Markus Tacke, Siemens Gamesa

Companies like Siemens Gamesa – a leader in renewable energy and a pioneer of wind power solutions – are key to ensuring the world can transition to sustainable energy solutions and tackle the threat of climate change. For CEO Markus Tacke, helping the world become more resilient through clean energy also demands resilience from Siemens Gamesa itself.

“A resilient company adapts quickly to changing market needs and embraces continuous learning to improve itself,” he says. “Renewables is a relatively young industry. So, there's many new developments where the industry needs to adapt and can seek potential. How can we take opportunities out of this very fast-changing market environment?”

For Markus Tacke, resilience is about being proactive: maintaining a close focus on the core but also seeking to drive the market. “The core is driving renewable energy, but adapting the organization in order to stay competitive,” he explains. “That is what a resilient organization does. And Siemens Gamesa is a good example. You can see that in the company: how we adapt ourselves on a daily basis in order to drive the market, as we want to be a leader in that market.”

Key to building Siemens Gamesa’s resilience is a focus on driving technology innovation while also upgrading employees’ skills and capabilities as the world of work changes. “I'm a true believer that, in the end, people in the company will make the true difference through driving technologies,” says Markus Tacke. “Today's organizations need to be fast-learning and fast-moving entities that adapt quickly from a technology point-of-view, but also from a people point-of-view. Capabilities that were quite valuable ten years ago remain reliable but need to be complemented with other capabilities.”

To be a resilient CEO, according to Markus Tacke, one must have solid communications with all stakeholders. “CEOs need to embrace open and transparent communications,” says Markus Tacke. “We need to explain why decisions have been taken but also stick to those decisions and execute those decisions in the changing environment in which we operate.”

With Siemens Gamesa’s people key to developing new and innovative ideas, Markus Tacke believes CEOs play a critical role in ensuring the organization is open to fresh ideas, inspiration and creative energy. “The constant question is how to create new ideas,” he observes. “And there, you need to use the entire pool of knowledge that is within the industry environment. It starts with your own people. You need to find different ways to workshop ideas, set challenging tasks, and challenge the people to come to the solutions. But it certainly may not remain only in your company. You need to certainly involve suppliers. It needs to involve universities. It even needs to involve governments and regulatory bodies, as they are the ones who are the rule makers in the future.”