Is Europe about to get a Neutron Klaus?

Last week, Klaus Kleinfeld took over as chief executive officer of Siemens, Europe's biggest engine...

Last week, Klaus Kleinfeld took over as chief executive officer of Siemens, Europe's biggest engineer. He succeeds Heinrich von Pierer, who has been running the Munich-based company for the past 12 years. Like any incoming CEO, Kleinfeld presents himself as a new broom, a hurricane ready to blow away all the cobwebs in the organisation. Yet, the most intriguing aspect of Kleinfeld, 47, is the parallel with another leader of a giant electronic engineering company: Jack Welch, who led General Electric Co through two decades of transformation. Welch was 45 when he took over as CEO of GE in 1...