Men founded SAP and men have run the software company ever since. Now chairman of the supervisory board Hasso Plattner has done what no Dax company dared: to put a woman at the top.
And best of all, they're keeping it quiet. Completely self-evidently appointed supervisory board boss Hasso Plattner on Friday after the surprising resignation of the long-time chief executive Bill McDermott a new management team to the point of the software giant: The existing board members Jennifer Morgan (48) and Christian Klein (39).
In the press release, SAP does not mention the historical dimension of this appointment with a single syllable: the American Morgan will be the first woman at the helm of a Dax company to enter Germany's economic history. But SAP resists the temptation to abuse the new boss as a poster girl.
It was a clever move to communicate the change of boss first in the US. There women are no longer as exotic in management positions as in this country. Thinking together about achievement and gender has long since ceased to be socially acceptable. For nine minutes, the US business channel CNBC interviewed the new leadership duo. And did not ask a single question about Morgan's role as a woman.
For a long time, Plattner has not laughed at misogynist jokes
In Germany, this is often different - and for a long time that also applied to SAP. Like many IT companies, the Baden-based software company was once a die-hard men's shop. Founded by five men in 1972, since then led by men. To this day, founder Hasso Plattner is the company's innovator and chairman of the supervisory board.
DPA
Divisive SAP CEO McDermott (center) with Christian Klein (left) and Morgan: "Bill is not afraid of strong women"
The spirited 75-year-old with the snow-white lion's mane is still considered the heart chamber of the SAP. As in Germany macho managers such as the jolting Daimler boss Jürgen Schrempp (with wife as secretary) were in vogue, Plattner already lived at times in his adopted country of California, where misogynist jokes were frowned upon.
When, at the end of the 1990s, a manager at a meeting in Hamburg tried to make fun of slippery jokes at Plattner, he had him rally in front of the assembled team. He was sorry, but to laugh about misogynist sayings he was in the US. He also thankfully refused the Havana cigar offered to him.
Today, the board of the most valuable Dax company consists of a quarter of women, the supervisory board is female-owned, and women hold a quarter of the management positions.
That's largely due to outgoing boss Bill McDermott. "Bill is not afraid of strong women," says Jennifer Morgan, as he never looked at gender in the search for talent.
Morgan met McDermott almost twenty years ago at software company Siebel Systems. Five years later - he was already at SAP - he made her a job offer. She felt like coming, but wanted to spend three months with her then two-year-old son. "Take as much time as you need," McDermott said.
Morgan came. Years later, when Morgan's husband, who looks after the two children at home, had a terrible skiing accident, McDermott immediately offered her help. Not because she is a woman, but because his top staff should not be exposed to double work.
"You will hear less from me"
It is probably due to the American socialization that Morgan never dared to take on women's issues during her steep rise within the group. She actively helped set up support programs for female executives and is committed to equal pay for men and women in the company.
"Of course, women have to join the board if they are the best," she said on the sidelines of SAP's Sapphire in 2017. "Because then they're the best."
Now Morgan, the US magazine "Forbes" counts among the 100 most influential women in the world, together with the German Christian Klein as one of the two best selected to lead by stock market value largest group in Germany.
The duo need not fear that the old boss, who should advise until the end of the year, stands in his way. "In my experience, leaders need a free runway to fly," McDermott writes in his farewell letter to staff. "I'm still there, but you'll hear less from me." But one thing SAP and the new leadership team can be sure of: "I'm always in your corner."
