It starts with being different

In 1993, someone undertook one of most famous and difficult climbs in the world. It was the route The Nose up the El Capitan big wall in Yosemite, USA, and the climber was the first person to free climb this route. It took more than ten years for other climbers to repeat this success. The climber who overcame gravity in free climbing a whole decade before her peers was Lynn Hill. She proved wrong all those who believed that it would be impossible to free climb The Nose.

Another individual who broke all barriers was Ada Lovelace, the British mathematician who is considered the world’s first programmer. She published the world’s first algorithm, and the programming language Ada is named after her.

Although impressive achievements will always stand out, I believe that you do not literally have to climb a mountain or invent something new to feel proud of what you do and achieve. Achieving the unachievable starts with the little things in life. This is clearly not a matter of what we are, but who we are and what we do.

The point I’m trying to make is that it is passion that drives us. And it is our openness to new thoughts, ideas, and actions that create innovation in all parts of life and move us and others forward. Working in a highly specialized, global, networked economy, however, does not mean we live in a world free of stereotypes. I believe the opposite is true. And the more complex the business problems, the more diverse backgrounds and perspectives should be brought together to address them, as Reynolds & Lewis suggest in this article. That is why we need to continuously remind ourselves that it takes hard work to live a culture of inclusion.

Incorporating diversity in our thinking is not always easy either. It is the invisible, and probably one of the toughest, aspects of inclusion. It is of course easier and more comfortable to be surrounded by people who think and act in a similar way. However, different opinions spark creativity and new ideas, help us to put our own ideas into perspective, and find completely unexpected solutions to problems.

I’m passionate about our engineering culture. Passion for what we do, awareness about different ways of doing things and achieving goals, as well as the openness to overcoming stereotypes are crucial elements of a healthy organizational culture. More importantly, it is a question of the trust that leaders have in their people to find their own way to reach their goals. This also means that leaders should hire not only people who are the best fit to a team but those who challenge and complement it – for both cognitive cohesion and diversity. Coming together often starts with being different. That’s what I have learned during my work life in various roles and at different locations.

One example of how we can support the creation a more inclusive culture is to also start tackling the visible challenges. Particularly in the tech industry, many companies are facing the challenge of an unbalanced ratio of women and men in the workforce and in leadership, and SAP is no exception. Quotas are just one way to address this topic, but by far not enough to change our mindset, learning, and thinking. Gender diversity is only one aspect of diversity, but often an obvious one.

Sadly, in the tech world, it is rather unusual for a man to find himself as a minority in a business situation or conference. When speaking at the Women in Tech@SAP event in Walldorf last year, I experienced first-hand how that feels and how many of my female colleagues feel every day. This experience encouraged me to help SAP improve. It is also one of the reasons why I accepted the role of the executive sponsor for the SAP Business Women’s Network, the largest employee network at SAP with 85 chapters and over 14,000 members, on top of my sponsorship of the company-driven Women in Tech@SAP initiative, which was founded in 2017 and spans across eight countries today.

Let me give you a few examples from the Women in Tech@SAP initiative. Having now a supporter base of more than 3,500 colleagues within SAP, there are many offerings, such as speaking opportunities at external conferences, an SAP-internal speaker platform, and internal job fairs that bring together hiring managers and talents who want to grow. We have come a long way, and I believe women and men must team up to lead the change we want to see at SAP.

We need to get as many women as men at the table for every aspect of our business, from ideation to decision making, and that needs proactive support from all of us. So, it is our responsibility to broaden our perspectives and challenge or change our own mindsets. That is a journey we need to take together.

Today is International Women’s Day but it is important that this topic is not only on top of the agenda on March 8th, but every day. We are all unique and equal, and we all find our own way to success, so let’s celebrate who we are and what we do.

#IWD2020 #eachforequal #womenintechnology #SAPBWN