\tKey Takeaways<\/p>\n
Roland Busch spent more than three decades climbing the corporate ladder at Siemens before being appointed CEO in 2021.<\/p>\n
Busch now gets about 200 emails per day and tries to keep his inbox below 100 unread messages.<\/p>\n
He gets to this goal by \u201canswering messages quickly and using a few words.\u201d<\/p>\n
Writing a detailed email to Siemens CEO<\/a> Roland Busch? Expect a two-letter response back: \u201cOK\u201d or \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI try to keep my inbox below 100. If you have more than 100 emails in your inbox, you lose the overview of what\u2019s actually on your plate,\u201d Busch recently told Business Insider<\/a>. \u201cI accomplish this by answering messages quickly and using a few words.\u201d<\/p>\n Busch gets about 200 emails<\/a> per day and skips elaborate responses in favor of efficiency. That means that his emails are \u201csimple and fast.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy team is trained to communicate this way,\u201d he told the outlet. \u201cIf I need to write something longer, I dictate my response while walking through the office.\u201d<\/p>\n The 61-year-old CEO carries the same message of efficiency in the way he structures his time with his direct reports<\/a>. Instead of scheduling recurring one-on-one meetings<\/a> with direct reports on his calendar, Busch has an open-door policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I value efficiency, I don\u2019t have recurring meetings with my direct reports,\u201d Busch said. \u201cI tell them, \u2018You come to me whenever you need me.\u2019 It could be five times a week or once a month. I don\u2019t need to entertain people, and they don\u2019t need to entertain me.\u201d<\/p>\n Busch\u2019s beginnings in physics<\/p>\n Busch has spent more than three decades at Siemens. He joined the German engineering company in 1994<\/a> and worked his way through its leadership ranks before becoming CEO in 2021<\/a>. Since then, Siemens\u2019 shares have more than doubled<\/a>, helping make it Germany\u2019s most valuable company<\/a> and one of Europe\u2019s largest<\/a> by market capitalization.\u00a0<\/p>\n Busch didn\u2019t go to business school. Instead, he has a Ph.D. in physics<\/a>, and he began his Siemens career in research, working on energy technologies like solar power and offshore wind.\u00a0<\/p>\n That scientific grounding still informs the way he runs a global company. <\/p>\n \u201cAs a CEO, you\u2019re always making decisions with incomplete and ambiguous information,\u201d Busch told Business Insider. \u201cPhysics<\/a> taught me how to de-layer a problem, separating the core issues from the less important ones. Once you isolate the core variables, you have a much better chance of making the right decision.\u201d<\/p>\n Another CEO is cutting back on meetings with direct reports<\/p>\n Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang<\/a> also skips one-on-ones with his dozens of direct reports, according to an episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast<\/a> from earlier this year.<\/p>\n Huang told the podcast that he has around 60 leaders<\/a> reporting directly to him, instead of the standard five to seven direct reports. The structure eliminates layers of hierarchy that can slow down decision-making, flattening out Nvidia\u2019s organizational chart. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have one-on-ones with them because it\u2019s impossible,\u201d Huang said on the podcast. \u201cWe present a problem, and all of us attack it.\u201d<\/p>\n \tKey Takeaways<\/p>\n Roland Busch spent more than three decades climbing the corporate ladder at Siemens before being appointed CEO in 2021.<\/p>\n Busch now gets about 200 emails per day and tries to keep his inbox below 100 unread messages.<\/p>\n He gets to this goal by \u201canswering messages quickly and using a few words.\u201d<\/p>\n Writing a detailed email to Siemens CEO<\/a> Roland Busch? Expect a two-letter response back: \u201cOK\u201d or \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI try to keep my inbox below 100. If you have more than 100 emails in your inbox, you lose the overview of what\u2019s actually on your plate,\u201d Busch recently told Business Insider<\/a>. \u201cI accomplish this by answering messages quickly and using a few words.\u201d<\/p>\n