My 1st Week at SAP - Why, How, What

Let me share to you a story about the power of purpose, growth, and meaning. A bit about the Why, the How, and the What. Specifically, how those dimensions made themselves apparent during the 1st week at a new career at one of the most innovative and forward thinking organizations in the world, SAP.

It Starts With Why (Purpose)

I'm a believer in Simon Sinek's golden circle and purpose. I'm also a big believe in Angela Duckworth's concepts of grit coming from passion and perseverance. And, what truly attracted me to SAP, was their purpose.

Help the world run better and improve people's lives

My own purpose, after finding my why is very similar.

Help improve people's lives by empowering them with new experience harnessing the power of digital technologies

A lot of my new colleagues wanted to know why I joined SAP. Colleagues from my former employer also asked me why I joined SAP. It was the perfect intersection of personal and company purpose. Working at a technology company whose purpose is to help improve people's lives. Helping companies, employees, and customers to achieve new experiences by partnering with them in their digital transformation journey is exactly what makes me feel purposeful each morning.

Then With The How

In the 1st week that I joined, I was extremely surprised by the comprehensive and thorough onboarding program leveraging the latest digital technologies. I believe in walk the talk, and just by virtue of the onboarding, I knew that SAP meant it. From the learning videos and material delivered from the executive board all the way down to the leads, the message was clear and resonated with me strongly.

Being the most customer centric and innovative cloud company in the world to help companies transform and, in turn, create new experiences for their customers.

The more I studied the strategies, deep dived into the products, and engrossed myself in the material, I realized that SAP was a different kind of dinosaur. They're not like a brontosaurus that's large and slow.

If SAP were a dinosaur, it would be a hive mind connected pack of velociraptors - fast, adaptive, agile, and focused.

That would be the only way to describe just the amount of innovation and, more importantly, how it is being applied to SAP customer's to improve the lives of their employees and their consumers. SAP has opened their Leonardo Innovation Center in Singapore, building a blockchain in the oil and gas industry, embracing open standards, and shaping the next industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). There is a lot of room to grow.

And My What

So, I spoke about the Why and the How. I've not actually shared to you exactly What I am doing that makes me feel excited. For starters, I get to utilize the leverage some of the human centered design and startups methods to partner with SAP customers to identify new growth opportunities, optimization opportunities, and unmet needs in the market not being addressed.

It's about exploring different ideas and experiments, creating a digital transformation roadmap that includes both business and technology strategies, and going with them through the journey however long it takes. In essence:

Help companies embrace digital transformation (opportunities, technologies, and business models) and partner with them to realize the value of their efforts

There are other things that I need to do as part of the role. But, when the focus is on the customers, helping them transform, and partnering with them to bring value and impact, then you know what you do has meaning.

That's my first week. I'll come back again with my 1st month. By then, hopefully I can have a story of making an impact for the lives of consumers of one of our customers.