Roland Busch is connected to the Adlon via camera, he wears a dark, buttoned-up sweater, over it a dark jacket. In the morning, he says, he is eight feet tall. At least 1.99 in the evening. In between: Siemens days, probably somewhere around two meters on average. The outfit looks sporty and almost a bit clerical in appearance, but Busch is a physicist, not one of those classic business administration people who always have to compete in a suit. And he can talk about people and the big picture here, he doesn’t have to dismantle tables in front of analysts and investors. So why not this style?
The most important question right now: If the Siemens boss could choose between the two large companies Volkswagen and Microsoft – which one would he buy? Roland Busch could now take a break, think, briefly demonstratively look holes in the air. But if he doesn’t, he makes up his mind quickly. “I wouldn’t buy either,” he says. “I could think of something else. But I won’t tell you that.” No VW, no Microsoft? That is self-confident, you probably have to be a Siemens boss to turn down such offers. But it can be assumed that the man has a fairly clear idea of what to buy next. Because the company, which has been buying and selling, selling and buying for decades, just doesn’t do anything and remains silent, would be somehow unusual.
A week ago, Roland Busch was standing in a large hall at Siemens’ headquarters in Munich, it was his first annual press conference as top boss. By the way, he was wearing a suit and tie then, possibly because he was dealing with analysts that day, with those people who are only interested in numbers. The 56-year-old physicist, who started as a project manager in the research and development department at Siemens in 1994, was not only able to report a profit growth of almost 60 percent. He also had to explain how this company, which was founded in the middle of the century before last, should continue. Many companies from this time have long since ceased to exist. On the other hand, a lot of what the company once stood for is no longer under the Siemens umbrella – power plants, power lines, medical technology. The person who designed and implemented the strategy for the major spin-offs in recent years is also no longer there: ex-boss Joe Kaeser had already handed over to Busch at the beginning of the year.
Busch wants to give people more responsibility
It is now the new one who has to manage the new Siemens with digitization, industrial automation and infrastructure. The goal: sales from digital businesses of 5.3 billion euros in the 2020 financial year are expected to grow by around ten percent annually by 2025. An old industrial icon as a lean digital company from Upper Bavaria – something like that doesn’t work by itself, of course. And certainly not overnight.
If the old tanker Siemens is to become more digital, then a lot will have to change, something like that goes far beyond computer software. Busch wants to give people more responsibility, educate them more, and “run the store faster,” as he says. But is that possible? Do everything faster and at the same time make people happier? “Being faster doesn’t mean rowing faster,” says Busch. Better to take out a little more bureaucracy and shorten things. It’s a misunderstanding that people have to be out of breath every time things are going to go faster. It’s like with austerity programs. “It’s like holding your breath, at some point we have to breathe again,” he says.
Only recently did the eternal rival General Electric (GE) from the USA announce that they now want to do it like Siemens. Split, split, shrink. Of course, this leads to the question: Will Siemens continue with the spin-off? Everything has its limits, says Busch. You can now carry on until you have “micro companies” one day. But is that really what you want, micro-companies? “As Siemens, we currently feel that we are in an excellent position,” he says. Which probably means: GE can now continue with the spin-off on its own. He’s not really driven into space at the moment either. “I think we have a lot of homework on earth,” he says. For example, getting a grip on climate change. “It makes sense to join forces here.” And because it’s current: What does the Siemens boss expect from the new government? Answer: More speed, more investments in infrastructure work, tailwind. And of course: think about the schools. “The students of today are our employees of tomorrow.”