Problem
Zia Yusuf at SAP: Having Impact (Stanford Graduate School of Business:
A. Zia Yusuf had a very successful career in SAP, a company dominated first by technology and then by marketing and sales, without being in either one of these units. What advantages, and disadvantages have his various organizational positions provided him?
B. How was Zia able to overcome any career stigma or setback from his first position in a unit, SAP Markets, that was a failure?
C. How has Zia Yusuf been able to survive "turmoil at the top?" He has worked for a number of different powerful SAP figures but has maintained his positive career trajectory even as some of them have left. Why? How? And most importantly, what lessons are there for you in Yusuf's ability to transition to different bosses?
D. What qualities have helped Yusuf be so successful at SAP and subsequently? Do you think these personal qualities would be as helpful anywhere, or are there particular features of the environments that Yusuf has chosen that make them particularly relevant?
E. What are the advantages, and disadvantages, in terms of advancing his career, from Yusuf's moves first to Streetline and then to the Boston Consulting Group?
F. What lessons are there for you as you think about your own career, and what subsequent moves to do you think you should make when referring to the case of Zia Yusuf?