People
Ajit Singh: Leader & CEO
by PAUL IMBESI
Ajit Singh has learned numerous business lessons over the years, but if there is one lesson that sticks out from the others, it is his view on management.
"Build a strong team, hire the best, and then put up with them", said the 44-year-old Singh, chief executive officer of Siemens Medical Solutions Image and Knowledge Management Group.
Singh said when smart people are brought into a manager's team, they will challenge the status quo and the manager, which is good, because with true discussion and controversy comes new insight.
"I think artificial harmony is actually too mediocre. It promotes mediocrity. But healthy conflict in which people feel comfortable debating issues, that builds a high-performance culture", he said.
Singh's image and knowledge management division was created in September 2006. The division combined four businesses: the radiology information systems and picture archiving and communications systems, cardiology imaging, computer-aided diagnosis and medical knowledge management. He said all four businesses were in different stages of maturity, with medical knowledge management in an incubator stage that could turn into a multi-billion dollar business. However, Singh said all of these businesses have a common technology platform and the same fundamental software platform.
Singh's group has developed a product that was recently brought to the market called Soarian Quality Measures, a health care data-mining tool that helps hospitals validate their quality measures. Siemens began developing the product over a year ago.
Singh, who was born in Aligarh, India, and first came to the United States in 1985, has been with Siemens since 1989. He has a doctorate from Columbia University in computer science, and he also has a master's degree in computer engineering from Syracuse University and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Banaras Hindu University in India.
According to Singh, he became involved with Siemens by accident. In 1989, he was giving his doctorate thesis defense at Columbia University in New York to an open forum, which included invited guests from companies like Bell Labs, IBM, and Siemens.
After his thesis defense, someone from Siemens told Singh that the numbers he was using in his thesis should be applicable to medical imaging. Two weeks later, Singh was speaking at Siemens, and two weeks after that, he was a Siemens employee. Although it happened quickly, Singh said the match was almost serendipitous.
Singh said he does not have any regrets about his 18 years at Siemens, where he has held four different jobs.
At Siemens, Singh began in research and development, where he worked on applications in robotics, artificial intelligence and medical imaging from 1989 to 1996. Then, he moved to the medical side at the company, where he ran a consulting division from 1996 to 1998. Then, from 2000 to 2006, Singh ran the oncology division.
He said the four jobs were diverse in their nature and business philosophy, and he looks back and says it was a blast. Singh said it was the combination of several factors that made Siemens so good.
One factor is the person who hired him around 1996, Erich Reinhardt, who is currently the CEO and president of Siemens Medical Solutions and a member of the managing board of Siemens AG. Singh said he connected well with Reinhardt and others that he hired.
Another reason why he enjoys Siemens is the company's culture, which he said is driven by innovation. This is exciting for Singh, because he is a technology-focused person, who is working at a company where three-quarters of the products in Siemens' portfolio are less than three years old, in an industry where products typically last ten years, he said.
Singh also professes a fascination with the health-care business. He said there is pressure on health-care costs, health-care quality, and other areas where a difference can be made. For example, he pointed out that in 2006, there were 96,000 deaths that took place in hospitals due to preventable medical errors. "If you do the math, it translates to one jumbo jet crashing every other day", he said.
As a generalization, Singh said medicine is about two things: doing the right thing and doing it efficiently. Singh and his group focus on inefficiencies in hospitals and medical centers, like the lack of automation and the dependence on paper. He said medical offices are rife with inefficiencies, so most of his business focuses on fixing this problem.
Singh currently leads a group of 2,000 people, which is the largest amount of people he's had working under him during his career at Siemens. In his previous job in the oncology division, he was in charge of 1,000 people. At his first management job at Siemens, he was in charge of six people.
Singh believes a leader brings the right team together, makes them feel empowered, coaches them without becoming too invasive, and gives employees the sense that they are in charge. At the same time, he said a leader must be ready to coach and correct.
He added that adaptability is key for leaders, which he could not stress enough. With environmental factors and the market changing, for example, he said a manager has to be constantly adapting. He added that making mistakes will happen, and people will fail, but workers need to recover, clean up, and move on.
[Ajit Singh is a contributor to sikhchic.com. His recent piece, "My Top-10 Books for 2007", can be accessed on this site under the "BOOKS" Section.]
March 18, 2008
Courtesy - IndUS Business Journal
Conversation about this article
1: Chintan Singh (San Jose, U.S.A.), March 19, 2008, 12:47 AM.
I work for Varian Medical Systems which is a direct competitor to Siemens Medical Solutions for Oncology Systems and Softwares. We have many former Siemens employees who speak highly of Ajit Singh and the leadership he has brought to the business. In fact, a new hire who used to work for the Siemens Germany office, meeting me a few weeks ago, immediately said: "The CEO of Siemens Medical is a Sikh". It's inspirational to read about a fellow Sikh who is also in the same industry, but has reached the sky in his professional achievements.
2: Satvir Kaur (Boston, MA, U.S.A.), March 19, 2008, 7:56 AM.
Well done, Ajit Singh!
3: Bhupinder Singh Ghai (New Delhi, India), March 20, 2008, 3:30 AM.
Well done, brother, for being such a great ambassador for Sikhi. This is the best way to promote Sikhi. You are truly a leader and an inspiration to excel in every field and be a value to your organization. Every Sikh employee should take a lesson from this.
4: Prabhdeep Singh Kochar (Bangalore, India), March 20, 2008, 9:30 AM.
Sir, you are a great source of inspiration ... we look up to you!
5: Manraj Singh (Ottawa, Canada), March 21, 2008, 5:46 PM.
We are proud of you, Ajit Singh! Well done!
6: Amarpal Singh (San Jose, CA. U.S.A.), March 23, 2008, 1:28 AM.
Ajit makes all of us proud. It is heartening to see Sikhs at such high levels in multi-national corporations like Siemens. In addition to being a highly accomplished person, Ajit Singh has a great sense of humour. I had a chance to meet him in a social setting where he made everyone laugh with his great Punjabi Jokes. Not only his jokes were great but his delivery was excellent too. May Waheguru bless him with more and more success.
7: Roma Rajpal (Santa Clara, US.A.), March 23, 2008, 10:36 PM.
Ajit happens to be an old family friend, and is a person who truly enriches and inspires others with his amazing character. When he speaks, he mesmerizes the audience with his insightful comments. He often uses beautiful quotes and poetry as he talks, and has vast knowledge along with wonderful wit and humor. He is so articulate and it is astounding how he knows and retains so much about so many different subjects. It is always a joy to hear him talk. Also, he has the gift of understanding and explaining our Guru's bani in the most beautiful way! He is really one of a kind! It was just absolutely wonderful to read his methods, his ideas and his thoughts on how to motivate and inspire others to do their best. It is so him. He makes us all proud!
8: Kiren Singh (New York, U.S.A.), March 26, 2008, 9:57 AM.
Ajit, Congrats on your success in your field of work. It makes our community proud and what I am even happier about is the role of ambassador that you play. All people have the opportunity to play the role of representing their community, whether it be a country, its culture or religion. In addition to simply doing well as an individual, your leadership shines light on us all. That is very Sikh-chic!
9: Kanwal Nain Singh (Lindsay, Ontario, Canada), March 28, 2008, 10:24 PM.
Congratulations are due for high achievement and ledership in your professinal field. I had ealrier read your reviews and commnets on the top ten books on your reading list. Incidently, I have read a few of these, and I concur with your reviews and comments. What amazes me is that, while involved so heavily in your professional and corporate affairs, how do you find time to enjoy these popular select books? Perhap I am too old to keep up with speed reading now. I must compliment you on your sustained interests in the literary world. Keep it up. We are proud of you.
10: Dilpreet (India), June 27, 2009, 10:54 AM.
This is a good one, Ajit! Wish you lots of more successes!
11: Gunita (Palo Alto, California, United States), March 20, 2010, 2:24 PM.
My dad, Dr. Ajit Singh, makes me so proud. Not only is he a good Sikh but he is a remarkable human being, and like every one else has said, he has a talent for motivating others to do the right thing. His knowledge is expansive and hearing his insight inspires one to want to learn and contribute to society as he has.