A Conversation With Dallas Olson, Chief Commercial Officer of NetApp
In this conversation, Julie Williamson, Ph.D. speaks with Dallas Olson, Chief Commercial Officer at NetApp, about his journey to leadership and the importance of navigating the gap between agreement and alignment in both personal and professional contexts. They discuss the significance of creating safe spaces for conversations, the role of curiosity in engagement, and the necessity of consistency in team alignment. Dallas shares personal anecdotes, particularly about coaching soccer, to illustrate the challenges and rewards of pursuing goals and the importance of process in strategy execution. The discussion emphasizes the need for leaders to foster an environment where team members feel safe to express their thoughts and where curiosity can lead to better collaboration and alignment.
Takeaways:
- Navigating career paths often involves unexpected turns - be open to the journey.
- The gap between agreement and alignment is common in both personal and professional life.
- You have to be in love with the process as well as the goal.
- Creating space for conversations is essential for team alignment
- Curiosity can help leaders understand and address team dynamics better.
- Assuming positive intent fosters a safe environment for discussions.
- Consistency in small actions leads to significant change over time.
- How to execute strategy is often overlooked in favor of the what and why.
- Personal growth experiences can inform professional practices - look for the lessons.
- Work-life balance is something everyone could benefit from aligning on.
- Engaging in open conversations about challenges strengthens team dynamics.
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If you would like to connect with Dallas outside of this episode, connect with him on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dallas-olson-jr/ or learn more about NetApp here: https://www.netapp.com/
If you would like to connect with Dallas outside of this episode, connect with him on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dallas-olson-jr/ or learn more about NetApp here: https://www.netapp.com/
Creators and Guests
Host
Julie Williamson, PhD
Julie Williamson, PhD is the CEO and a Managing Partner at Karrikins Group, a Denver-based, global-serving business consultancy. Author, Keynote Speaker, and Host of The Failure Gap Podcast, Julie is a leading voice in how alignment can transform leaders and organizations.
Guest
Dallas Olson
Dallas currently serves as the Chief Commercial Officer at NetApp. He and his team have a very sim- ple and inspiring charter: to drive profitable growth by building a unified, end-to-end GTM model that will make it easier and more effective for customers to secure and use our technology to achieve success in their most important initiatives. Dallas is an accomplished executive with experience in software, sales, mergers & acquisitions, strat- egy, and operations. He has led large organizations through disruptive and challenging market tran- sitions in the logistics, supply chain, software, healthcare and IT industries. Previous to NetApp, Dallas Served as the World-Wide Senior Vice-President of GTM Strategy & Rev- enue Operations. Dallas began his tenure in the WebEx Technology Group where he led software teams for the enterprise, global multi-national and service provider teams producing triple-digit growth for four consecutive years. He then moved into leading strategy & planning for the US Com- mercial group, where he helped the theater become the largest software-selling team in the compa- ny. Dallas then served as COO and Vice President for the Americas where he and his team were re- sponsible for strategy, planning, operations, enablement, engagement, and go-to-market efforts. In his role immediately prior to joining Cisco, Dallas served as the Executive Director of Misys All- scripts’s corporate development team where he led merger, acquisition, and corporate strategy. At Misys, he helped lead the company through a strategic transition from a software practice manage- ment platform to an electronic medical record platform and was also asked to lead a company con- solidation of four business units into one. At DHL, Dallas held various leadership roles in sales, in ad- dition to leading the financial vertical and the Global Multi-National sales teams. During his tenure at DHL, he engaged in the transition from a dominant domestic-based system to an international supply chain and logistics business. Outside of his professional life, Dallas lives with his wife Ashley and their three children in Atlanta. An avid soccer fan, he has spent time coaching elite youth teams and supporting Atlanta United in its quest for another cup. He is currently an advisor to the Board for The Joseph Sams School where he pursues his passion for special education.
