Intro 0:01
Many aspire to reach the upper echelon of the healthcare industry, but few are able to successfully navigate the corporate ladder. C-Suite Partners sits down with international healthcare executives, asking the tough questions and unpacking the personalities of the top industry leaders. Welcome to the Boardroom.
Michael Murray 0:35
Ai Li, thank you so much for being a part of “In the Boardroom”. I think the audience would love to know what you’re currently doing in your role at the moment, and your position.
Ai Li Siow 0:45
My name is Ai Li. I’m from Siemens Healthineers. This is my 24th year with the company.
Michael Murray 0:51
Wow.
Ai Li Siow 0:51
Yeah. So I’m a Managing Director of Siemens Healthcare Private Limited here in Singapore, and Siemens Healthcare Sdn. Bhd. in Kuala Lumpur and Siemens Healthcare Sdn. Bhd. in Brunei.
Michael Murray 1:04
Wow, and what drew you to healthcare?
Ai Li Siow 1:08
It was in the middle of my last year in university. Then my professors asked me to say, “Hey, do you want to pursue master and PhD?”. Because in physics, this is the natural path that you will continue. I said, “Yes, give me one year pause.” And I went into traveling, and I went back to, because I have another half of the family in Hong Kong. So I went back in Hong Kong, and then I landed with a temporary job after, a research assistant job. So, it was Siemens Healthineers.
Michael Murray 1:43
Right.
Ai Li Siow 1:44
At that time, it was Siemens. It was still with the conglomerate, so I started off there.
Michael Murray 1:50
Could you do just a quick overview of the verticals of the business, because a lot of the viewers may not understand the complexity of what you do.
Ai Li Siow 1:59
Okay, so at Siemens Healthineers, we have a few business areas, business verticals. We are into diagnostic imaging.
Michael Murray 2:07
Yes.
Ai Li Siow 2:08
That’s how most of the people will know us, into radiology. So the first in vivo examinations that you go – in vivo means there are some things that you do not interfere with – like bloods or urine, and so on and so forth. So like X-ray, like ultrasound, CD, MRI for your knee, for your spine, and so on. So, this is where we play, and we play quite strong. We are number one industry leader now when it comes to radiology. We are into in vitro laboratory as well, like point of care, ICU, every type of, like, from blood tests to urine tests to stool tests to many other molecular tests, etc. We also supply commercial laboratories, just like if you can imagine walking into a sushi bar full of the blood tubes.
Michael Murray 3:02
Yes.
Ai Li Siow 3:04
And there’s a mass production of your like blood type, vitamin D tests, even down to the test marker.
Michael Murray 3:12
Wow.
Ai Li Siow 3:13
So, this is where we play. And we also play in oncology, radiation therapy. As you know that we have the in vitro diagnostics, and now we go into treatment and also the patient’s care and the monitoring. So, this completes the whole hardware components. And underneath this, we have digital and automation departments. So, we built our own firmware. We built all the applications, the digital applications, the AI applications that we deployed through the fleet and different monitoring solutions.
Michael Murray 3:52
Right. Where I’m leading to with this is the complexity of your job. You’ve got these verticals, you’ve got these geographies, you’ve come through the ranks, and you’ve moved up. And my question to you would be, what was the biggest challenge going from, let’s just say, a technical role, if you want to use that, into this executive position? Because the priorities change significantly, don’t they? What do you see as the biggest challenge when you moved into these executive roles?
Ai Li Siow 4:19
I would say that I started as a people’s manager around 12 years to 13 years ago. But before that, I was an individual contributor. Of course, then and now, there were a lot of skill sets that I acquired bit by bit.
Michael Murray 4:35
Yes.
Ai Li Siow 4:36
The biggest role that I acquired is communication, right?
Michael Murray 4:43
Right.
Ai Li Siow 4:44
So, I was very, very nervous every time when I speak to people. I like to look at the scanners, the X-ray tubes, and so on, but not so much on people. Yeah, so one of the biggest barriers that I did was to train myself to speak out loud. It is very much one of the key elements every leader should have in communicating effectively.
Michael Murray 5:15
Yes.
Ai Li Siow 5:15
And also driving the directions. You need strong communications. Nobody likes to be told what to do.
Michael Murray 5:25
Yes.
Ai Li Siow 5:25
They want to know why we do that.
Michael Murray 5:28
Yes.
Ai Li Siow 5:29
And what is the expected outcome, and how we harvest together?
Michael Murray 5:34
Yes. Given you’ve gone through a career where you’ve been there a long time, you’ve built your skill set. Can you remember a moment where you’ve made a significant mistake in your career, and it’s influenced the way that you move forward in your thinking or your methodology?
Ai Li Siow 5:55
I think the biggest mistakes that I have done is people’s thoughts on how to manage the manager and the people.
Michael Murray 6:04
Right.
Ai Li Siow 6:04
In the beginning of the career, I get a lot of feedback that (I was a) stubborn leader and not listening. Because when you put a subject matter of experts into a certain role, they will think that he or she is the subject matter expert.
Michael Murray 6:24
Of course.
Ai Li Siow 6:25
So, I did that mistake a lot, right? And every time that I’m into the meeting, as a high-performance manager, you’re going to say that, “Okay, today the purpose of this meeting is ABCDE. Do this ABCDE full stop.”.
Michael Murray 6:42
Yep.
Ai Li Siow 6:43
That’s so wrong. That was so, so wrong. Yeah, nobody liked to work with me.
Michael Murray 6:49
Yes.
Ai Li Siow 6:49
And even my husband says that it will change, right? So, the wake-up call is from my husband. He said, “You never listen.”
Michael Murray 6:57
Yeah.
Ai Li Siow 7:00
So now, most of the meetings that I sit in, I will control myself. I never talk.
Michael Murray 7:06
Yes.
Ai Li Siow 7:08
You just open up the meeting, let them talk, do a conclusion, intervene only when it is necessary. Because sometimes the discussions will get so heated that you need to.
Michael Murray 7:19
Of course.
Ai Li Siow 7:19
Yeah.
Michael Murray 7:20
And to finish off, if you were to describe your career in a couple of sentences, what would it be?
Ai Li Siow 7:27
Love what you do, and do what you love, and you will never need to work again.
Michael Murray 7:34
Wow. Ai Li, thank you so much for being a part of “In the Boardroom”.
Ai Li Siow 7:38
Thank you.
Michael Murray 7:39
It was really, really fun.
