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Case Study

Mindfulness at SAP (A): A skeptic attends the program

By Anand Narasimhan, Heather Cairns-Lee and Nancy Lane

5 pages

August 2024

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Reference: IMD-7-2489

This case sets up the context for how the global, IT company SAP transformed a grassroots mindfulness program into a formal offering. Using the situation of a skeptical participant as its starting point, it recounts the story of how Peter Bostelmann, delivery executive at SAP Field Services, began a mindfulness journey in the 2010s that led to a personal transformation. Motivated by the improvements he experienced, Bostelmann sought to bring the positive benefits of mindfulness that he had experienced – navigating challenging situations, managing stressful situations, as well as improved focus and work-life balance – to the wider organization. At the same time, there was a group of practitioners based in Germany that he leveraged in order to help bring mindfulness to SAP. The case follows Bostelmann’s journey to 2013 when he piloted the Search Inside yourself Mindfulness program.

Learning Objective

Understand the elements that enabled SAP to develop a grassroots mindfulness program.

Keywords

Workplace Well-being, General Management, Global Business, Human Resources, Leadership, Mindfulness, Leadership Development

Settings

World/global, Germany
SAP, Information Technology
2012-2023

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

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