It’s certainly not news to SAP Mentors that digital technology has completely re-written the rules for business, as well as for life. However, there’s now a growing awareness that leadership and management practices, as well as organizational designs, have not kept pace with these changes. Built on industrial era needs for standardization and tops-down control, they are completely out of sync with what’s needed to thrive in the 21st century.
To address this problem, SAP worked with Gary Hamel and his team at The Management Innovation eXchange (The MIX) to create the Unlimited Human Potential Challenge; a global ideas contest to find innovative approaches to leadership, management and work.
Success in the next decade will go to those who most effectively re-invent themselves in the face of accelerating change. But the continuous innovation that’s required will happen only if everyone contributes their initiative, passion and creativity each and every day. Indeed, these innately human qualities are the fuel for innovation. Yet a recent survey by Gallup found that only 30% of employees are engaged and inspired at work, a statistic that bodes ill for most organizations.
This is especially vexing for Millennials, who see work as part of a higher purpose where success is not defined by economic profits alone, but also social impact. They expect work to reflect the principles of the digital world into which they were born; the principles of transparency, collaboration, openness, community and self-determination.
At the same time, a universe of free agents has emerged. Customers, suppliers and other stakeholders are playing an active role across the entire value chain. Traditional organizational boundaries are disappearing, blurring the distinction between internal and external workers.
We’re looking for people to submit stories and hacks about how to unleash human potential in organizations. Specifically we’re looking for ideas that:
Unleash Human Capacity – by designing environments and systems for work that inspire individuals to contribute their full imagination, initiative and passion every day.
Aggregate Human Capability – by harnessing the power of emerging technologies to activate, enlist, and organize talent across boundaries.
Create New Business Models – that innovate new value and improve lives in meaningful ways.
We hope that you, as SAP Mentors, will identify with the principles and goals around the Unlimited Human Potential M-Prize. To this end, we've scheduled a Special Public SAP Mentor Monday Briefing by Gary Hamel, specifically for you. The details are:
