Hasso's wish list

Another professor needs to be quoted: August-Wilhelm Scheer once said of Hasso Plattner that he knew of no one who could see so far into the future and do so logically.

It is also well known that a former German chancellor said that anyone with visions should see a doctor - an Austrian chancellor has also adopted this saying. In Hasso Plattner's case, however, it was the other way around. Through his visions, he has saved SAP many headaches. Time and again, his visions have saved SAP from crises and missteps.

The step from Chairman of the Executive Board to Chairman of the Supervisory Board was a foregone conclusion for Professor Hasso Plattner. Perhaps it would have been better if he had never acquired the administrative tasks of a supervisory board chairman, but had mutated into a singular ERP scientist after his active time at SAP. By founding the Hasso Plattner Institute at the University of Potsdam, he took the much more interesting path.

Since then, the obligation to chair the Supervisory Board must have triggered ambivalent feelings in Plattner. He has successfully led the Supervisory Board in recent years and managed critical personnel decisions well. But it was always also clearly visible that Plattner saw himself more as a visionary strategist and had little understanding for many organizational, administrative and also legal concerns and restrictions.

If Professor Hasso Plattner were now lying on Professor Sigmund Freud's couch, what would one professor tell the other? It's impossible to guess who Hasso Plattner sees as his successor on the Supervisory Board. Gerd Oswald has already waved him off for personal reasons. He remains a very committed member of the supervisory board, but someone else is to take over as chairman.

Plattner would like to see a much younger chairman who has a lot of experience but few current commitments, because the SAP Supervisory Board has a lot of work waiting for the next chairman. In view of the numerous challenges, SAP would need a competent supervisory board member with personal experience who is not only a supervisory body, but also an advisor. Gerd Oswald fulfills this dual role of supervisor and advisor very well, while some other members overemphasize the supervisory mandate when advice for the Executive Board is actually urgently needed.