Transformation and Learning –
Siemens Partner Day 2020

by Gabriele Wittendorfer

“Siemens knows how to change“ was the core message.

Looking at to the more than 150 years of the engineering business in all facets, the key driver of
changes in the Siemens world has been technology. This is as true in 2020 as it was in 1847 with
Siemens & Halske.
Siemens is one of the top players in designing the modern living conditions in the world.
Communication, Traffic, Energy, Building, Production and even Healthcare – the unfolding portfolio stands for progress as the main purpose of the industrialisation period.
Finally, Siemens is profitable. Since more than 150 years! This is a tight conjunction between the
founders, the owners, the employees and the nations, who welcome the incoming tax payments.

“We make real what matters“ is the aspiration.

It all starts with Vision 2020+. To make a long story short – Siemens is a perfect example of the struggle, which winners of the standardisation economy currently face, seeing that the postmodern economy on the one hand is based on the industrialisation backbone, and on the other hand tends to marginalise it*. Purpose with profit, is the name of the game. How to become a postmodern winner founded on its strengths of the last 150 years?

Transformation is Learning

Taking part in this conference was like joining a real life experiment. The atmosphere illustrated the whole emotional range of exploration – threats and pushbacks as well as curiosity and first findings. No answers were given but those who should work on it (within Siemens and externally) were in the room and got the chance to jump in and make the transformation of the Siemens learning world happen.

Coming back to Siemens as a whole. From a learning point of view the PR disaster of Joe Kaeser’s Adani-Carmichael deal should be valued as an important milestone in Siemens’ transformation adventure. This is not the question of right or wrong but of the lessons learned.

*
I recommend to take a deep dive with Andreas Reckwitz “Die Gesellschaft der Singularitäten“ (2018),
a brilliant analysis of the current transformation in western industrialized societies