
From lonely holiday to SAP president - wallflower
http://www.businessinsider.com/from-lonley-holiday-to-sap-president-2016-3
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jedmeyers
The fact that lead positions in a software company are being filled by
salespeople and PowerPoint/Excel 'wizards' says a lot about the company,
doesn't it? Still remember attending Google's presentation during the 2015 SAP
DKOM conference: "Who would like to see some awesome code of what we've done?"
\-- blank stares from the audience were the replies ...

/ disclaimer: the opinions expressed in this comment are my personal thoughts
on the matter.

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NeutronBoy
> The fact that lead positions in a software company are being filled by
> salespeople and PowerPoint/Excel 'wizards' says a lot about the company,
> doesn't it?

The lead position in a large company (in any industry) generally requires
little in-depth knowledge of the product. The lead positions (CEO, CFO) are
there to report to boards, shareholders, and regulators. Sure they might know
and be interested in the product, but the CFO of MS and Apple generally isn't
going to be a software engineer, just as the CFO of Audi or GM isn't going to
be a mechanic.

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jedmeyers
"President of SAP Ariba" is not a CEO/CFO role in this case, it's a lead role
in one of the more promising divisions. And I find it funny that you skipped
'CEO of MS' as an example, and started talking about CFOs instead, which are
not relevant to this discussion since neither McDermott nor Atzberger are
CFOs.

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vosper
"Naturally, Atzberger's career took off after that. He went to Japan and
China, helping SAP grow in those markets, eventually becoming a senior VP in
China."

Oh, come off it. I'm sure the guy did a great PowerPoint for his boss, but I'm
equally sure he's an astute and motivated political operator, and no doubt he
had some luck, too.

~~~
toyg
My TLDR was that the guy had a break by hitching up the person who would
eventually become CEO. It could have been powerpoint, golf or birdspotting,
the end result would have been the same. Moral of the story is "kiss corporate
ass and you'll go places", which I guess has to be expected from such a
publication.

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unchocked
Bullshit, in the sense that it's relation to truth is irrelevance.

Just a puff piece about how we should all put in face time.

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PhilWright
I think there is a truth here about the importance of luck in making it to the
top of the pyramid at a company. If you ask (almost) any top executive they
will claim it is their ability/hard work. Very few are honest enough to
describe the several points of good fortune they had along the way. Being the
right person in the right place at the right time is a big factor.

I have worked at more than one company where some high up boss is very young.
Then you discover they started with the company when it was starting out and
have therefore risen as the high growth occurred. Sure they worked hard, had
to learn and grow into the new roles. But the majority of people never luck
into that kind of golden opportunity.

~~~
kbouck
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity" [1]

"Chance favors the prepared mind" [2]

[1]
[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger)
(misattributed)

[2]
[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur)

