Compensation is a tool to implement strategy — not the other way around. Sid Ganguly has spent his career proving that principle across some of the most different sales environments in tech: legacy hardware at Dell, subscription cloud at AWS, and now travel tech at Expedia Group.

Sid is Director, Global Compensation Partner and Head of Sales Incentive Design – Total Rewards at Expedia Group. He started his career as a software engineer and database architect in India, earned his MBA in the US, joined Dell in sales operations, and moved through VMware and AWS before landing at Expedia Group, where his role now spans not just sales comp but the full total rewards package for the commercial organization.

He joins GoToMasters for a conversation about why comp only works when strategy is clear first, why the same plan can crush it in one region and flatline in another, and the four principles he uses to design plans that actually land — simplify, align, test, earn trust. He also gets into his favorite diagnostic: the Friday afternoon test. Walk to a sales rep's desk on a Friday afternoon and ask if they know how their quarter is going. If the answer is blank, the plan isn't done.

If you're designing comp across cultures, running a global sales incentive program, or trying to figure out where AI actually fits into the comp function, this one's worth your time.