Everyone needs role models – let me tell you about one of mine

In the next few days Erich Reinhardt will be retiring from managing the Medical Valley Center. I’d like to take that as an opportunity to share a few thoughts and impressions about him, because Erich was and still is an outstanding personality – for Siemens Healthineers, for the Medical Valley, and for me. 

When I joined Siemens in 1995 as part of what was then known as “UB Med” – in the 90s, Siemens AG’s business was organized into “Divisions,” or Unternehmensbereiche, abbreviated UB – Erich Reinhardt was already the division CEO and in 2007, when he entrusted me with the management of the imaging business, he became my direct manager. Over the past 26 years he has gradually metamorphosed from a supervisor into a role model.

A role model in terms of both what he has achieved, and how he has achieved it – as a key figure in setting up our still-unequaled business in magnetic resonance tomography, as a successful reorganizer of UB Med in the late 90s, as a bold pioneer who led our entry into laboratory diagnostics in 2007–2008, and ultimately as a center of gravity who took a rather abstract idea and initiative and helped turn it into an internationally famed “Medical Valley.” And who was never satisfied and never complacent.

Talking with Erich Reinhardt always leaves you with the distinct feeling that you should have been better prepared. The budget discussions on the 13th floor of the high-rise at Henkestrasse 127 were about as popular as a trip to the dentist. And not uncommonly, it was my own ideas that came in for the notorious four phases of Reinhardtian impatience: Phase 1, a restless shifting back and forth in his chair. If the discussion still didn’t turn in the right direction, it was time for Phase 2 – he would agitatedly run his fingers through his hair. Pathological bone-headedness was met with Phase 3 – banging the chair with both fists – which was only outdone by Phase 4 – suddenly jumping up and pacing around the room.

All of which may sound intimidating, and maybe even authoritarian by today’s standards. But it wasn’t. Because the discussions always stayed on objective ground. The focus was always on grappling for the best solution, and what counted in the debate was always the best argument, not the best personal impression, still less any question of likability. In every discussion, the message he sent was this:

In the medical technology business, we have a special responsibility, and we have to live up to it – each in his or her own job, and at all times. 

If that sounds exhausting, it was. Erich Reinhardt has always focused on whatever lay beyond the latest accomplishment. As a true advanced thinker and innovator, he has always viewed today’s achievements as yesterday’s old news. Impatiently and restlessly, he has constantly pushed himself and everyone on his team to the highest levels of performance. And this characteristic of his has become an ingrained component of the Siemens Healthineers culture as a whole. That culture has generated a management team that has never consisted of “mere” managers and generalists. It’s a team in which debate – not uncommonly tough, but always focused on facts – has always been conducted on a solid foundation of medical, technical, scientific and business-administration expertise. He taught us the fine art of arguing productively – “We need a culture of debate, not that type of harmony that hinders us from evolving for the sake of getting over with it!” was one of his favorite appeals. It has made us what we are today: an independent, successful corporation operating worldwide, one that millions of people associate with ideas and hopes of innovative healthcare delivery.

When Erich Reinhardt retires – something I can’t really imagine – he’ll leave his imprint behind. In the history of the Nuremberg/Erlangen/Fürth/Forchheim metropolitan region, in a Medical Valley known as far away as Silicon Valley, at Siemens Healthineers – and in my own life.

Thank you, Erich Reinhardt.