On Hasso Plattner
Some thoughts on his retirement from the SAP board.
I’ve been in many meetings and workshops with Hasso Plattner over the years, both in an SAP and Gartner context. I can’t say that I know him well, but he has been a colossal figure for most of my career. 1
I’ve read several moving testimonies over the last few weeks, rightly lauding his entrepreneurial vision, perception, leadership, competitive determination, generosity, sense of fun and social engagement. He is able to get people to walk through walls for him; his ability to inspire is inimitable. On occasion he would make his opinion known particularly forcefully, especially daunting for those unprepared. His stubbornness is both a strength and flaw. He has a knack of seeing through complexity, finding the essence of things.
SAP dominated enterprise software in the client/server era, and Hasso’s grasp of both the business complexity (I have heard him debate accounting practices with CFOs on many occasions, and never lose), and technology potential is remarkable.
Today it is easy to forget how profound and risky the technical and commercial innovation of early ERP was. The early history of R/3 is a mix of serendipity and absolute conviction. It is not exaggerating to say he drove a whole industry. His determination and foresight launched the careers of 100000s if not millions of people.
His contribution to Design Thinking, both intellectually and philanthropically, is deep. The universities of Potsdam, Karlsruhe, Stanford, Cape Town and more have benefited not only from his financial largesse but his active engagement in teaching and research.
His broader philanthropic endeavours, both in Germany and abroad are not only generous, but thoughtful. His love of sailing meant that the offices of CIOs around the world were festooned with the SAP sailing calendar. His competitive rivalry with Larry Ellison at Oracle served corporate and personal narratives well.
SAP’s journey into cloud computing has been more fraught, chasing rather than leading and I’m still not sure that building a database was the right strategy for SAP, but that is not for debate here. R/3 nostalgia is both a driver and burden. SAP’s AI chapter is still be written, and Hasso has now navigated the challenge of succession with no small aplomb. He leaves the company with a new generation of leaders that he has nurtured, facing new challenges and new opportunities.
Legend is an overused word, but when the history of the software industry is written, Plattner will be remembered as a titan.
German cities are full of streets named after 19th century industrialists and inventors. Plattner’s legacy will be at least as influential of those of Robert Bosch, Carl Bosch, Werner Siemens, Gottfried Daimler, and Karl and Bertha Benz. It is my hope that Hasso’s success will inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs. While we rightly laud SAP’s performance as Germany’s most successful software business to date, it could do with some company.
In 1995, his co-founder, Klaus Tschira, suggested I move to Germany.