#RolandUnplugged: Recent Episodes
Siemens
Welcome to our internal podcast – Roland Unplugged. A new “investigative” series where we want to discover more about Siemens’ future and uncover new sides of Roland Busch, CEO of Siemens AG. Unscripted, unexpected and fun, each episode focuses on one topic and lasts about 20 min. Subscribe and send your ideas or topics to #RolandUnplugged on Yammer
Collaboration can be a challenge in a big company like ours, still, there are great examples especially if we look at our regions. In this episode, I share what I learnt from my visits to Southwest Europe and Latin America and how they collaborating to better serve our customers and grow our business. It was great to meet with some many colleagues!
Today we presented our €1 billion investment plan for Germany, including €500 million to lay the foundation of the industrial metaverse. We are creating a new technology campus in Erlangen to intensifying research and development and expanding our manufacturing capacity.
The key to Siemens’ success lies in serving our customers. It lies in our technology. In delivering more of it. Delivering it faster. In this episode, I talk about how everyone in this company can contribute to Siemens Xcelerator. We discuss the progress that has been made over the last year and share how it’s transforming the way we do business.
Siemens presented its €2 billion investment strategy which includes building new factories, expanding existing plants and sites, new training facilities and new innovation labs. In this episode, Roland explains why this boosts our growth, innovation and resilience. You will find the transcript in English and German if you click at the three dots to the right.
In this Unplugged Short, Roland talks about Siemens’ outstanding quarterly results and about the ingredients of the company’s success. As we report new records on profitability, on orders and on order backlog, he outlines the key factors behind the excellence; demand is rising and we have the right strategy; customers trust our technology and see it as the key to their success; our ecosystem of partners is growing quickly and supports both us and our customers. And on top of it all we have a great team, really outstanding people, focused on the customer, getting the job done. Enjoy! You will find the transcript in English and german if you click on the three dots to the right.
The Siemens booth in Hannover was the largest at the fair and the most people were there. In this RolandUnplugged Shorts - a new format - you will hear Roland’s excitement about how we combined the real and the digital worlds to create the industrial metaverse. You can read the transcript by clicking at the three dots to the right.
Everyone is talking about ChatGPT and its potential for disruption. In this episode, Chris and I talk about the risks and opportunities of Artificial Intelligence and about our personal experiences with the natural language processing tool. You will find the transcript in German and English if you click on the three dots to the right.
The right strategy, the right technology, the right team. At the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting 2023, Roland explained why Siemens is one of the best tech investments: We combine the real and the digital worlds like no other company. In this episode, we feature the full speech in the original German language. You can find the English and German transcript to the right if you click at the three dots.
This episode has a surprise guest for Roland: His supervisor of the doctoral thesis more than 25 years ago, Günter Ries. He is the reason Roland is working for Siemens today. Günter showed him the power of Siemens – combining theory and practice. Once, he designed a C-magnet for tomography on a piece of paper. It went on to become a best seller. Be it life, leadership or technology, Günter left a deep impression on Roland. Ultimately, he is the reason he joined Siemens.
In this episode Günter and Roland talk about their work on high temperature superconductors and they share some stories from the past.
In this episode, Roland talks about how resilient Siemens is and why. He talks about global market trends such as diversification, sustainability, and the growing shortage of skilled labor, how these trends are reshaping markets and why they play to our advantage. Here’s a hint: with our technologies, we can support customers to respond to these trends. And he talks briefly about the challenges of building microchips and Lego sets!Please see the transcript here: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2022/11/29/how-resilient-is-siemens/
Siemens ambition is to become THE leading tech company for our markets. Are we there yet? Not quite but we’re well on our way. In this episode, Roland talks about what we can learn from the big tech companies that have achieved massive success from scaling their technologies and how we can crack the code. He also reflects on the recent celebration of Siemens 175 anniversary and the Siemens Business Conference.You will find the trancsript here: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2022/10/27/how-to-crack-the-code/
In a few weeks we will celebrate our company anniversary: 175 years. We started with telegraphs and the dynamo machine to bring electricity to the four corners of the world. Today, we combine the real and the digital worlds to create more agile and productive factories, more intelligent and efficient buildings and grids, more reliable and sustainable transportation.In this episode Roland talks about how the company has transformed over the decades and why the best is still to come. You will find the transcript here: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/de/2022/09/15/175-years-and-why-the-best-is-still-to-come/
The industrial metaverse offers enormous potential to transform economies and industries. It will provide a virtual world where people can interact and collaborate in real-time to solve real-world challenges. In this episode I explain how, with Siemens Xcelerator, we are paving the way for the industrial metaverse by transforming our digital portfolio and by collaborating more closely with ecosystem partners. You can find the transcript in English and German here: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2022/07/28/why-the-industrial-metaverse-is-closer-than-you-think/?noredirect=en_US
In this special episode we collected the best moments of Roland’s session during the Siemens Xcelerator launch. You will hear from Roland, but also from Jensen Huang, CEO and Founder of Nvidia and Milan Nedeljković, BMW board member. They talk about the potential of the industrial metaverse and what does it mean for the car industry.You will find the transcript in German an English as always in the SiemensWorld: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/de/2022/07/01/rolandunplugged-siemens-xcelerator-launch/
It’s been a mixed month of emotions. On the one hand, we celebrated our strong second quarter results. But on the other, we announced that we were exiting the Russian business and winding down our operations there. This is of course against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Ukraine. In this episode we also spoke to two colleagues. Iwona from Poland is helping refugees and Oleksandr and his family found a temporary home thanks to a colleague in the Czech Republic. You will find the transcript here: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2022/05/27/rolandunplugged-leaving-russia-after-170-years/
In this latest episode, Roland talks about how we are helping people in the region, the implications of sanctions for our business and the impact on our colleagues in Russia.In addition, two colleagues from Ukraine - Andrej Juschtschenko, Country Security Officer based in Kyiv, and Marina Maslej, Head of Communications for Ukraine, who fled to Germany with her children – share their stories.You can find the most up-to-date information here.For updates on Siemens Caring Hands actions to help refugees, see here.You will find the English and German transcript here: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2022/03/28/new-episode-of-rolandunplugged-on-ukraine/
In his speech at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting 2022, Roland highlighted how our people and our technologies contributed to Siemens’ success in the last fiscal year. In this episode, we feature the full speech in the original German language. You can find the English transcript here. http://go.siemens.net/38677556
In this first episode of the year, Roland talks about your ideas to accelerate our transformation. We received over 90 comments from colleagues, most of them covering processes. There are some great suggestions to simplify processes, so that we can spend more time on the things that count, like focusing more on our customers. That’s certainly on Roland's agenda for 2022 and there is one big priority for all of us – we have to win the IoT race. Here you'll find the transcript of the episode in German and English: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2022/01/28/what-is-on-your-agenda-for-2022/ And the Yammer post for your comments: https://web.yammer.com/main/threads/eyJfdHlwZSI6IlRocmVhZCIsImlkIjoiMTU4Mzc3NTkyMjYwMTk4NCJ9
The events shaping our world have a big impact on our markets. From the effects of climate change to supply chain bottlenecks and the global economy, these issues create both challenges and opportunities for our customers and our company. In this episode we talk about the big topics dominating the headlines right now, what this means for Siemens and our customers, and the role of technology in tackling these issues. Whether it’s helping customers to adapt to changing markets, or to improve their resiliency and reduce their carbon footprint, our technologies can help. That’s why no matter how choppy the waters become in the year ahead, Siemens is well placed to ride the waves that come our way. Here you'll find the transcript in Englisch and German: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2021/11/24/how-will-siemens-ride-the-waves-of-fy22/
At the Siemens Business Conference 2021 Roland talked about how to accelerate our own transformation, and how by increasing the “clock speed” of Siemens, we can become faster, more dynamic, and more agile, and scale up innovations more quickly. We all have a role to play! Here on Yammer, you can post your comments: https://web.yammer.com/main/threads/eyJfdHlwZSI6IlRocmVhZCIsImlkIjoiMTQzOTA5NzEyMTQzOTc0NCJ9 The transcript of the episode, you will find it here in the SBC SiemensWorld article: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2021/10/19/sbc21/
In this episode, we talk about how the “new normal” has transformed the way we live, and the way we work and lead people. As Roland says, he never believed that being in the office makes a person work better or be more productive. What really counts is the outcome, not the hours we spend at our desks. That’s the culture we want to achieve and I see our hybrid working model as a great opportunity to make it happen. By combining the best of both worlds – mobile work and working from the office – Roland hopes we can experience more flexibility in our lives and more quality time with our colleagues when we are in the office. And, that every person, regardless of where they sit, feels a strong sense of belonging to our company. You will find the transcript here: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2021/09/27/the-best-of-both-worlds/
Do you want to know, why our colleagues from Factory Automation are considering of opening their “poison cabinet”? Or how Mobility came back into the German market for commuter trains? Are you interested how a team from Technology in China failed to rock the market for robot controls but transformed their developments into a cool app? And that Smart Infrastructure is on a long-term growth path which includes their customers. Here is our Best of Unplugged Live episode where Roland's guests shared their experience on how having a growth mindset helps them stay ahead of disruption, to turn setbacks into successes and become even better in what they do. Enjoy this podcast special edition. You will find the transcript here: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2021/08/25/what-is-in-the-poison-cabinet-of-di/
You might say: that’s an easy one. Technology companies are companies that build or sell technology. Not wrong, but not the full picture, either. In this episode we go back to our roots, in order to understand our future. Siemens was born as a tech company. Our technology combines the real and the digital worlds to help customers solve real-life problems. It is about bringing together the best of both, hardware and software, to make the world we live in better and more sustainable. What makes Siemens a technology company, from your point of view? Looking forward to your comments and ideas here on Yammer: https://web.yammer.com/main/threads/eyJfdHlwZSI6IlRocmVhZCIsImlkIjoiMTMyNDUxMTA1MTk3MjYwOCJ9 Here you will find the transcript: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2021/08/03/what-makes-siemens-a-technology-company/
As a focused technology company, we want to accelerate high value growth. In concrete terms: We want our revenue to grow five to seven percent per year. In this episode, Roland explains how we can achieve healthy, profitable and sustainable growth and talks about many other highlights from our Capital Market Day on June 24, 2021.
Please post your comments on Yammer: https://bit.ly/3wXAhfe You will find the transcript in English and German here: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2021/06/24/how-to-grow-and-create-value/
What does a goalkeeper have in common with a CEO? When will you get to buy a digital twin of your favorite soccer player? And what can business leaders learn from sports? Last week I had a chat with Oliver Kahn, the legendary former goalie of the football club FC Bayern (he will soon become CEO of the club, too). We tackled some of these questions and a lot more: empowerment, diversity, speed, and listening. In this episode, Roland also talks about the importance of our leaders in transforming our company and creating great teams. This is not an easy job; therefore, Roland wants to learn more from our leaders and invites two colleagues for a day of virtual job shadowing. See Yammer for the instructions! https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/de/2021/05/26/one-heartbeat-is-not-enough-deutsch/
In this episode, Roland shares his top five growth mindset tips to avoid the incumbent syndrome. He also talks about the innovator’s dilemma: how it isn’t enough to develop sustaining innovations, we also need disruptive innovations too. He looks at how we go about this in our business today, and the setbacks and successes we experience along the way. You’ll find the transcript here https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2021/04/23/five-growth-mindset-tips-to-avoid-the-incumbent-syndrome/.
How do you approach change in your life? Do you make bold moves, or do you take small steps? Whatever your answer, at Siemens, we are asking ourselves the same question. Because one thing is certain, our world is changing and how we respond will determine our success in the future. In this episode we talk about how we can transform our company and some areas where we can make impactful changes such as serving our customers better, empowerment of people, our approach to sales and sustainability. You ill find the transcript here: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2021/03/26/bold-moves-or-small-steps-what-do-we-need-at-siemens/
What would you change if you were CEO for a day? That is the question Roland puts to his two special guests - Julie Williams from Siemens Mobility in the UK and Frank Balligand from Smart Infrastructure in France, who did a virtual job shadowing with Roland on his first day as CEO. Back in episode 11, Roland offered listeners the chance to do a job shadowing with him in response for the best career tips and they were the winners. Julie and Frank tell what it was like to job shadow him and Roland shares what he learned from his two guests. Here you’ll find the transcript of the audio file in English, in German and this time also in French: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2021/02/12/rolandunplugged-was-wuerden-sie-aendern-wenn-sie-fuer-einen-tag-ceo-waeren-english/
In 2020, Siemens had a strong year, in spite of the current health crisis. The right goals will set us up for another strong year 2021. In this episode Roland will share some of our goals for 2021: for example, making it easier for customers to buy from us, through stronger digital sales platforms; using more of our own digitalization tools at Siemens; and empowering the regions and every single one of us, starting by replacing our rigid PMP - Performance Management Process with “growth talks”. What are your goals for 2021? Here you find the transcript in English and German: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2021/01/21/rolandunplugged-what-are-our-goals-for-2021/
We will tell future generations about the year 2020. Through collaboration, humanity developed a vaccine at record speed and kept whole economies alive. Through collaboration, we at Siemens managed to support our customers in critical times and we started our own new chapter in great shape. In this episode Roland shares some of his personal highlights of 2020, including: the Inventors of the Year; some of the 190 career tips which listeners sent in; and he reveals who will join him for a virtual job shadowing opportunity in 2021. Here you'll find the transcript in English and German: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2020/12/21/rolandunplugged-what-will-you-remember-of-2020/
What does a “good career” mean to you? There are 1000 ways to grow at work. The most visible one is a promotion. In this episode Roland shares tips from the CEO point of view on how to boost your career. The starting point: do something for work which you actually like doing. And the big DON’T? Planning too far ahead. Do one step at a time, in your own pace, but always stretching yourself. Seven more tips in the Podcast; and the opportunity for one of the listeners to shadow Roland Busch on the job. Here you'll find the transcript in English and German: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2020/11/25/rolandunplugged-nine-tips-to-boost-your-career/
To mark the 10th episode, Roland has invited a special guest – someone who knows him very well and empowers him to do his job better. Giving us a behind-the-scenes perspective, his guest tells us what it’s really like to work with Roland and how best to prepare for a meeting with him. Roland also shares some insights from the newly-created Day 1 Leadership Forum, where they discussed how to move forward with our strategic priorities: customer impact, technology with purpose, empowered people, and growth mindset. And he tells us why we shouldn’t be afraid of Microsoft. Here you'll find the transcript in English and German: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2020/11/03/rolandunplugged-who-empowers-you-whom-do-you-empower/
As our company begins a new chapter in our 173 year-long journey, Roland talks about what this new Siemens stands for. What we stand for is quite simple – we transform the everyday. Everywhere you look, Siemens technology is at work. And by empowering our customers to transform their industries: manufacturing, infrastructure, and transport, we transform the everyday for billions of people. Roland also talks about our game plan for success: customer impact, empowering people, creating technology with purpose and embracing a growth mindset – which is good for our company’s wellbeing and our own! Transcript will follow. You can find the transcript here: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2020/10/09/rolandunplugged-what-does-siemens-stand-for/?noredirect=en-US
Would you do it all again? Join Siemens again? Stay with the company? Build your career here, rather than anywhere else? Believe it or not: Roland wasn’t too keen to join Siemens, at first. We ask him, why he hesitated and why he changed his mind. Part of the answer: he loves technology and turning it into business. “An invention is not automatically an innovation. Innovation is an invention which hits the markets. Customers pay for.” Find out why Power Electronics will be a hot area for Siemens in the future. What Lego has to do with our IoT platform. And who are Roland’s tech heros. Here you will find the transcript in English and German: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2020/10/09/rolandunplugged-what-does-siemens-stand-for/
In this episode Roland talks about the new Siemens board, what he looks out for when recruiting top leadership talent and the importance of being humble and open to learn. The world around us is changing fast and its challenges are getting more complex: to adapt to this world, to shape it together, we need emotional intelligence and a growth mindset. Here you'll find the transcript of the audio file in English and German: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2020/10/09/rolandunplugged-what-does-siemens-stand-for/
As customers will be a central pillar of our future strategy, in this episode Roland talks about how to deepen customer ties. He shares examples of how by really listening to customers, we can better understand and anticipate their needs, leading to surprising results. On another (musical) note he shares his favorite mood-lifting and work-out songs and the possibility of hosting a Siemens’ Got Talent. Here you will find the transcript in English and German: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2020/10/09/rolandunplugged-what-does-siemens-stand-for/
As the Internet of Things will play a vital role in the next chapter of Siemens, Roland revisits the topic. This time he takes a closer look at how IoT can unlock growth and drive productivity, and why collaborating with an ecosystem is essential for success. He also reveals how Master Yoda has influenced him in a certain area of his life. Here you will find the transcript in English and German: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2020/10/09/rolandunplugged-what-does-siemens-stand-for/
In this episode Roland talks more about life post-covid and what we can learn from the pandemic. In particular, he talks about how empowerment has driven Siemens’ response to this crisis and about its potential to be a positive force in shaping our company’s future, especially as customers, industries and regions are impacted differently. He also reveals an unlikely hobby and hints at what song he might play (and maybe even sing!!!) in episode 51. Here you will find the transcript in English and German: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2020/10/09/rolandunplugged-what-does-siemens-stand-for/
Siemens has an opportunity to be a big player in the Internet of Things. Our domain knowledge gives us an inherent advantage when it comes to combining the physical and digital worlds. But why does IoT offer so much potential? In this new episode Roland talks about what IoT is and how it could drive progress in economies and societies. He also talks about the difference between viral and bacterial cells, and shares some tips on how to stay fit in these times. Here you will find the transcript in English and German: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2020/10/09/rolandunplugged-what-does-siemens-stand-for/
Why do big companies struggle with collaboration? In this episode Roland discusses why this is a recurring theme, where we collaborate well and where we could be better. He reveals how collaboration will be central to Siemens’ future, how tech companies aren’t the bad guys and why he prefers big cakes to pizza. Here you will find the transcript in English and German: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2020/10/09/rolandunplugged-what-does-siemens-stand-for/
Is Roland’s wife happy now that he's at home all the time? Who are our hidden heroes during this crisis? How will the corona crisis affect our company? In this episode Roland talks about how Siemens is adapting to the new reality that is coronavirus and what he thinks the impact of the crisis will be. Here you will find the transcript in English and German: https://siemensworld.dc.siemens.com/2020/10/09/rolandunplugged-what-does-siemens-stand-for/