Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP | The Brave Ones

I think I'm the most brave under pressure when everything is moving fast for everybody else the field slows down for me I see it in slow motion like I can see past the situation and the chaos of the situation and how we're going to get through it my accent changed my life for the better you fall down stairs and get knocked unconscious and the glass hits all the wrong parts you've got to find a way to get off so I don't get rattled by the chaos I get inspired by beating it back and finding out how gorgeous it is on the other side I am living proof that vision is not just what you see my accident has given me so much strength so much resolve so much passion I remember him saying to me it's amazing how much more I see with only one eye and there's a moment where your mind is very interested in protecting you and it basically says you know lay down you know go to sleep and then you will steps in and said I don't know this is not where your story ends hey guys how you doing [Applause] my story is one from the corner store to the corner office bill was I handed much in life he had to work his way through everything I believe that that's probably the foundation of his character he didn't grow up with certainly a lot of wealth a great family I'm the oldest of four my brother at the time I was seven he was five and I lost my brother and I think that that was like one of the more you know shattering experiences that you can go through I saw the strength of my mother you know at times like that she was the great unifier that family as I understand it she was perpetually optimistic and believed I think that from every tragedy or every adversity there's something to be learned and just to keep the family positive my mom was my hero she always told me that the best part of you is you just be you and believe in your dreams my dad was a real hard worker he worked for con Edison and his dad was a Hall of Fame basketball player in the 30s and 40s Bobby McDermott and I think that work ethic that passion for greatness it kind of gets embedded into your DNA and that's why I think he was so driven at 11 years old at such an early age to start pitching in I believe his first job if I'm not mistaken was a paperboy I learned a lot because I wanted to do it I was excited to do it and if you gave the customer what they wanted they gave you a big tip when you came to collect you thought that paper route at 11 was impressive but to buy your first business at 16 well most of us are worried about are we going to the football game on the weekend that was a huge endeavor he started working at a deli round up buying this Lee and I bought it for fifty five hundred note 7,000 with interest you pay it off in a year it's yours you don't they take it back and how I got started was basically having built relations with all the vendors they gave me the first order on consignment he's a big thinker and a big he sets the goals high and he achieves them we gave blue-collar workers like my dad credit because they were flush rich on Friday night and they were broke by Sunday morning and they always paid me back but the big trick was getting those high school kids how do you get him to walk a block and a half past seven eleven to my store and at that time 7-eleven was lining them up for tea at a time outside and letting them in for at a time inside I'm like why y'all waiting out here this big store in there they think we're going to take things don't worry about all that you follow me down in my store and I let him in for tea at a time and to underscore that customer driven strategy one of the kids said to me bill and we want good food we want to play video games and be treated with respect we come here and when we want to steal stuff we go to 7-eleven he always always made people the center of everything that he does and in doing so he gets the results that matter by occupying my mind with thoughts of failure you're going to find failure but if you consume yourself possess yourself with thoughts of positivity and success in great outcomes you're much more likely to find them free information Xerox invented electronic today i Ronald Reagan do solemnly swear at Xerox making your job easier is what our job is all about I remember the day I first came to New York City on my big job interview at Xerox we lived in a 1,000 square foot house in Amityville Long Island and that has flooded all the time and that day my house had a flood I had just bought my $99 suit how do I come from the second floor of the house without getting my pants wet so my brother carried me on his shoulder to the car and I told my dad I guaranteed him I would get my job at Xerox that day by the time I got to New York City I was just vibrating the excitement I was there to get my dream job because if I got that job on that day my destiny was in my hands and at the end mister Fullwood says to me bill super meeting the HR department I'll get in touch with you in the next couple of weeks navigator Alan before me and I said mister forward I haven't broken a promise to my dad in 21 years I can't start now I promised him I'd had my employee badge in my pocket when I got back to Amityville Long Island tonight this is Bill McDermott as long as you haven't committed any crimes you're hired I can't think of a time in my life where I would have been able to say to my future employer I need to know now and give them an ultimatum but that's how comfortable he was in his own skin I don't think anyone has a corner on the market for bravery I just think sometimes people need a jump start you know they need a break they need a chance they need an opportunity to be brave and courageous and I do think luck matters a little bit you know bill was the consummate salesman but in the best kind of way with aspirations to be wildly successful which is kind of been builds mo for his entire career his first goal is to be the number one sales rep I mean hard stuff and he did that and then he became a sales manager and his goal is to become the number one sales manager winning was about bringing other people with him it really was never an individual sport for him and you know I remember his first sales team and I was 24 years old and I had uptown Manhattan and I had 18 young people I called him the Bad News Bears I mean this was a collection of young kids was always thinking about exactly what would we do but the first thing was to be the best the number one performing team in the company Bar None one of his largest requirements for us was to have what he called the wall of goals and so each of us had to write down goals and bill said everything person on this team is going to make their goal and I watched this God roll abyss leaves and travel the streets with these sales reps bringing his talent and his skills this is to each of their territories and he did it the most important thing and then I think a winner a leader a success is to ultimately take people to places they could not have gone without you that you bring a little brand of magic to the equation that brings out the best in everybody I think it would have changed the course of history at Xerox Afiya today I wake up from the fall down the stairs couldn't see anything because there was so much blood it was in both eyes [Music] Tony Bennett Frank Sinatra Elvis president Billy Joel I'm in a New York state of mind I don't think so ha ha ha Knicks like no [Applause] mr. bill McDermott so this is very special moment the power of pageantry is very often underestimated you have to celebrate the moments the day to day is a grind and it should be there's a lot to get done but when you have a signature moment you should celebrate it I think tonight's a unique knife let's hear it for friendship let's hear it for our long-standing relations and let's hear it for the Big Apple to New York exit retakes his achievements as starting points not finish lines and once he gets up to that summit he could see the world in a different way the Xerox 15 ID the way to put it together faxing scanning copying printing Xerox the document company deluxe was kind of the kind of company where you put in your time in your years and you know you don't move that fast and build with the exception to the rule I'm pretty newly married newborn baby great apartment in Manhattan I was destined to get the New York operation if I would only be patient and the big boss says there's a chance bill for you to go run for Rico and the Virgin Islands everyone's natural reaction was really it was a woefully underperforming region still understood something that a lot of people don't if you want to make your mark you take the toughest assignments you actually go for the ones that others don't want I went into Puerto Rico and I really think that people were expecting to lose they had lost a lot and my favorite question was look ya'll were dead last you've taken being dead last to an art form how did you do it because you're good at and they would tell me all the problems and I said all right here's the vision and that's the happiest customs in the world and most importantly you're going to get your Christmas party back and I hired the guy you wanted Bertino Santa Rosa and number one salsa singer acted for doe Rico but I said there's only one catch there's nothing noble about dancing to he'll bear Tito or anyone else at number 64 so we're going to go from last to first this year and you would be number one performing business in the company and most people think there's there's no possible way but in outlining what he thinks is the potential and the possibility and really believing it I mean really believing in everybody else all of sudden thinks well maybe that is possible by the time we got to the third quarter of that year we were round in the turn like Seabiscuit in the movie and then went into the finish line is the number one business in the world and they did it they get it he was on a journey he believed that he had the skills and the leadership qualities to run the Xerox Corporation and he was committed to that plan bill actually played a key role in starting our services business which turned out to be a lifeline for us down the road and I felt that the whole company should just go that direction who wanted to buy boxes and have people running around taking care of boxes just do it for me in a company that's very traditional and has this big legacy business when you're kind of on the side of starting the new thing you know you tend to be I think you know a target it was a tough road for him and it was sad because I think not to appreciate that talent was a huge loss for Xerox bill is elvis president you know when bill is in the arena and you know when he's not you know when Elvis has left the building and there's a vacuum that sucked out of energy I think it would have changed the course of history at Xerox if he had stayed I had the opportunity to go be the president of Gartner group at the time and I said you know what I think I'll learn more I think it'll challenge me more and I think it's my chance to be President of a publicly traded company that's in a very important space thought leadership the voice of IT if you will let's go give this one a world so he came to Gartner which is an IT search firm he had a tough time there bill had a vision that was top line oriented grow the revenue grow the revenue had plans and actions ready to go and I do not believe the CEO the board supported him in that I no sooner made the decision and within a couple of days my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer I had two little boys and of course when you're the guy making those big calls you're not too happy with yourself because in some way I felt that I had prioritized incorrectly his mom instilled in him that family is everything the rest around you can come and go but as long as you have your family you're equipped for the job at hand when Julie kind of beat back this some just cancer and I saw her bright and bubbly again I just felt ready for something new something fresh and that led us to our move to California Siebel systems was his first foray into pure software sales I love the software industry and I thought that would be a beautiful new day and we enjoyed California very much but then I got this call from a recruiter that s AP needed somebody to come in and run the North American operation as the CEO of s ap America and that began my journey at s ap in 2002 in a peculiar way I'd make it somewhat analogous to Puerto Rico at Xerox in that it was a woefully underperforming region and struggling you couldn't have picked someone that would have been more somewhat shocking from a style and you know I mean Bill is kind of a out there kind of guy I mean we all wanted him to be wildly successful but I got a girl thing could this possibly work I was thinking I want to make sa P America the best in the world the German software company trying to sell in the u.s. against a big brand called Oracle and here comes the underdog with his vision and his mission I felt great I was excited by the Rand people we said extremely high goals his strategy was we're going to double this business double this business I believe was in two years he's really great about keeping everybody focused on the potential and where we can be going and he doesn't with just you know relentless energy and optimism Bill's whole reputation was built on the guy you want to work for and people line up to work from Bill McDermott Hurricane Katrina certainly arrived here with explosive power kind of a a quarter of mr. McDermott where you were able to say to your detractors your competitors yay we back to double digits so when your fame and brothers has declared the largest bankruptcy in US history in 2008 the world got hit with a financial crisis in 2009 the world won through a slow recovery he positioned us as the responsible company that can help you bring transparency and Trust to all your financial practices we spent a lot of time on where was the world going what was the big addressable market what was going to be the prevailing themes of the next decade and how would we get in front of them the company gained more trust in him and gave him more market energy took over Asia Pacific and Latin America and then quickly from there became the president of global sales and it's an BC exclusive s ap the new co-ceos our old friend bill McDermott and Jim Hanuman naã¯ve right now it's about bringing solutions to market innovating for our customers and delivering good results for our shareholders he feels the man he became was definitely attributed to his mother strengths I remember that he was in New York and how to give a speech and I received a call right prior to the speech his mom was about to die just devastating I'm 67 way too young she was diagnosed with cancer pancreatic cancer and his mom was true north to everything I definitely lost something that is entirely irreplaceable he's very very aware of making sure that he lives out what he knows his mom would have wanted to do and he believes he was destined to do I actually went to see him a month after the accident I was nervous I didn't know what I was walking into I'd like to fly I would love to fly save you a lot of airport trips you know underdog because it keeps you humble to remember where you came from [Music] celebrate the accomplishment for an extra hour or two Jim Harmon snobby is stepping down as co-ceo of s AP bill McDermott will take full control as sole chief executive I think with a bold move they actually recognized something in bill in terms of his leadership style that I think changed I think everything that he talks about is the idea of 86,000 men and women working towards a common goal and his focus on how to get there yes it's our corporate strategy but most important to bill is people and that nurturing of talent is unparalleled if you can connect dreams and details you can achieve a lot this guy it's gonna thrive no matter what everyone knows by now the story of Bill having the accident he was walking down a flight of stairs when the glass with him and as he fell down the glass broke and unfortunately most of the damage was done to his face and his neck area basically I wake up from the fall down the stairs I was knocked unconscious and I just remember being alone nobody could hear me you got to find a way to get up and get out and get on but you know when you have you know a shard of glass go through your eye it's pretty hard to save it I lost that that particular battle but I want a bigger one I actually went to see him probably months after the accident I walked into his house and he gave me a giant bear hug like he always does and was just on it just ready to go he was still very active but more behind the scenes and in front of the scenes and one of our big competitors was making a play for our market our business and so from behind the scenes he orchestrated he led and he gave the team the empowerment that we are going to win some people look at competition and they it's about kill or be killed bill looks at competition and he says why are those folks in my space and competing with me and are they doing something that differentiates my value proposition to the people I work with every day we took the company to the cloud and to business networks and now we're working on machine learning artificial intelligence internet of everything and blockchain and this has come together in an integrated mosaic where the customers customers begin and connecting demand and supply chains and management teams running a digital boardroom where they can see everything in real time has come full circle and it's damn I would probably say it's a hundred eighty degree difference keeping up with the new kids on the block and I think he's to be credited for a hundred percent of that triple digit double digit growth revenue stock price market cap number of users customer satisfaction employee engagement I would describe Don McDermott as being a deeply empathetic caring compassionate about us he just makes very quick decisions and lot of big ideas he exudes honesty trust focus strength all the things that you want to have in a leader when you see him you just kind of overwhelmed with his no desire to demonstrate that you can overcome you know some incredible barriers and challenges in your life and you can come out the other side and actually turn it into something that makes you a better person loved every minute of it keep up the good work a lot of people meet him and they say is this guy really for real it seems really that beautiful really that optimistic and I can tell you after knowing him for a couple decades yes you can that is him and that's what's been really special a good leader has to be in service to other people not only does he push the boundaries but he also feels that he has a social responsibility of personal responsibility and if people have a personal responsibility to give back to their communities I always felt that the true measure of a person is not what they take from this world but is what they give this world and if you can make a little dent in it a little bit my goodness just a little dent what can we do if you could change a few lives along the way you you

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Id: on40BNZHUr4

Length: 24min 56sec (1496 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 12 2017