There I sat, in the front row of a large conference hall in Chicago. It was day two of our flagship customer event, the “SAP Transformation Excellence Summit.” The room was filled with hundreds of customers, and the event had already been a resounding success.
I hadn’t paid much attention to the agenda, only noting that it was now time for the “inspirational keynote.” Annabelle Williams was introduced as a Paralympic gold medalist and entrepreneur. I didn’t know much about her story and had no idea what to expect.
Annabelle began by recounting her childhood experiences. She walked us through how it felt growing up, without a left hand, missing her arm below her elbow, since she was born. How she was perceived as weird and different. But also how certain people had helped her find resilience and strength and belief in herself.
Her stories were so moving that my eyes filled with tears minutes into her presentation. Yes, it was a story of struggle but even more so about hope and determination and growth mindset, believing in the impossible and making it happen.
Writing this book, I struggled to distill the essence of my own journey. Of course, my journey was very different to Annabelle’s but the final story of her keynote just seemed to be a great analogy of what Signavio had been all about through all those years.
Annabelle told us about the Beijing paralympics. One of her teammates had become a very close friend. That friend was about to retire from her sports career and these were her last games. After all competitions were done, the two friends wanted to do something special together and decided to visit the Summer Palace. They hadn’t done their research and simply jumped into a taxi. At the Palace, however, they found themselves in front of 1,000 stairs to climb up to the highlight of the park, the temple on top of the hill. Her friend was in a wheelchair and it was impossible for them to climb the hill. Her friend told Annabelle to go alone and take photos, so that she could at least experience it through the pictures.
Suddenly, two Chinese men walked up to them. They didn’t speak any English. Still, the two ladies understood that they wanted to help. The one man took Annabelle’s friend on his back and the other carried her wheelchair. After a few hundred steps, the man was too exhausted to continue. Others chimed in and continued to carry her friend on the back. After a long climb, they finally made it to the top and enjoyed the most beautiful view over Beijing and the Summer Palace.
In closing her keynote, Annabelle addressed the audience. She said: “Always ask yourself: Who can you carry up the stairs?”
The impact of her words was undeniable. Everyone I spoke to afterward was as moved as I was. In times of division and strife, this message of selflessness and lifting one another up was exactly what we needed. One customer summed it up perfectly: “Gero, this keynote captured why we love working with Signavio. It’s always about putting people at the center and lifting each other up.”
Sometimes, people ask me what I actually do on a day-to-day basis. My usual answer is: “I don’t do much. I try to avoid unnecessary work. My job is to ensure we have the right people in the right roles, motivated and thriving.” I find immense joy in watching others shine. Seeing that happen makes me feel proud - I know I’ve helped them climb their own stairs.
Many have carried me up the stairs as well. In the early days of Signavio, we often operated on pure intuition. Yet, even alongside the naysayers, there were always colleagues, partners, and supporters who lifted me up and showed me the path forward. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by people far more experienced than myself.
This journey with Signavio has been one of profound self-discovery. Staying motivated, energized, and resilient required me to understand myself deeply. By avoiding what drains me and focusing on what brings me joy, I have managed to continuously find renewed energy for every step of the climb.
As I wrote earlier, learning and winning together have been my two biggest motivators. I would rather fail as a team than win alone.
Reflecting on the entire journey of what is now SAP Signavio, it is clear that its enduring success has always been built on a human-centric culture. From university, through establishment, our earliest stages of growth, taking on external investors, and through the complex integration with SAP, our belief in trust, collaboration, and inclusivity has been our North Star. This culture wasn’t built overnight - it was formed through shared experiences, open dialogue, and relentless dedication to making everyone, at all levels, feel heard and valued.
Moreover, our commitment to bold experimentation, to learn, and to continuously improve and adapt. This ethos of "dare to try, fail, and learn" resonates across the organization, inspiring teams to innovate without fear and transforming setbacks into stepping stones.
Ultimately, the essence of SAP Signavio’s success lies in our people - driven by trust, and empowered to make meaningful impacts. This culture has not only shaped who we are but has also become our greatest value-add to our commercial success. It is the people, their stories, and their dedication that have made every milestone possible and will continue to propel us toward the infinite. As we look ahead, we carry this legacy of collaboration, resilience, and a relentless focus on people - because that is where true transformation begins.
Normally, growth momentum slows down at some point. With Signavio, instead, we have been able to come back to extreme growth time and time again, no matter how big we already were. Looking back, the jumps we made as a company were pretty significant. We started as a small productivity tool for process modeling, built the best process analytics product on the market while facing the fiercest competition, shaped process transformation as a category and built the first business transformation management portfolio on the planet.
We always dared to look into the future and imagined the role we could play in there. In hindsight, many things seem logical and make sense. And you might be tempted to think Signavio is your classical case study for great strategy. It is not. For us, it was all about bringing amazing people together and unleashing their full potential.
In the end, kindness is the source of all growth. This was Annabelle’s final message during her keynote, and I couldn’t agree more. There are those who attempt to achieve growth through pressure and force. But I’ve never seen it work in the long run. True growth is already within all of us; it simply needs nurturing to be unleashed.
Reflecting now, 15 years after starting Signavio, I have achieved everything that an entrepreneur can possibly wish for. Together as one, we built a tremendously successful business. More importantly, we did it without exploiting people or the planet.
And yet, our journey is far from complete. I often say, “1% is behind us, and 99% is still ahead of us.” I truly believe in that. With the immense potential and an incredible team, we have a phenomenal adventure still unfolding.
What excites me most is the chance to continue helping many more extraordinary colleagues climb the stairs and shine brightly as we forge ahead into the future.
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