In this rapid‑fire interview, Professor Pete Alexander talks with Nick DiPietro, Senior Director of the Channel Organization at Cisco. Nick shares his 30‑year IT background, describing technology as an equalizer that creates possibilities for businesses and people. He emphasizes a customer‑first mindset, focusing on long‑term trust, solution adoption, and building "Lego‑like" architectures rather than pushing single products. Nick outlines his people‑centric leadership philosophy: understanding individual motivations, trusting team members, empowering them to shine, and fostering loyalty—evidenced by remarkably low turnover on his team. He recommends fellow IT leader Rod Scotland of Completely Managed for a contrasting OT perspective. Nick recounts his first job working in his brother’s pizzeria, highlighting how early customer‑service experience shaped his approach to people and business. The interview closes with a note that Nick can be reached via LinkedIn.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
Well, thank you for your time. My name is Nick DiPietro. I am the Senior Director for the Channel Organization at Cisco, and I lead the architectures and the business development managers. At heart, I am a geek, love technology, and love building teams.
Nick, it's so great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?
What I've always loved about IT, and this is— I've been in IT for 30 years, is what the possibility, the art of the possibility. You see what is possible, and then you can see how you could change businesses, you could change people's lives. And I do believe, and I know this sounds like a cliché, but IT or technology is an equalizer with education, with industries, right? I just, that's, I've always had a passion for it, and that's what I love about it.
I like that about the equalizer. I haven't heard that before, but it, I believe it's so true. So thank you. Question number 3. I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
Well, and there's a ton of books out there that seem to solve all the problems. My whole career, even prior to being where I am now, is it's been about the customer. So the chapter I would say is about the customer. And it's not about getting the sale. It's the long game about doing what is right for the customer Right. Helping them in their needs, right. Setting them up for success and building trust and a strong relationship with that customer. Because I believe that's what will lead to future sales, future opportunities, and future growth for both organizations.
Mm-hmm. It's very insightful. It, you know, taking care of your customer, then the customer will take care of your organization. Am I reading you correctly?
Yeah, I mean, we— the approach I've always taken, even though I was just a sales engineer working with the customer, is you listen to what their needs are and you listen to the individual and what their challenges are, and you help them build a solution that they work with you to build, right? And then you address that because technology is complex. Everybody wants simple, but to get the simple, there's a lot of complexity in the background, and there's no one product or solution that will fix things right away. So you help them build the Lego pieces, or whichever way you want to call it, to help them get to where they want to be, but making sure they're successful. And not just the sale, it's the adoption, right? Making sure that what you position, they actually could leverage and use and help them. And, you know, I still, even as I moved into different roles within my organization, I still get calls from old customers and I'm still there to help them. And they appreciate that. And I appreciate it too.
Great story. Thank you so much. Question number 4, other than the generic work harder have a great attitude, and care for customers. What advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
And this is interesting. This is the one that I thought about most, right? And I took a look at my, you know, 30 years in IT and my last 20 years with a manufacturer and 10 years of leadership, right? I've always had the same approach as the individuals on your team, right? The stronger you make the team, the stronger you are. So it's never been about me. It's about my team, because my team looks really good. Well, by default, I start looking good as an organization. Right? So it's understanding the individual, what their challenges are, what motivates them, right? And truly caring about what they are and what they're doing, right? It's hard to find good people. And, you know, sometimes you do have to make tough decisions, right? But most times if you find an individual and you find their passion and you put them into that area, you get great success, right? The other thing is when you trust somebody, right, and they know you trust them and you have their back, right, it's amazing what they accomplish, right, through that, right? So I've seen individuals that came into roles where it's like, oh, you know what, this is a fixer-upper, and it wasn't a fixer-upper. It was understanding them. And once you understand them, it's amazing what he or she could accomplish. So to me, it's about the people. It's about the individuals. I manage— I've never managed upwards, and I don't want to take that as any disrespect in any way. I've managed my team because my theory is we've overachieved many years in a row. My teams have always been viewed as some of the best teams in the organization, right? And that's not because that, you know, that I'm a great leader. What it's about is I trust my people. Right, and they shine. And whenever the opportunity is given that, hey, Nick, do you want to present? If it's something my team should be doing, I always let them be the stars, right? So, you know, I'll kick off sessions, I'll open sessions. If it's an executive meeting and I need to be there, definitely I'm there, right? But if it's, you know, something that's a subject matter expert, I let that subject matter expert do it, right? And I'm there to support them. And what I found is loyalty. I found that I get great loyalty on my team. I get great teamwork. The team's well respected, you know. So it's a lot of clichés, but a lot of people say it and don't do it. If you do it, you'd be amazed what people could accomplish. And, you know, I trust people, and I find people on my team trust me, and we've had great success. And, you know, I could list probably hundreds of stories that we've had with the team. Right. And that would be examples of that. And the other aspect of it is these are teams that you could sit down and have a beer with, right. Or, you know, a glass of wine with and have open conversations because they don't view you as just their leader. They view you as part of the team. Right.
It's so insightful what you say in many, many ways. And it, it reminds me of the statistic that You know, people don't leave companies, people leave their managers. That's the number one reason that they leave companies. And everything that you said there, including, you know, the topic about the loyalty, all reinforces how the importance of having a great relationship with the person that reports to you, it can benefit you and the organization in so many ways. It's extremely, extremely gratifying to hear that from you.
Yeah, and the one thing that I'm proud of is, you know, IT has changed dramatically, and I've only had one individual in my 12 years that actually— well, let me correct that. Other than me helping promote them and help them move on to the next things in their career, which is extremely important, but I've only had one individual that's actually left my team, and the individual reached out to me. We left a certain technology, right? We exited that technology. The individual was called me and said, listen, I don't want to learn a new technology. This is what I love. And that's the only time I actually left somebody that left my team. Right. And I was very proud of that. Right. And the person was actually, was uncomfortable calling me and telling me that because he felt bad. But at the same time, it was for the right reason. Right. So there's nothing wrong with that.
Absolutely. So great. Question number 5, what other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
Well, I have a friend who works in IT, but he works in the OT space, right? The concrete floor, not the carpet floor. Rod Scotland, right, of Completely Managed. And it's just an industry— interesting point of view. When I sat down with him and kind of tried to understand that industry, it's so different than what we do on a day-to-day basis, even though it's IT. Right? We all know it's IP and it's zeros and ones, but it's a different mindset. I think something like that would be great for leaders to kind of listen to see other people's concerns because they're not at the same maturity level in technology, right, as a traditional IT space. So you have to take that approach a little differently, right? And it's a different audience. So I believe that would be very valuable.
Well, thank you for that. I'll reach out to him. And our final question, question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
Well, I have a few first jobs, but I'm going to tell you the one that is probably the more relevant one because, you know, growing up in an Italian family with two working parents, you know, and you had to help out, right? But my brother opened up a pizzeria when he was 18. I was 17 at the time, right? And working that pizzeria, and we put in long hours because back then it was the two of us basically working all the time, and I had high school, which probably missed a little too much of, but that's just the reality of it. But when you work in that environment, uh, dealing with people, right? I mean, you're dealing with people on a regular basis and it really teaches you how to deal with different people, right? How to treat different people, how to build a customer base. Right. Um, had a lot of fun doing it. It was a lot of long hours, but it really matures you when you have to be the, um, that person and also because it was my brother, there was a lot of care for it to be successful, right? This is his future that I was working with. So, you know, it's not the attitude that it's just a job, you know? So to me, that's the one. And, you know, to give him credit, he's had the same business for over 30 years now and extremely successful.
Oh, that's a great story, both from the beginning and to the current situation. So thank you for sharing that.
And Nick, thank you.
Much for being on the show. How can people find you?
Well, the best way to find me is through LinkedIn, right? Just send me a message on LinkedIn, and that's probably the best way.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
