Moving beyond!

Today’s been a great milestone for Siemens Mobility. We have launched, first to our employees and then to the public, our company’s vision. Now I hear some of you ask – why bother? Siemens Mobility is doing well; we came even stronger together during the pandemic (we’ve completed important milestones, received significant new orders; we’ve helped our customers to keep vital transportation infrastructure up and running); and we have, as our Q2 figures showed, a lot of long-term momentum.

But we did bother (a lot! – a lot of hard work went into this!); let me explain why. So far we’ve had a mission “with digitalization, we enable mobility operators worldwide to make trains and infrastructure intelligent, to increase value sustainably over the entire lifecycle, to enhance passenger experience, and to guarantee availability,” – I am sure you’ve heard me say it before ??. The mission defined who we are, set out what we can do, and described a status quo. But it didn’t tell us where we want to go, and what we want to become. Mobility is such an exciting business, an industry that affects the lives of so many people and one that is deeply disrupted by digitalization, with an ever more intense push for sustainability, but also with new requirements in terms of safety and health. It was time to set a clear direction to our team how we will shape these trends in the coming years and how we, as a company, will shape the future of mobility, jointly with our partners and stakeholders.

So now that I’ve kept you waiting for two paragraphs – here is our vision, our statement of what we aspire to become: We are global entrepreneurs, trusted by our partners to pioneer transportation, moving people sustainably and seamlessly from the first mile to the last.

There is a lot in this statement. It’s more than would fit into a LinkedIn article; its impact can’t be described in a few words but will become apparent in our actions over the next few years. But there are a few things that I want to highlight. First, there is the acknowledgment that we’re not just a business, but a team of entrepreneurs, that is up to the challenge, to seize the moment, and to be ambitious in the pursuit of success. There’s the equally important ambition to be pioneers in innovation – something you can expect from the market leader in digitalization; but you will see much more from us: because we want it. There are, so crucial, the words “trusted partner”: because our customers rely on us, and because we know we won’t be judged on our words, but on our actions. And then there is the entire section that begins with moving people, where set out a vision of what future mobility will look like: uncompromisingly sustainable (and not just in terms of rail – we need an entire transportation eco-system that we can rightfully call sustainable); fully seamless (taking advantage of all the opportunities digitalization affords); and moving people from the first mile to the last (because, quite simply, that’s what people want).

As I said, judge our vision not by this article, but by our actions in the years to come. I’m the first to say to our team that it requires hard work. No doubt: there are pain points in there. Visions may fall from heaven; but making them real is a steep mountain, with a tough ascent. But we will move beyond. With the hard work, dedication to our customers and passion for mobility that makes us unique. We have shown this dedication during the Corona crisis, where our team has proven beyond any doubt its tremendous energy and spirit. Now we will channel this energy and spirit into the realization of our vision, for our customers all over the world. Let’s go!