Hasso Plattner and the art of letting go
Hasso Plattner likely desired different circumstances for his final shareholders' assembly as chairman of the SAP supervisory board. Certainly not a conjuncture that indicates that the supervisory board is on the brink of losing the capital market's trust, which the management under Christian Klein has painstakingly rebuilt recently. Unfortunately, the handover at the helm of the supervisory board is anything but trust-building. First, the process dragged on, then the board made a misstep. And finally, the designated successor turns out to be a transitional solution.
In bad company
Exemplary succession solutions for illustrious founders are also rare among SAP's immediate competitors. At long-time rival Oracle, the 80-year-old Larry Ellison, utterly fails to relinquish control. CEOs serving under the founder, who has been acting as Executive Chairman since 2014, frequently emerge as his puppets with notable frequency. Marc Benioff, the „pioneer of cloud computing,“ is 20 years younger, but his successor at the helm of Salesforce was only granted a few months before Benioff reclaimed leadership.
Role model Big Tech
It seems that the path to separation is particularly rocky for technology icons, who are strongly associated with the innovation power of their companies in the perception of customers. This may play a significantly larger role in the business customer sector than in the consumer market; an impression that arises when one expands the perspective in the industry. At Apple, Microsoft, and Google, the founders were much better at mastering the art of letting go. Apple founder Steve Jobs had already built up a successor in Tim Cook long before his progressive illness, and the cult company has remained on a course of success in his hands. Bill Gates not only silently handed over the reins at Microsoft to Steve Ballmer early on, but also stepped down as Chairman ten years ago. And the Google founders also found a manager they trusted in Eric Schmidt, first as CEO and then as Chairman.
With a transitional candidate as a successor, the acid test for SAP and Plattner's final farewell is probably still to come. It remains a farewell in instalments.
