Name: Why Siemens AG CEO Runs The 170 Year Old Company Like A Startup
Uploaded: 2017-10-03
Duration: 4 min 49 s
Description: CEO Joe Kaeser discusses how the entrepreneurial mindset can benefit everyone in the company.

Joe we're hearing from more and more business leaders that they are more committed and wanna get more involved in solving a lot of the world's social problems. Now you have said that, if you're not in the business to improve society, you shouldn't be in business. So tell us how this thinking of yours is guiding what Seaman's is doing. We need to change our scope. Into more, what actually is the purpose of a company. Is the purpose of a company just making some short term money? Or is the purpose of a company to create social value? And that's why I actually said is you know if a company doesn't Provided the earlier to society should not exist cuz what is it for? That question needs to be answered. Certainly, you are moving ahead on your environmental efforts, you are moving ahead on training the next generation of students to be ready for manufacturing jobs, you are not waiting for a government policy to come out, or for someone to tell you that, It's time to act. But still, you've gotta get a commitment from your shareholders and from people working on the shop floor. How do you do that? That if you'll show people the way, and make them understand what matters in life, then you get those together very well. Because everyone wants to be successful. This must require a different kind of leadership, right? Your people want to know who you are. Your people want to know what you say about different things, what is your opinion about social, economic, and political matters. They wanna know, and I think they have a right to know. And we also want to make sure our people speak up, And that realism, and you get a lot of good information out of that. You make it sound very simple, and very easy to do, but it does seem to involve changing the culture of a company, changing its mindset. What are you telling Your employees on all levels of the company. I tell my people, no matter who they are and what they do, just act as if it was their own company. Always remember [ UNKNOWN ] money you want to spend for this, would you put your reputation on the line for that? And if it's [ UNKNOWN ] go ahead and do it. I understand that you spent several years very early on in your career working in Silicon Valley. And you were involved with entrepeneurs and start up companies. How did all of that experience rub off on you in terms of Your own way that you look at leadership. [ UNKNOWN ] see is people are fast. That they're go for 110 % like [ UNKNOWN ] in quality and stuff, they go for 80 %. And then find the rest. They never stop moving. They always are on the move. I never just listen and look, and what happens next. And a third one is that this is about a massively networked community. So at a network, actually, which exists, Is the winning formula. This is about a mentality This is about a way to do business, not just the geographics. And once you understand the silicon valley, what it is all about, go after the next big thing, try to make a difference in life, in purpose. Then I guess you need to understand what does that mean for me in Germany, what does that mean for me in Boston? What does it mean for [ INAUDIBLE ] in Minnesota or in India. So you need to understand you know what is it that happens there and then I think you'll be well off. Well it's self evident that those years in Silicon Valley had made an impression on you because since you became CEO of Siemens you've been really pushing it to act and think more entrepreneurially. So much so, That a German newspaper recently criticized you for acting more like a founder of a fast paced start up, this is his quote, than the head of one of Germany's most traditional companies. What was your reaction to that? Well, there's a lot of, you know, unasked advice in life and it is what it is. But the point is, I'm not going to be the one who turns out the last lights of the last conglomerate. So we need to reinvent ourselves all the time. We've been around for 170 years, and we have a reason. But it's great to have a great past and history, but it's even greater to have a good future. And the most important history is the history you make today. Respective of our past but we need to look forward. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

CEO Joe Kaeser discusses how the entrepreneurial mindset can benefit everyone in the company.