CEO Industry Insights

IndiGo (InterGlobe Aviation Ltd) CRISIS WASN’T IN THE SKIES. IT WAS IN THE LEADERSHIP CABIN. Three things stood out. One: Employees were left alone to face furious customers. No leader should ever let that happen. If you don’t stand by your people in a storm, don’t expect them to stand by your customers in the sun. Customer experience collapses the moment employees feel abandoned. Two: In any crisis, honesty is the only strategy that works. This time, the communication wasn’t transparent. When leaders hide the full picture, years of goodwill can disappear overnight. A crisis can earn trust, but only if you tell the truth. Three: The belief that “we are too big to be ignored” has ended more companies than competition ever has. Customers always have a choice. And if they don’t, they will create one. We shouldn’t watch the Indigo crisis like spectators. This is a reminder for every leader to build their own crisis blueprint. Because crises will come, when they do, your response becomes your reputation. There is more to business than profits. There are people, trust, and how you show up when it matters most.

Back from Brussels, where talks with EU leaders focused on one thing – how to keep Europe competitive in an increasingly complex world. There’s a clear sense of urgency – and at the same time, a willingness to act. What stood out to me was the broad agreement on some key points: 1️⃣ Europe must remain attractive for industrial investment. That means speeding up permitting, simplifying regulation, and making funding tools work for real projects on the ground – not just in policy papers. 2️⃣ We need to strengthen transatlantic ties without slipping into a tariff race. The conversation should be about industrial cooperation, not confrontation. Tariffs and retaliatory measures won’t make us more resilient – but coordinated action might. 3️⃣ On China, the challenge is to rebalance, not to decouple. The goal must be to reduce risk without cutting ourselves off from vital trade and global innovation. 4️⃣ Europe also needs a more strategic approach to how it supports its partners abroad. Finance aid should go hand in hand with industrial cooperation – especially in sectors like energy and infrastructure. 5️⃣ And finally, we need to make Europe easier to build in. That means aligning rules with impact and simplifying regulation around hydrogen, grid procurement, and offshore wind. This will require a stronger Clean Industrial Deal with more targeted investment. As a company with deep roots in Europe – 65,000 people working across the EU – we at Siemens Energy are continuing to invest: in technology and talent. In order to maintain this momentum, we need a policy environment that matches the scale and ambition of Europe’s industrial potential. Thank you President Ursula von der Leyen, President Roberta Metsola, Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné, and the representatives from the Directorate-General for Trade for the valuable exchange. 📸: Dati Bendo

€800 billion a year. That's the price tag Mario Draghi says Europe must meet to stay competitive with the US and China. As an investor and sustainability entrepreneur, reading the Future of European Competitiveness report was eye-opening. It's clear that Europe has to close the innovation gap and invest boldly in clean energy and digitalisation, but this is only part of the challenge. Draghi emphasises that radical change is necessary to prevent the EU from becoming less competitive on the global stage. Here are a few key points from the report that resonate with me, both positively and with concerns: 👉🏻Scaling EU Companies: Draghi highlights that Europe is failing to scale its companies, which limits our global competitiveness. We have incredible innovation happening here, but the lack of support to take these companies to the next level is a major issue. 👉🏻Investment in R&D: The report points to underinvestment in research and development. If we want to remain at the forefront of sectors like clean tech and mobility, we need much more capital flowing into R&D, especially in emerging technologies like AI and renewables. 👉🏻Venture Capital: Draghi's report underscores the urgent need for more venture capital across Europe, a core message I strongly support. We need greater acceptance of venture capital as an asset class, especially in Germany, where the market remains risk-averse. This lack of funding pushes our most innovative companies to scale up elsewhere, particularly in the US. Europe needs to step up to provide the environment needed for startups to thrive and grow right here at home. 👉🏻Common Debt: The idea of joint EU borrowing for green and digital projects is essential to remain competitive, especially in areas like clean tech and mobility. This is a necessary step to unleash the full potential of the sector. 👉🏻The China Challenge: Europe's reliance on China, particularly in clean tech, needs to be rethought. I've seen firsthand how fierce the competition is in the electric vehicle space. While Draghi stresses reducing dependencies, I do think we must be cautious of the economic disruptions a rapid decoupling could cause. 👉🏻Streamlining Policy: Entrepreneurs are struggling with the slow pace of European decision-making, especially in green tech. We risk losing our competitive edge if we don't accelerate policy change. Europe has an incredible opportunity, but it requires bold action. Do you think Europe is ready to rise to the challenge, or will bureaucracy stand in the way? Let's discuss in the comments... #Draghi #Innovation #Sustainability #CleanEnergy #VentureCapital #Investment

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗮 𝗖𝗘𝗢 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗔𝗜 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀, "𝗪𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴" - 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei just published a pretty long (50+ pages) essay: “The Adolescence of Technology: Confronting and Overcoming the Risks of Powerful AI." You can read it here: https://lnkd.in/dim5QhVT His claim is blunt: “powerful AI” could be just 1-2 years away. Meaning we may be 1-2 years away from a point where today’s AI can autonomously build the next generation. He frames it with a mental model: a “country of geniuses in a datacenter” by ~2027 - think 50 million entities, smarter than any Nobel laureate, operating with a massive time advantage. 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸𝘀 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰): 1. Autonomy risk ✦ If we can’t reliably predict an advanced model’s goals and behavior, capability turns into uncertainty - at scale. 2. Misuse for destruction ✦ The risk is not only “power,” it’s “access.” AI can reduce the skill barrier for catastrophic harm, especially in biology. 3. Misuse for seizing power ✦ AI-enabled surveillance, propaganda, and autonomous weapons can entrench authoritarian control. He also flags the risk of democracies using these tools domestically. 4. Economic disruption ✦ Speed + breadth + concentration. If cognitive labor is automated quickly, wealth and power can concentrate faster than societies can adapt. 5. Indirect effects ✦ Second-order impacts we won’t forecast well until they hit: institutions, culture, incentives, and human behavior. Good to see leaders at major labs thinking in such depth on such a topic. It is noteworthy that he is also referring under the fourth risk economic disruption directly to: https://lnkd.in/dV8MwBPY ↓ 𝗜𝗳 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯 - 𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 - 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 (𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘): https://lnkd.in/dbf74Y9E

Mario Draghi's analysis of the future of European competitiveness highlights the changes that I have long considered necessary and urgent. Draghi points out that the telecom sector is overcrowded: "Today, the EU has dozens of telecom players serving around 450 million consumers, compared with a handful in the US and China, respectively," and adds, "as a result, in Europe both revenues per subscriber and capital expenditure per capita (...) are less than half the US’ and Japan’s levels," reaching the conclusion that "the declining profitability of the telecom sector now may represent a risk for industrial companies in Europe." There couldn’t be a more authoritative confirmation of the perfect storm I also described on stage at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in 2023 (https://lnkd.in/dfi5yQss). That’s where I showed how it was necessary and urgent to change the rules of the game, because #InactionIsNotAnOption. Some may have thought I was being provocative, but step by step, we are all converging on the same positions. First, there was the report "Much More than a Market" by Enrico Letta and Jacques Delors Institute, then the White Paper by the European Commission with Thierry Breton "How to master Europe’s digital infrastructure needs?". Now, Mario Draghi's perspective joins them, recommending to "reform the EU’s regulation and competition stance to complete the digital single market for telecommunications, harmonizing rules and favoring cross-border mergers and operations," and he adds in more detail: • "reduce country-level ex ante regulation and favor rather ex post competition enforcement • facilitate cross-border integration and the creation of EU-wide players • introduce a ‘same rules for same services’ principle across the EU • encourage the definition of commercial contractual agreements for terminating data traffic and infrastructure cost-sharing • incentivize the deployment of new infrastructures by defining cut-off dates for older technologies". Well, let’s continue down this path, united as we are already doing, thanks to the work of organizations such as the Confindustria team led by Emanuele Orsini, GSMA, and Connect Europe, with the indispensable contribution of the Ministero delle Imprese e del Made in Italy by Adolfo Urso, Alessio Butti, Agcom, and AGCM. We are ready to do our part, aware that the game we are playing is one of the most important: without #TLC, there is no digitalization. Report “The future of European Competitiveness”: https://lnkd.in/dhb875VR

This chart is a wake-up call for executive communicators. According to Ragan’s 2025 Communications Benchmark Report, the most effective way to connect senior leadership’s messaging to employees is no longer town halls. It’s email, by a wide and growing margin. In 2023, town halls were the clear leader (68%). By 2025? Email is No. 1 at 66%, while town halls have dropped to 62%. And small group meetings? Down from 44% to just 20% in two years. What does this shift tell us? It’s not about the format. It's about how employees consume information. Employees are busy. Many are hybrid or remote. And attention is limited. They want leadership updates in a format they can skim, revisit, and reference on their own time. This doesn’t mean we abandon live communication. Far from it. But it does mean executive comms pros need to: ✅ Master the art of writing clear, concise, human-centered emails from leaders No more corporate jargon or vague updates. Executives need help sounding like people, not press releases. ✅ Use town halls for what they do best: connection, not information dumps If email delivers the “what,” live meetings need to deliver the why and the feel. Energy, alignment, vision. Make them moments that matter. ✅ Build layered strategies A single message from the CEO won’t resonate equally through a workforce of 10,000+. Repetition, context, and channel variety still matter. But email is now table stakes. As how people use different channels evolves, so must we.

The European Commission must put European prosperity at the center, driven by a competitive industry. Europe is falling behind and we can still avoid being an industrial museum. This morning the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, and the commissioners who comprise the European Commission received a joint open letter from me and several CEOs in Europe stressing the need for urgent action to implement competitive digitalization measures. The message in the letter is clear and simple. Europe is already far behind in the development of the digital economy and related innovation, successfully being driven in other regions by high-end connectivity. Either we act or we lose. This position was reflected and endorsed in stark warnings from former Italian Prime Minister and former President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, in his report on the future of EU competitiveness, published yesterday. Draghi highlighted the need of the EU to invest in and support digital technology, including connectivity, and the need to facilitate consolidation in the European telecoms sector – as key factors to trigger digital innovation and competitiveness in Europe. The European Commission is in a prime position to immediately tackle many of the root causes of this reality. As the Commission begins its new term following recent elections, it must act quickly and decisively if Europe’s proud industrial landscape is not destined to become a desert. The range of co-signatory companies to today’s letter also shows that this is not just a telecoms industry issue. The need for high-end connectivity to be at the heart of national digital infrastructures in Europe is recognized by industries and enterprises of all sizes across the continent. My co-signatories of today’s letter are the CEO’s of of Capgemini, CaixaBank SA, Einride, Enel, Eni S.p.A, E.ON SE, Ericsson, Deutsche Bahn AG, Deutsche Bank, Iberdrola, Industria de Diseño Textil S.A, Nokia Corporation, Renault Group, RWE AG., SAP SE, Schneider Electric, Siemens AG, Sonae, and VERBUND . You can read the full text of today’s open letter here: https://lnkd.in/d2pVhwF9

Guten Tag from Frankfurt. Global competition is intensifying, and Europe is falling behind. Geopolitical changes are shifting the landscape for European companies. But those same changes can be a real opportunity for Europe. That’s why the Made for Germany business initiative, including Deutsche Bank, has issued an urgent appeal to European leaders ahead of their informal retreat on 12 February. Despite being the world’s largest economic area, Europe’s single market is fragmented, overregulated and unfinished. Other countries rapidly deregulate and scale technologies. European companies are no longer operating on a level-playing field. A fundamental shift is needed, focused on ambitious and substantial reforms, and pragmatic implementation. This means: ➡️ Making economic growth the #1 priority. Quite simply: without growth, there is no European sovereignty. ➡️ Reducing overregulation – reforming current rules and pausing new ones allows companies to innovate and provides policymakers time for meaningful structural reforms. ➡️ Focusing reforms on technological competitiveness and growth, such as completing the capital markets union and promptly implementing the free trade deals with India and Mercosur. This will help Europe become a leader, where companies drive and scale technological innovation and can assert themselves globally. Interest in investing in Europe is already strong, and if the right direction is set now, it will grow even further. This is Europe's moment and we urge European leaders to take the bold and decisive action needed to seize it. You can read our full statement below.

A great opportunity last week in Brussels to meet with EU policymakers and stakeholders, sharing ABB’s view on industrial innovation and policy needs.   The Draghi Report points to robotics and automation as pivotal technologies to rebuild Europe’s competitiveness and manufacturing.   We continue to invest in new technologies with AI-powered robotics to support competitiveness and sustainability targets, but the EU needs the right policy framework to translate that into economic success, including the need to secure the implementation and enforcement of the AI Act and Machinery Regulation in a sensible way.   I gave three clear strategic recommendations to policymakers: 1. Take Europe’s industrial knowledge and turn it into a competitive advantage.  2. Deploy EU circularity and sustainability agenda to robotics, with re-use, recycle and refurbishment at the core.  3. Build stronger partnerships with academia and SMEs to harness AI robotics expertise, and do more to address shortages in skills and competencies critical for the energy transition and automation.    50 years ago, ABB began its journey of innovation in industrial automation in Europe. With the right environment, just imagine what the next 50 years could bring to the EU.

We all know AI will continue to be the defining conversation for 2026, but what I’m hearing most often from leaders is: “How do we leverage AI without introducing untenable risk?” This year, we will see three defining shifts, all underpinned by the top priority for the CEO and the critical operational mandate for the CIO: security. AI is transforming the threat landscape faster than most organizations can adapt, and a reactive approach is a business risk. An AI-powered defense shield is the foundation for safe reinvention. It’s about real-time visibility, actionable insights, and closing the loop from discovery to remediation across IT, OT, and cloud silos. This strategic and operational imperative shapes our three key shifts: 📌 Proliferation of (Secure) AI Agents: Beyond chatbots to specialized agents embedded in every function - HR, IT, customer service - running autonomous workflows. They become proactive partners, but every connected asset they touch expands the attack surface. The CIO's mandate: ensure this happens securely, at scale. 📌 Deepening Industry Impact with Real-Time Protection: True transformation happens in mission-critical workflows. In healthcare, with thousands of connected devices managing patient data. In manufacturing, on smart factory floors. The CEO needs confidence that business reinvention can happen in their industry; the CIO needs a unified platform to see, decide, and act across it all. 📌 Expanding a Unified Security Posture: Our “ANY” strategy - connecting to any model, any data, any service - demands a unified view of risk. Observability, asset management, incident response… Risk doesn’t stay in silos; to manage it requires architecture that breaks down walls between IT, security, and operations. This is the year intelligent, secure automation becomes inseparable from business strategy. The organizations that thrive will be those that align the CEO's security-first vision with the CIO's execution, proactively seeing every asset, prioritizing every risk, and acting before an incident occurs. Here’s to a transformative - and secure - 2026. #AI #CyberSecurity #DigitalTransformation