What happens when the path you’ve worked hard to follow starts to feel misaligned?
For Mike Robinson, his journey has been shaped as much by reinvention as it has by ambition, unfolding across decades of experience, unexpected returns to SAP, and a growing awareness that the system he was part of didn’t always align with what he believed.
The Hustle to Get In
Mike began as a Chartered Accountant, auditing SAP clients before becoming certified in FICO, but the management consulting world never fully clicked. Instead of leaning in, he made the honest choice to step away, returning to assurance and business process work—less glamorous perhaps, but more aligned at the time.
Still, SAP had a way of finding him again. Years later, as a Risk Manager at Sovereign Insurance, he was pulled back in through a global AIA template implementation, followed by two more projects. As Mike puts it:
“SAP is not a guarantee of success, but it certainly gives you options to get ahead.”
Striving, Always
There’s a consistent thread running through Mike’s journey: a refusal to settle.
“I've always been motivated to strive towards a goal, not to accept the status quo.”
That mindset helped him break into SAP and carried him through multiple implementations—but over time, striving evolved into something more complex, because the further you go, the more clearly you begin to see the system you’re part of.
When Success Starts to Feel Uncomfortable
As his career progressed, so did his awareness. What once looked like opportunity began to reveal trade-offs, and with that came a growing discomfort. “I’ve at times felt trapped in a system that rewards the wrong behaviour… a system that’s inherently broken because its objective is profit.”
It’s not something often said out loud in our space, yet many quietly feel it—the tension between progress and purpose, between profit and people.
For Mike, it became deeply personal, shaped by experiences like redundancies packaged as “corporate progress” and decisions that didn’t sit right.
Stepping Away to Find Another Way
So he did something not everyone is willing to do—he stepped off the expected path. At one point, that meant becoming a “man in a van” for a couple of years, a stark shift from the corporate and ERP world he knew.
Now, he’s reinventing again, diving into AI, building his own consultancy, and developing vibe-coded apps—creating something that feels more aligned with both where he is and what he believes. It’s not linear, but it’s real.
Time, Pressure, and Possibility
At 56, there’s an awareness of time that comes through clearly—a sense of urgency, but also belief.
“Time is ticking but I will be rich one day soon!”
And perhaps that richness isn’t just financial—it hints at something broader: freedom, alignment, ownership, and purpose.
Paying It Forward
When asked what advice he’d give others in the ERP space, Mike keeps it simple: train, learn, get certified—then repeat.
Beneath that simplicity is a deeper truth: growth never really stops, it just changes shape. And in this current chapter, what he needs is equally human—more collaboration, new business, and people who can help bring ideas to market—because no matter how experienced you are, the next chapter is never built alone.
The Human Side of ERP
Mike’s story isn’t neat or linear—it’s layered with ambition, doubt, reinvention, and honesty. It’s about striving while questioning, stepping away and returning, holding success in one hand and uncertainty in the other.
And maybe that’s exactly why it matters—because behind every system and every project, there are humans trying to make sense of it all… and sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is admit we’re still figuring it out.
Connect with Mike on LinkedIn
