Siemens Healthineers: Michael, why do you enjoy working for Siemens Healthineers?
Michael: What Siemens has built has changed medicine forever. It’s something I always wanted to be part of. I’m fascinated by the link between technology and medicine, so after studying Computer Science, I did a doctorate in the visualization of medical data. I’ve been working for Siemens Healthineers for 13 years now, mainly in development and innovation. From the outset, I’ve worked closely with our customers to understand how our solutions can help them and to develop new products together. Today, as head of interventional radiology, I have direct operational responsibility. My team and I enable our customers to carry out therapeutic measures as safely and efficiently as possible – a truly exciting task!
Siemens Healthineers: What exactly does your work involve?
Michael: I bring together the individual Siemens Healthineers teams in Interventional Radiology, from product definition through to marketing. I also continue to visit our customers and exchange ideas with them on a regular basis. You need to remember just how much responsibility these people have as physicians and surgeons. They spend every day at operating and angiography tables making decisions that will have a huge impact on the health of their patients. I have great respect for them and am always grateful for the opportunity to stand side-by-side with them in the operating theater, listening as they explain the difficulties they face and how products could be improved even further. These people have such incredible insights.
Siemens Healthineers: How would you describe your role as team leader?
Michael: My job has several parallels with my private passion, sailing. My friends and I often charter a boat and head out on the Mediterranean or the Baltic Sea. When 6 people go sailing on open water they need a skipper, to make decisions and assign tasks. I’ve taken on this role and am responsible for making sure we work as a team on deck. My friends trust me and I trust them, and that’s what it’s all about. If the weather looks bad, for example, I need to decide what to do. Things would become difficult if I gave an order but my crew didn’t respond because they wanted to relax. It’s exactly the same at work. If I simply say “this is what we’re doing,” the teams won’t listen to me and definitely won’t work with me. And that’s the goal: To pull together, even when things get tough. Work also needs to be fun, so it’s important to me that my team can laugh together every day.
Siemens Healthineers: Couldn’t you work as a team leader for another company?
Michael: Probably, yes. But Siemens Healthineers is quite special. We have relatively flat hierarchies, great teams, and amazingly strong technology. We are innovative and have a real sense of unity. We achieve things together. And I enjoy working with my colleagues. If you want to contribute to a team instead of working alone, if you’re highly motivated and open and totally committed, then you’ve come to the right place.
