Everything, everywhere, not all at once....

While the 12th of March marked the 95th Academy Awards ceremony in the famed Kodak theatre, and the movie aptly titled "Everything, everywhere all (awards) at once" swept up a bunch of awards, the date also marked my coveted "Long service award" for 15 years at #SAP.

Everyone has a story of joining a company, and here is mine. Back in 2008, I was in my third year of being a spend management consultant with Ariba, doing 5 days out, 2 days in, driving procurement transformation at exotic locations of manufacturing customers in India. There was no dearth of excitement or adventure in my life as I travelled wide and far, visiting remote locations where the only show in town was a factory and a surround township. Quite literally, I've had to take the road less travelled, and in some cases the road that shouldn't be travelled (post sunset). While I looked forward to the early morning cab on Monday to the Airport in Delhi, my wife Rajni Ramkumar was not so pleased with my weekly escapedes. And as things came to a head, she gave me an ultimatum, It was either our marriage or my consulting job. As any rational person would do, I decided to err on the side of caution and asked her to find me a job at SAP. Not a difficult choice as our social circle in Gurgaon back then was her colleagues at SAP and had become my friends even before I knew it.

As things would have it Ramakrishnan R (RAMKI) had a role on his team in solution management services and he took a chance with me, after giving it much of a thought I must admit. And here I am, 15 years hence, having worked across three different board areas, in two vast geographies of APJ and EMEA, spanning multiple roles, worked for and with incredible people, customers and peers alike and still exciting about the possibilities that lie ahead with SAP.

Now, as with the Oscar acceptance speeches, there are numerous people to thank, managers, mentors, peers, teams, customers and partners. You know who you are and I am truly thankful. While I can write a tome on my 15 years, what I wanted to do was to share 5 things that have worked for me and I am confident that they work for others too.

1. Own and chart your career journey: It starts and ends with you, Skipper. Using the sailing analogy you define where you want to go, chart out a course, crew up and head out. There might be winds, currents and stormy seas, but you need to own your journey, make course corrections as needed while keeping true to your own North. No one else will do it for you and don't expect others to as well.
2. Take your chances, when they come along. Far too often, we wait for the perfect opportunity to materialise in our careers, which never happens. This is a fallacy at best as there is no perfect opportunity, there are only chances that you need to convert. Take them when they come along and you won't be disappointed.
3. Doing what's right (and asking for forgiveness), is much better than waiting to do things right . Large organisations tend to love status quo, which while provides a sense of security, comes in the way of being effective. So, if you know it's the right thing to do for a customer, for the company or a colleague, do it and ask for forgiveness. Else, you would have missed out on an opportunity to create value.
4. Inspire and seek to be inspired. Quite often I hear people talk about losing the mojo and the drive to do great work. Humans need to be inspired to do great work and inspiration can stem from anywhere, find your source. Also, never discount the fact that you can be an inspiration to others, and the very act of inspiring someone energizes you as well. A feedback loop if you will!
5. Never operate from a sense of helplessness. Large organisations work on checks and balances and devolution of power is one way to maintain this. This is especially true in matrix organisations where it is easy to feel helpless and not being able to effect the change you want to see. In such cases, leading with influence is the name of the game rather than leading with authority. People believe in those who lead with conviction and not in those project helplessness. Optics matter.

In Denmark, which has been home for the past 9 years, there is a saying, "Time is a continuum" and this influences the way people look at life. That it is a gradual collection of events which merge into each other with no distinct pieces. This is so true of my career at SAP as well, it is a continuum. A series of incremental steps, moves and experiences, which define the journey.

A crescendo on the anvil, am not too sure, but I will cherish the continuum