LEADERSHIP & STRATEGY
Let’ s get really curious about what’ s happening in the world and reinvent ourselves
Nanda Burke Global Head of Talent and Organisation Siemens
The skills currency Fast forward to the present moment, and Nanda attributes much of her success to her multi-disciplinary background that spanned marketing, sales and general management, and of course, HR – named People and Organisation( P & O) within Siemens. While climbing the corporate ladder can sometimes feel like a series of tick boxes that need to be checked in the right order, Nanda argues that crossing functional boundaries provides the“ outside-in” perspective necessary to innovate in P & O. She says:“ Talent managers in the past have always told me to‘ stay in your lane’, but I must say that going out of my lane for me has been super enriching.” Yet in a global technology company that employs about 318,000 people, traditional hierarchies can become bottlenecks. Instead, she views talent as an integral portfolio of leadership, learning and organisational transformation.“ The space is moving so quickly that we really need to not only think in structures, but we need to think in fluidity,” Nanda explains.
To achieve this, she has championed skills as the organisation ' s global currency. By focusing on capabilities rather than job titles, Siemens can move talent across the business with speed.
HR must grow its own timber Retention is top-of-mind for all leaders, but for Nanda, it is not just about keeping great people; it is investing in them to make sure they stay great. As a result, she argues that for an organisation to be truly resilient, the engagement for growth must be shared between the employer and the employee.“ If you really want to build a resilient and sustainable organisation, you need to have a good combination of growing your own timber, developing internal talent and investing in your own people on an ongoing basis – complemented by external talent we should always remain curious about,” she adds. While Siemens provides the framework for development, Nanda believes that the final mile of professional resilience rests with the individual’ s drive to evolve.
92 June 2026