When he was 15 years old, Bill McDermott recalls waiting in line to apply for a job at Finast supermarket. The line was long, and McDermott, eyeing his competition, approached a man in a green jacket who appeared to him to be the boss.
He told the man that if they hired him, he would work hard and the store would not regret it. The man took McDermott’s application and walked away. By the time McDermott arrived back home, he had a job offer. In the years since, he never let go of that belief in himself, that if he wanted something bad enough, he could achieve it. He did not give up on his dream.
The story was one of several that McDermott shared and reflected upon with Genesis10’s SAP Book Club recently. He’s come a long way since that job at Finast supermarket. McDermott, now CEO of ServiceNow, has served in leadership roles at SAP (CEO from 2010 to 2019), Siebel Systems, Gartner, and Xerox, and is the author of Winners Dream: A Journey from Corner Store to Corner Office.
Professional Courtesy Goes Long Way
While a salesperson at Xerox, McDermott recalled his experience selling office equipment to businesses in Manhattan. One of the keys to his success was befriending the doorman.
Since the doorman knows everyone who goes in and out of buildings, “I made it my business to build a relationship with the doorman,” McDermott said. “It did not cost me anything to be nice and they were very keen to help me, to let me know when new businesses moved in. I left my brochures at the door to their new offices. Soon, they were calling me, looking to buy the equipment I was selling.
“Showing professional courtesy to everyone goes a long way,” he added.
During the SAP Book Club event, McDermott also shared stories
- Building trust in an underperforming business unit, which enabled him to lead it, from last to first place in the organization;
- Overseeing SAP’s annual global trade show, Sapphire, which one year featured performer Lady Gaga;
- How ServiceNow is helping businesses accelerate their digital transformation during the pandemic.
To make the event even more interesting, SAP Book Club invited some of McDermott’s former colleagues to the event. He appeared touched by the gesture.
Summing up lessons learned from the career experiences he recalled for the SAP Book Club, McDermott said:
“You can get anything you want in this life if you help other people get what they want. Help everyone achieve their goals and your business will run more smoothly. You will spend less time managing crises because people are doing the right thing. Helping others to be successful builds trust. In Winners Dream, I wrote trust is the ultimate human currency. It’s the only thing you can’t trade on.”
Our next SAP Book Club event is on July 29 at 12 pm ET. We will discuss two books SAP SuccessFactors Talent: Volume 1 and Volume 2 with author, Susan Traynor, and contributors Michael A. Wellens and Venki Krishnamoorthy.
