is the founder and managing director of TechLabs London, the company behind iProperty Cloud, the housing management platform build on the Microsoft cloud. He has been recognised as a Microsoft MVP since 2016, a Microsoft FastTrack Solution Architect, and holds an MBA from Henley Business School.
KEY LESSONS
Join the Practice Leading mailing list to get sent a PDF summary of the key insights and lessons from every episode. Visit practiceleading.com and enter your first name and email on the homepage.
In our discussion, Mohamed shared some invaluable insights and strategies on building a successful team and a thriving business culture. Here are three key takeaways:
Embrace Diversity in Hiring: Mohamed emphasized the importance of moving beyond hiring clones. A rich mix of backgrounds, experiences, and skills not only enriches the workplace but also significantly improves business delivery. He advocates for a hiring process blind to ethnicity, religion, and personal background, focusing instead on cultural fit and qualification.
Invest in Apprenticeships: TechLabs London places high value on apprenticeships, bringing in young recruits and training them in technology and consultancy. This approach not only nurtures talent but provides fresh perspectives. While apprentices often move on to other Microsoft partners, their contribution during their tenure is invaluable.
Foster a Dynamic Work Culture: TechLabs London has done away with strict hierarchies and promotes a fluid structure where employees can engage in multiple roles and projects. This "holacracy" structure, along with cross-departmental collaboration, ensures a vibrant work environment where innovation thrives.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 How hiring similar backgrounds limits diversity
00:31 Introduction to Practice Leading Podcast
03:24 Importance of people in consulting businesses
Practice Leading trailer
mercredi 27 novembre 2024 • Durée 02:37
Welcome to Practice Leading, the show for emerging and curious practice leaders of Microsoft partner businesses.
I’m Neil Benson and, if you’re anything like me with an unquenchable curiosity and zero tolerance for BS, you’ve come to the right place.
Together we’ll learn from innovators and investors, executives and entrepreneurs, and business leaders and business coaches that have already left their stamp on the world and those that are exploring new and smarter ways building their businesses. Whether it’s ground-breaking innovations, hiring high-performing teams, or the sheer force of will to disrupt our industry, each episode is a masterclass from the trailblazers who have achieved significant success.
Find Practice Leading on YouTube, or at practiceleading.com, and learn from the mentors you wish you had earlier in your career.
Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: Forming Superware's Strategic Plan
Épisode 12
vendredi 4 juillet 2025 • Durée 10:58
#12. We just wrapped up our latest round of strategic planning at Superware—and it was a game-changer using the approach outlined in Richard Rumelt’s Good Strategy, Bad Strategy.
Here’s what stood out from our process and why it made such a difference for us. After landing a major consulting win, we still hadn’t cracked product market fit for our industry apps. Instead of more generic goals and vision statements, we dove into Rumelt’s practical framework and it completely reset how we tackled strategy as a team.
KEY LESSONS
Diagnose, don’t guess. We spent time individually reflecting and then collectively diagnosing our core business challenge—rather than just listing random goals, we drilled down to the one issue holding us back.
A strategy is a hypothesis. We treated our strategy as an experiment instead of a guarantee. This mindset (so familiar to us coming from agile software backgrounds!) lets us iterate, learn, and adapt much faster.
Coherent actions aligned around guiding policy. Instead of a to-do list, we identified focused, coherent actions that all support our guiding policy—making it clear what to prioritize and what to (confidently) leave out.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Learn how Superware used Good Strategy/Bad Strategy to reset direction
00:25 Introduction to Practice Leading and Neil Benson
01:12 Kicking off a new financial year with strategic planning
02:00 Major consulting win versus lack of product market fit
02:51 Discovering Richard Rumelt’s Good Strategy/Bad Strategy framework
03:31 Defining bad strategy and pitfalls to avoid
04:21 Key elements of good strategy: Diagnosis, guiding policy, coherent actions
05:03 Tangible example of guiding policy: The local grocery store
Forging a Modern Microsoft Alliance with Lucy Bourne
Épisode 11
lundi 16 juin 2025 • Durée 38:28
#11. Lucy Bourne is the cofounder and director of Oaka Studio in the UK. Oaka Studio, which just celebrated its second birthday, helps Microsoft partners level up their Microsoft alliance in their marketing, sales, their Microsoft alliance and in the operation of their Microsoft practice.
Lucy is a former partner development manager from Microsoft, and she dives deep into what it takes to thrive in your alliance with Microsoft. As you’ll hear in this episode, this is an area where I’m still struggling: wrestling with Partner Center, figuring out whether a solution designation is worthwhile or missing out on recognition in deals where we weren’t the invoicing CSP.
Lucy cuts through all that and helps us focus on what matters most in our Microsoft alliance and the steps we need to take to succeed.
KEY LESSONS
🔑 1. Alliance management needs two distinct skill sets. Don’t expect a single person to handle both the operational, programmatic tasks in Partner Center and the relationship-building with Microsoft sellers. Lucy recommends splitting these responsibilities: methodical, detail-oriented team members for the admin side, and storytellers/networkers for the relationship side.
🔑 2. Focus, focus, focus. To get noticed by Microsoft and the market, don’t try to be everything to everyone. Specialise—pick an industry or two, and build a crystal-clear narrative for your expertise. You can still deliver broadly, but your outward marketing should be laser-focused for maximum impact.
🔑 3. Recognition for implementation partners. Business apps partners can now claim recognition for workloads they’ve implemented—even if they weren’t the ones transacting the licenses. This “dual partner recognition” can accelerate your journey toward solution designation and unlock more opportunities and funding from Microsoft.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Lucy Bourne explains the value of vendor focus for large partners
00:40 Neil Benson opens the episode and introduces Lucy Bourne and Oka Studio
Scaling Innovation and AI at Avanade with Nancie Calder
Épisode 10
lundi 2 juin 2025 • Durée 38:54
#10. Nancie Calder is a Senior Vice President and Global Consulting Practice Lead at Avanade, based in Toronto, Canada. From her start as a freelance consultant to leading a global team of 3,000 people, Nancie brings three decades of experience driving innovation at scale.
Nancie shares her hard-won insights about what it really takes to nurture innovation and continuous learning across a 3,000+ person global practice—especially in the fast-changing Microsoft ecosystem. Her emphasis on combining practical experience with scalable programs really hit home.
KEY LESSONS
Innovation is for everyone. True innovation goes beyond technology. Nancie instills an innovative mindset throughout her team by hiring for passion and curiosity - not just technical skills. Encouraging everyone to leverage AI and new Microsoft tools is at the heart of their success.
Continuous learning is non-negotiable: Avanade dedicates specific learning hours, gamified certification paths, and peer mentoring to ensure their team is always up to speed. A growth mindset isn’t just a buzzword - it’s a requirement for staying relevant.
Global knowledge sharing matters: With biweekly cross-regional meetings, dynamic communities of practice, and creative use of Copilot to gather project learnings, Nancie demonstrates the importance of collaboration and knowledge sharing for scaling leadership across borders.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Helping teams deliver AI assessments and using AI in practice
00:35 Introduction to Practice Leading and the focus on innovation at Avanade
02:42 Nancie Calder introduces herself and her journey in the Microsoft partner ecosystem
05:02 Scaling a global practice and building capability across regions
06:40 Defining innovation at a global systems integrator: product development and service improvement
08:26 Balancing billable work and professional development in consultancy
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