Product Overview

This field-based case follows Rani Russell Shea, the new CEO of Siemens Advanta North America (supplier of tech, consulting, and digital-transformation services), as she attempts to lead a turnaround at the company. The case details the career rise of Shea, a lawyer at a software company named Camstar when it was acquired in 2014 by the German conglomerate Siemens AG. Through grit, networking, and smarts, Shea navigates into a position of leadership for Siemens’ legal team and wins an opportunity in the German office as the general counsel of the company’s Internet of Things Services business, a “start-up inside of Siemens” with 7,000 to 8,000 employees soon to be named Siemens Advanta. After several years in Germany, Shea is offered the chance to lead the North American region of Siemens Advanta as CEO. The challenge is large. The company has been missing its internal forecasts and needs to grow its sales pipeline. Students follow Shea as she embarks on a listening tour to meet her staff and as she tries to tackle issues such as improving services, cutting costs, changing the culture, and driving sales. Shea was hired to make change. But can she? And how should she sequence all the change? This case highlights the increasing emphasis on strong social skills for C-suite executives. The present environment is focused on a wide range of stakeholders including clients, employees, merger partners, community members, and climate considerations. Managing the multitude of relationships requires a high EQ and attention to corporate culture. Shea has been a successful businesswoman for years, but the challenges she now faces threaten to tarnish her career. How does she tackle the tangibles and intangibles to reach her objectives? This course is taught at Darden in the second-year course “Getting in the Room Where It Happens”; it would also be suitable in a module covering organizational behavior, strategy execution, communication, leadership styles, and managing human capital.

Learning Objectives

•To understand the relationship factors in the career rise of a female executive in a multinational technology company •To evaluate the financial and cultural challenges faced by Shea at Siemens Advanta North America •To consider whether Shea is facing a phenomenon called a “glass cliff” which threatens her career •To make strategic and leadership recommendations for Shea that will improve her current situation