Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP, shared stories from his personal journey to illustrate how one’s dream can be achieved through relentless optimism, hard work, and disciplined execution before a packed house at Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM) in Beijing, China, on January 14, 2016. His “Winners Dream” talk formed part of the Tsinghua Eminent Entrepreneur Lectures. The event was hosted by Professor XU Xin, Associate Dean of Tsinghua SEM.

In the welcome speech, Professor QIAN Yingyi, Dean of Tsinghua SEM briefly introduced SAP and commented that the reason why SAP had been a successfully leading player in the global ERP software market for 40 years was because its continuous innovation. “Bill’s life and career is a legend. He has great passion for life, and an unwavering will to move forward”, Dean QIAN said, “I am sure everyone here will be inspired by his story and his philosophy of ‘infusing past into future’.”

opening remarks by Professor QIAN Yingyi, Dean of Tsinghua SEM at Tsinghua Eminent Entrepreneur Lectures “Winners Dream: Talk to Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP”

In his keynote address, Bill explained how certain key tenets can be applied at every level of business. Despite humble beginnings, Bill’s desire, enthusiasm and dedication has seen him surpass expectations at every stage of his career. Now, as CEO at SAP, he still draws on his early life lessons to help guide the company grow and transfer in an ever-changing marketplace, and he hopes that SAP can support the next generation of Chinese leaders as they forge their own paths in the business world.

Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP, gave a keynote speech at Tsinghua Eminent Entrepreneur Lectures

“China today is advancing at an incredible rate, but the same entrepreneurial values that have served me so well in my career can also help young, talented individuals achieve anything they put their minds to. At SAP, we take great pride in nurturing our people, helping them to achieve their dreams and turning them into winners. Nowhere is this philosophy more important than in China today, with the country on the verge of an innovation revolution that will inspire the world,” Bill told the students.

Tsinghua Eminent Entrepreneur Lectures are organized by Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management. It invites visionary, innovative and charismatic business leaders as speakers to share their entrepreneurial and managerial experience and their thinking about life. Its goal is to improve Tsinghua students’ understanding of China’s private enterprises, reformed state-owned enterprises and the entrepreneurs and managers of multinational companies and spark their entrepreneurship.