August 20, 2020
Born in Amityville Long Island to working class parents, Bill McDermott is one of today’s most successful, admired, and inspiring global leaders. He is an American businessman, author, and current CEO of ServiceNow; the world’s leader in digital cloud workflow. During his time as CEO of German tech firm SAP, he realized an increase in market cap from $39 billion to $145 billion. An astronomical increase in an 8 year span.
At the age of 11, he sold greeting cards, cookies and other products to the customers on his paper route. By 16, he purchased a Deli from his former boss and previous employer using promissory notes after talking him into a revenue-sharing agreement. At 22, he secured a job at Xerox as a sales representative, refusing to leave his interview until he was granted a position. In a 2015 article written by Canadian journalist Jared Lindzon, McDermott can be quoted saying that every business has its complications, and that every challenge or obstacle has to be an inspiration for growth rather than something to obsess over.From paperboy to leading the world's largest business software provider, McDermott’s story is awe inspiring to say the least, and illustrative of his entrepreneurial spirit, passion, and refusal to say no.
His compelling narrative “Winners Dream: A Journey from Corner Store to Corner Office” was awarded a gold medal for business memoir of the year by the Axiom Business Book Awards, and details his journey from where he began to where he is now. We at Zen Maker Labs encourage all our viewers to read, and highly recommend you add this publication to your reading list.