Winners Dream: Lessons from Corner Store to Corner Office

Axiom Business Books Award. Gold Medal 2015. Biography

Inspirational memoir from one of the most admired CEOs of today, rich in stories about how to get a job, how to excel and to lead in the 21st century.

"Bill McDermott has had a hugely successful career--from Xerox to SAP. In this very human book, he describes the secrets that led to this success."--Jack Welch

"Bill McDermott is my good friend because, like me, in spite of great success, he never forgot his humble beginnings. The hardships and challenges his family experienced when Bill was a young boy motivated and inspired him to become the man he is today. Read this book and you too will be motivated and inspired."--Tony Bennett

"Bill McDermott's story shows how to grow a business as well as a career with authenticity and respect. A heartfelt read, there is much to learn from Bill's journey."--Howard Schultz, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Starbucks Coffee Company

"Bill McDermott sees ambition and compassion as comrades in the workplace rather than competitors. That's rare. He claims it's just common sense... but I claim it's the Irish in him."--Bono, lead singer of U2 and (RED) co-founder.

Table of Contents:

Part 1. Hungry -- 1. Optimism -- 2. Underdog -- 3. The Greatest Coach -- 4. Find a Way -- 5. Want It More -- Part 2. Empathy -- 6. Listen and Learn -- 7. Out-Hustle -- 8. Register Ambition -- 9. Player-Coach -- Part 3. Inspire -- 10. Real -- 11. Paint Pictures of Success -- 12. Questions of Reinvention -- 13. Higher Purpose -- 14. Pageantry -- 15. Better -- Part 4. Thunderbolts -- 16. Time to Fly -- 17. Lost -- 18. Faith -- 19. Epiphany -- Part 5. Foundations of Discipline -- 20. Sweetness -- 21. Urgency -- 22. Anatomy of Change -- 23. Art and Science -- 24. Big Athletes -- Part 6. Be Bold -- 25. Crisis of Opportunity -- 26. The Corner Office -- 27. Air Cover for the Troops -- 28. Trust Is Still the Ultimate Currency -- 29. Big Ideas -- 30. The Work of Dreams -- 31. The Journey -- Acknowledgments -- Index.

A leadership and career manifesto told through the narrative of one of today's most inspiring, admired, and successful global leaders. In "Winners Dream," Bill McDermott--the CEO of the world's largest business software company, SAP--chronicles how relentless optimism, hard work, and disciplined execution embolden people and equip organizations to achieve audacious goals. Growing up in working-class Long Island, a sixteen-year-old Bill traded three hourly wage jobs to buy a small deli, which he ran by instinctively applying ideas that would be the seeds for his future success. After paying for and graduating college, Bill talked his way into a job selling copiers door-to-door for Xerox, where he went on to rank number one in every sales position he held and eventually became the company's youngest-ever corporate officer. Eventually, Bill left Xerox and in 2002 became the unlikely president of SAP's flailing American business unit. There, he injected enthusiasm and accountability into the demoralized culture by scaling his deli, sales, and management strategies. In 2010, Bill was named co-CEO, and in May 2014 became SAP's sole, and first non-European, CEO. Colorful and fast-paced, Bill's anecdotes contain effective takeaways: gutsy career moves; empathetic sales strategies; incentives that yield exceptional team performance; and proof of the competitive advantages of optimism and hard work. At the heart of Bill's story is a blueprint for success and the knowledge that the real dream is the journey, not a preconceived destination.

Bill McDermott is the co-CEO of SAP, the world¿s largest business software company. Before joining SAP in 2002, McDermott served as executive vice president of Worldwide Sales and Operations at Siebel Systems and president of Gartner, Inc., where he led the company¿s core operations. He spent seventeen years at Xerox Corporation, where he rose from a sales professional to become the company¿s youngest corporate officer and division president.