Blog it Forward – Mariana Mihaylova

The Blog It Forward (BIF) Chain has been one of the most exciting and fun reads on SCN so far to me! I can’t think of a better way to get to know a little bit more all passionate community people.

It’s been more than 2 years since Jason Lax blogged it forward to me. Yay my bad… but finally the time has come! This is my last (for now) SCN blog. After 7 years, I have headed up towards other opportunities outside SAP. So here is also my Thanks and Goodbye to the greater SCN community!

A little about me:

I am a Bulgarian currently living in Sweden with my family. My greatest passions are traveling, cultures, languages, equality, sustainability and personal development. I try to experience as much of the local atmosphere wherever I go and I am so blessed to know many wonderful people from all around the world.

Prior to SAP I have been working in several international companies helping them manage change while expanding business operations.

My SAP journey:

I joined SAP and SCN in 2007. All these years have been challenging, full of constant change and learning. Not always simple, but so fulfilling and fun. Most of all I am grateful for all people that I have been so lucky to meet, virtually and in person, about all shared passions that always made me think of the community as my big extended family.

I wish I could thank everyone who has ever influenced me at SAP, but the list will be endless. So hoping for your understanding and thanking you all wholeheartedly I will only mention my top Mentors: Audrey Stevenson, Marilyn Pratt, Jocelyn Dart and Jason Lax. Thank you all!!

Special thanks to Sue Keohan, Genger Gatling, William Li, Michal Krawczyk, Agasthuri Doss and Shabarish Vijayakumar. It’s amazing how much I learned from all of you although I’ve never met some of you. Thank you!

One secret:

I have always thought I have been blessed with the best bosses at SAP. But I am certainly not the only one. My special thanks goes to Eduardo Chiocconi who occupies the top. If I ever have the chance to work with you, Eduardo I won’t think twice 🙂

Jason’s blog challenged me with some great questions to answer

Here’s a try!

• What do you enjoy most from your work and why?

The constant change, challenge and learning. The urge to break out of my comfort zone. I am not saying that it’s always natural and easy but it’s so inspiring to see my own limits expanding. Looking back I can say there were hardly 2 days similar to each other. The people and community who always challenge me to keep going, ask questions and find solutions. I have enjoyed working with the Integration and Orchestration portfolio, with many partners and consultants, designing surveys, newsletters, trials, sharing (mostly good) news and encouraging the ongoing communication between SAP people and the greater community as a way to get closer to our customers and users. My biggest challenge and also fulfillment came from launching and serving as an editor and moderator of several SCN communities, helping them grow and keeping them up to date and (hopefully) informative. I think I lived to the SCN standards since I made it twice among the SCN Topic Leaders and even into the Moderator Spotlight series.

• What have you learned from your mistakes?

That’s a difficult one to dress in a few words. Perhaps everything important I know 🙂

• What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

On top of product and solution management I have (already) headed towards business analysis and consulting to help businesses go through change while keeping it simple and staying flexible. And most of all – keep their people happy, motivated and on board. If there is one top advice this would be “take good care of your employees and they will take good care of your customers”. It’s far more easy to say than to deliver I am sure everyone will agree! Happy teams do wonders for any business, but how we get there is a whole mountain to climb. Change is never easy and many get lost. Change is the only constant known to mankind but we, somehow, always struggle to get it right and it, somehow, always hits us by surprise. People’ and business’ costs can be overwhelming so good guides are more wanted than ever. Contributing to this space is my biggest endeavor right now.

• What makes you run? (What are you passionate about)

I am really passionate about sustainability, equality in all its forms, personal development and giving people all support I am capable of, but also space. This includes constantly reminding people what they are good at and encouraging them to nurture and express their highest potential.

I will not blog it forward to anyone specifically. I would just say do it sooner than later 🙂

If you would like to keep in touch connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter. All the best and see you soon!