Leading For Human Agency With SAP's V.R. Ferose

The Anxious Achiever

Morra Aarons-Mele

Business, Careers, Management, Health & Fitness, Mental Health

4.7 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 6 November 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In today’s high-pressure world, leading with love isn’t idealistic, it’s essential. In this episode, I sit down with V.R. Ferose, 26-year SAP leader and Head of SAP Academy for Engineering and founder of the Autism at Work program, to talk about why love as a leadership practice, seeing people clearly, protecting dignity, and amplifying agency, is the most powerful business strategy of all. He shares why trust compounds over time, how to lead with both strength and compassion, and why the future belongs to leaders who lead with heart intelligence, not just artificial intelligence. Get ready to rethink success, rediscover meaning, and learn how leading with love can create workplaces where everyone can thrive. Check out our sponsors: Northwest Registered Agent - Protect your privacy, build your brand and get your complete business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes! Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/achieverfree In this Episode, You Will Learn 00:00 Meet V.R. Ferose, 26-year SAP leader and Head of SAP Academy for Engineering. 07:00 How history’s great social movements teach modern leadership lessons. 15:45 What “only strength respects strength” really means when facing conflict. 24:00 Why heart intelligence, not AI, is our greatest human advantage. 32:45 How real learning and growth happen through in-person connection. 37:30 How AI is eroding creativity and reflection. 42:45 The link between social comparison and anxiety. 48:45 What is the origin of Autism at Work? 55:00 Why “Autism at Work” began as a choiceless decision. 01:04:00 Why do so many high-achievers feel boxed in and powerless? Resources + Links Get a copy of my book - The Anxious Achiever Watch the podcast on YouTube Find more resources on our website morraam.com Follow Follow me: on LinkedIn @morraaronsmele + Instagram @morraam Follow V.R. on LinkedIn @ferosevr

Transcript

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0:00.0	In messy high-stakes workplaces and in a messy high-stakes era, leading with love isn't naive.
0:11.1	It's the only strategy.
0:13.0	I'm Maura Erin Smealy, and this is the anxious achiever, the show that looks at the intersection of mental health and leadership and work
0:21.3	and asks, how can we do it all better?
0:24.9	Choose love, then choose strength.
0:28.1	My guest today, VR Faro's, has spent 26 years inside SAP.
0:33.4	Now he leads the Academy for Engineering.
0:37.0	Over the years, he's held various positions managing director in India
0:41.5	and senior executive roles all over the globe for this giant company.
0:46.9	He's a rare thing.
0:47.9	He's an insider in a big system who studies social movements and radical change.
0:55.5	And Faro's has learned something simple and powerful and almost antithetical to where most of us are right now.
1:03.0	When change is frightening and the stakes are high, love is the only leadership move that works.
1:08.2	Not romantic love. Love as a practice, seeing people clearly, protecting their
1:15.8	dignity, amplifying human agency, and helping everyone flourish in the way that you would want to
1:24.6	flourish. Foros applies that ethic at work.
1:32.6	He created the renowned autism at work program, a Harvard Business School case study and program that has inspired hundreds of programs to hire neurodivergent talent around the
1:38.2	world.
1:39.6	In Feroz's case, because love demanded inclusion.
1:43.1	And of course, innovation demands inclusion too.
1:46.3	In a world where AI automates our hands and our heads, the only advantage left is heart intelligence, says Faroze.
1:55.3	It doesn't mean being a pushover. As one of India's former presidents told him, only strength respects strengths.
	...

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