From grassroots to global mindfulness at SAP
Peter decided the most effective way to gain visibility and support would be to use an existing, externally created course that had a good reputation, choosing the ‘Search Inside Yourself (SIY)’ program created by a Google engineer, a neuroscientist, and a noted mindfulness teacher. The program had been used so successfully at Google that the tech giant set up the non-profit Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI) to disseminate it more widely.
In late 2012, Peter met with SAP’s chief medical officer and global head of health and well-being management, Natalie Lotzmann. Natalie agreed that SIY would benefit employees and that Peter, with his deep background in business and mindfulness, was the right person to bring it to SAP. She also challenged him to define a strategy to scale the program globally, offering him a temporary role in her department while he set things up.
In parallel, Peter decided to test his theory. At that time, California was the epicenter of organizational mindfulness in the Western world, with other global companies, including Cisco and Genentech, providing courses for employees.
In May 2013, Peter organized an event with leading figures in mindfulness in the US at SAP’s Palo Alto office. It was packed, with 500 employees attending. Peter asked attendees if they would be interested in finding sponsorship from their managers to attend the two pilots he was organizing for the second half of 2013 and was able to recruit 25 managers and 25 employees for the pilots.