To correct a common myth, Siemens no longer sells mobile phones. The mobile phone business was sold to BenQ a number of years ago. What we do sell are power generation and power transmission systems, health care and diagnosis equipment, automation and electrical systems, infrastructure and water technology solutions, security systems, IT call center, to name a few. No mobile phones though.
It is strange that while the mobile phone business only represented single digit percentage of overall business for Siemens, most people believe Siemens sells mainly mobile phones and power stations. Either this was very good marketing and advertising for the mobile phone business or poor marketing for the other 95 percent of our product portfolio. A lesson to be learned for large multi business sector companies.
Siemens Philippines is now growing its Health Care, Energy and Industrial sector businesses at typically 12 percent to14 percent per year. This is possible but a challenge as the market, especially the industrial market, while considered “bullish” is what I term poised. What do I mean by that: If you ever stand on a train station, and I have experienced this in the UK, and you see the train you are waiting for slowly arrive but stop on the last corner, then you think to yourself “Well, it’s almost here. Is it going to come, why is it waiting, and how long will it wait? When can I step on the train?” This is the feeling of the industrial market - that it’s poised to take off and “arrive at the station” but when exactly, we’re not sure. The real push, which I believe will drive industrial market, will come from governmental projects. Unfortunately, both the number of projects and the project execution are lacking behind what we need as a country and are behind the standards of our neighboring countries. I feel the market will slowly take off, but it will take a few years still.
I’m sometimes asked about my personal values as CEO of Siemens Philippines. Nothing feels better than when a customer states that he was impressed with a member of our staff or mentions that a project/issue was done well. This is what I value the most and this is the mindset which I’m trying to instill in Siemens Philippines. When the customer is impressed, then we will go back to the customer and ask for a repeat order so that he can be happy a second time!
Unfortunately not all projects are successful as hoped and certain projects have issues or conflict, at no fault of either supplier or customer, and end up at differentials. I am dragged into these, often at a late stage when both parties are starting to fight. One of my objectives: Try and get each party to see the situation from the other party’s point of view, so that each understand why the other party is arguing this way and then try and get a midway solution (win-win). An all out win for one party, while often desired, will in most cases, only lead to further issues or claims, sour relationships and definitely no further business.
Leadership style then plays an important part. What is my leadership style? Perhaps it should be better asked to my direct reports: I expect quality in the daily work of Siemens and a very proactive approach to business. Siemens has a reputation of Innovation, Excellence and Responsibility and we will strive to maintain that reputation. It is what brings us a lot of our business. I myself am very hands on, in that, I want to know exactly what is happening in the company. If the business is running in the right direction, I will step back and let it run but keep on watching. If it falters, I’ll get directly involved. A lot of time, however, is spent on the company itself, and by this I mean with employee and corporate issues. I learned a long time ago that the most important asset of a company is its staff – they determine the level of success of the company.
No business unfortunately is possible without touching on the sensitive issue on compliance or governance. It is a challenging topic of the current time, especially in the Philippines. I have one simple rule for Siemens Philippines – “Business should be professional, ethical and honest – no exceptions.” I know that other forms of business are prevalent in the Philippines, however, I am confident that Siemens will gain business from partners or customers who want to undertake transparent and clean business.
Siemens is not that different than some of the other successful multinational companies. Maintaining reputation, driving innovation and pushing for business growth is a full time job. On top of that, is maintaining not only employee motivation, but more so employee interaction in the direction and growth of the company. Do I have a social life – definitely. I like sports. I like trying out new sports. In the Philippines, the country is excellent for golf and it is almost a prerequisite for top management. However, I try and learn new sports or activities just to keep myself on the edge and learn new skills. I recently acquired my gliding license and saloon car racing license. I want to demonstrate to those who said they don’t have the time, the effort or the will that they’re wrong. The saying “where there is a will, there is a way” is true. One should be able to be successful in both business and pleasure.