1 + 1 = 3

After the enthusiasm of the first days, the first difficulties begin. Some simple to solve, some more complicated. Some purely professional, some more personal. Some related to the project, others more internal. You know, we didn’t come here on holiday…

My team consisted of Bibiana (“Bibi” for friends), a Brazilian girl who helps our partners improve their marketing strategies, and Stephan (“Stephan” for friends), a German guy with a PhD in Mathematics (he’d be proud about this title 😅) who helps in defining our strategies related to the AI world, and me of course (friends can call me whatever they want), a nice Italian guy who…oh well, I’ve already told you too much about me!! 🙃

Three different people, three different countries, three different jobs, three different backgrounds, three different opinions, three different worlds, three different flavors and often three different ideas. And what happens when there are different ideas??

We talk, discuss and look for a solution that satisfies everyone or a solution that is acceptable compromise for most. Oh yes, because even just to decide what to eat sometimes we had to reach a compromise:

• Spicy? Yes or no
• At what time? 20, 19, 18 (luckily I won at least this fight, not too early!!)
• Where? Outside or take away at the hotel
• How much to spend? Fancy restaurant or street food
• Which cuisine? Japanese? Vietnamese?? Italian??? Spanish???? Indian????? Indonesian?????? Come on, no Indonesian again!! Ahhhhhhh!!! 😱

In short, you understood that it wasn’t always easy to live together for a whole month with other people who until yesterday were simply strangers. But SoSa is also and above all this.

I remember that during my interview I was asked: “What would you like to receive from this experience?”

My answer was clear and precise (not only because I was already expecting this question 😅): “I would like a challenge that takes me out of my comfort zone (here it comes back again, maybe they should call it “SoSOutYourComfortZone pro-bono program” 🤣) making me meet cultures other than mine to grow personally and professionally”. Well, how they could not take me??!! 😅

SoSa aims to put different people in the same room so that, from their union, it is possible produce something far superior to the mere sum of single individuals. That’s why one of the lessons I learned is that “1 + 1 = 3!”.

This means that collaboration between different individuals leads to a super result, while without collaboration it is difficult to create something important and this also applies to companies.

People are not “islands”, this means that we cannot live alone focusing only on ourselves. Best improvement and innovation are driven by discussion, sometimes easier and sometimes harder, between people with different ideas. As Consultant I love work with people, especially with a different background and role then mine, because I can learn (and sometimes teach too 🙃) from them. For the same reason I love travelling, because I have the opportunity to discover other cultures and visit different places with different traditions.

My SoSa was a great opportunity in this sense because, more than my specific sub-team (Bibi + Stephan), I had the opportunity to face with other colleagues as well coming with my same purpose from different areas of the world such as Spain, India, Israel, US, Mexico and Germany of course 😅 in a larger team.

Thanks to all of them (Bibi, Kathie, Mala, Marta, Naomi, Binod, David, Fernando, Jan, Stephan, Thilo) for being part of this adventure creating a perfect melting pot.

Thanks also to all Indonesian people I met during this journey starting from our host Aparna, Niko and the Torajamelo’s team and continuing with Katta, Angel and all the people that supported us.

*The SAP Social Sabbatical Program is an award-winning portfolio of global pro-bono consulting programs that enable SAP employees to share their knowledge, skills and expertise with innovative non-profits and social enterprises all around the world. It builds upon SAP’s Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy to create equitable access to economic opportunity, education & employment, and the green economy.