Word: kleinfelder
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...Kleinfeld wants Siemens to go to market as a seamless, flexible provider of infrastructure--from lightbulbs to electrical grids--a program the company calls Siemens One. He points to Qatar, where massive development is under way. A number of firms could supply, say, light rail equipment. But Siemens can build a transportation system and power grid in one contract, optimizing its strengths in each of these segments. "If you put some of these things together, you can really have a competitive advantage," says Ken Cornelius, who heads Siemens One. For a hospital, Siemens can deliver 40% of a total project...
...Kleinfeld was influenced by his three years in the U.S., which included being in charge of Siemens U.S., a collection of cats and dogs that didn't work well together. There he developed a program to get everyone to play nice with one another. Now, Siemens One is in 40 countries...
...acted more like an American portfolio manager, discarding businesses that didn't meet profit targets or fit into his megacities strategy. Co-workers say Kleinfeld, a music lover who plays a mean blues harmonica, is easygoing and adaptable, a contrast to the stiff corporate culture of Von Pierer's world...
Their differences showed. In recent months, say insiders, Kleinfeld and Von Pierer often clashed over strategy. In corporate Germany, a departing CEO often becomes chairman of the supervisory board. In the case of Siemens, Von Pierer simply moved across the hall to a new office in the executive suite, sharing his old secretary and staff and even the executive washroom with Kleinfeld. Von Pierer began to block Kleinfeld from taking more radical restructuring steps, say these insiders. In the end, Von Pierer had to fall on his sword, but one tantalizing theory is that Von Pierer made sure he took...
...December, Kleinfeld was caught by surprise during a visit to the company's industrial-steam-turbine business in Görlitz, a provincial city on the Neisse River, which divides Germany and Poland. Kleinfeld walked into a meeting with about 200 of the division's staff, shook a few hands and launched into a pep talk in German. As he started to hit his stride, many of the division's top executives looked on dumbfounded. Then Rene Umlauft, the division CEO, intervened, waving his hand at Kleinfeld and forcing him to stop midsentence. "Excuse me, Mr. Kleinfeld," said Umlauft...