Winners Dream

September 29, 2014
It's the journey, not the destination: an adage that many can't appreciate. Not so for McDermott, CEO of the software giant SAP, who in this uplifting and enjoyable memoir chronicles his life from boyhood to the present day. Born to working-class parents, McDermott's family suffered intermittent tragedy and perpetual financial instability throughout his childhood. Inheriting his father's strong work ethic, he began at the age of 11 as an enterprising paperboy, eventually doubling his initial route of 150 homes and expanding his wares to include holiday cards and cookies. An astute businessman from the get-go, McDermott purchased and operated a deli while still in high school, the first indication of an ability to turn struggling businesses into successful ones without any starting capital. His will to win, coupled with a strong sense of ethics, landed him a sales job at Xerox, where he soon began generating enviable sales numbers. The narrative of his rise through the company's ranks and eventual move to SAP is engaging, if not something that the average reader can replicate. More valuably, McDermott emphasizes that a never-satisfied curiosity was the primary quality that enabled him to meet his customers' needs and further his own goals. His wisdom should prove valuable to readers at every level of their careers, or in life in general.

October 1, 2014
A memoir about the life and leadership methods McDermott, the recently appointed CEO of software giant SAP, employed to shape the trajectory of his career. The author attributes his rise-from salesman to corporate management and executive leadership at the Xerox Corporation, on to higher executive positions at tech companies Siebel and SAP-to his family and his experience as a teenage entrepreneurial delicatessen owner on Long Island. When he added pinball machines at his deli, which helped increase sales and pay off the financing for his purchase within a year, he learned a lesson he never forgot: the importance of stretching to achieve seemingly impossible goals. The author learned the importance of teamwork from his basketball coach father, and selling his mother's sandwiches taught him about providing customers what they wanted ("he would later call this "customer-centricity"). His successful business model involved combining the work of sales forces, product developers and administrators to improve sales results by developing conceptual packages that empowered clients to increase their own productivity. When McDermott demanded that salespeople become "innovators," he combined almost unreachable stretch goals with equally grandiose reward programs-e.g., family vacations in Hawaii-and teamwork-enhancing education and discussion processes. He became the go-to businessman for a company requiring a major revenue boost to reverse declining sales. As he took on other projects, he set specific goals at well-staged conferences, and he organized follow-up through continuing education. In just one year, he led the Puerto Rican sales district from the bottom to the top of Xerox's hierarchy. At SAP, sales were doubled in a year, helping to turn around the deleterious effects of the 2008 economic slump. Much later, McDermott graduated from business school and the Wharton executive development program. An inspiring but somewhat familiar tale of success driven by salesmanship.

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