419 | Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld | Fortune 500 CEO Teaches Us About Leading to Thrive

The Greatness Machine

Darius Mirshahzadeh

Education, Entrepreneurship, Business

5.0 • 135 Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does it really take to lead at the highest level without losing yourself in the process? In this episode of The Greatness Machine, host Darius Mirshahzadeh sits down with former CEO and global business leader Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld to unpack the realities of leadership at scale. Klaus shares his journey from a challenging upbringing in Germany to leading global powerhouses like Siemens AG and Alcoa. He reflects on the lessons learned from navigating complex organizations, driving transformation, and aligning teams across tens of thousands of employees. Beyond strategy and operations, the conversation dives into the inner game of leadership. Klaus explains why managing energy, not time, is the key to sustained performance, and how purpose, resilience, and emotional control shape long term success. From handling uncertainty and making high stakes decisions to avoiding burnout and building alignment, this episode offers practical wisdom for anyone looking to grow as a leader and thrive in both business and life. In this episode, Darius and Klaus will discuss: (00:00) Introduction to Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld (04:12) Transitioning to Management Consulting (06:33) Navigating Corporate Structures and Leadership (08:59) Aligning Values and Incentives in Organizations (14:29) Addressing Politics in Corporate Environments (17:43) Leadership Challenges in a Complex World (21:13) Optimism in Overcoming Challenges (22:04) The Inner Game vs. Outer Game (23:26) Managing Energy for Leadership (27:14) Purpose as a Driving Force (29:09) Balancing Short-Term and Long-Term Goals (35:50) The Role of Self-Trust and Spirituality (37:36) Target Audience for 'Leading to Thrive' (41:36) Current Projects and Passions (43:03) Overcoming Barriers to Greatness Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld is a global business leader, investor, and entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of K2Elevation, where he focuses on building technology and biotech ventures. He previously served as Chairman and CEO of Alcoa and Arconic, and spent 20 years at Siemens AG, ultimately becoming its CEO. Beyond his executive roles, Kleinfeld has advised multiple U.S. presidents and global leaders, and serves on several boards including KONUX, Brainlab, GreyOrange, and Fero Labs. He is also affiliated with organizations such as the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of “Leading to Thrive: Mastering Strategies for Sustainable Success in Business and Life,” and currently lives in New York. Connect with Klaus: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/klauskleinfeld/ Book: https://www.leading-to-thrive.com/ Connect with Darius: Website: https://therealdarius.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dariusmirshahzadeh/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imthedarius/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thegreatnessmachine Book: The Core Value Equation https://www.amazon.com/Core-Value-Equation-Framework-Limitless/dp/1544506708 Write a review for The Greatness Machine using this link: https://ratethispodcast.com/spreadinggreatness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Love gang, welcome to The Greatness Machine.
0:01.6	I'm your host Darius from Shazday.
0:02.9	I'm so pumped to have you here with me. Now listen, the greatness machine were about two things. Number one, people were living their passions. And number two, those who are creating greatness in the world and doing both of these things despite the odds against them. Each episode, we're going to feature interviews with game changers, business leaders, telling us their origin stories. What made them tick? what got them to where they are now.
0:22.9	Why?
0:23.4	So it can help you step into your greatness
0:25.2	within your life, your business, and your career. Occasionally, you might hear a few solo episodes
0:29.7	for myself, as I say, as I leverage my 20 years of entrepreneurship as a CEO and founder
0:34.8	to help you grow and level up in your journey to scale your life and your business. So come be a fly on the wall, enjoy the conversation, and I'm stoked to have you hear with me. Guys, welcome to his episode of The Great News Machine Army, host Darius Manchaise and boy do you have special guest. My man, Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld is in the house. Hello, Klaus. Hello. Hey, hello, Darius. Good to be with you.
0:56.0	Oh, great to have you here. By the way, where are you based out of? I forgot to ask you that. Outside of New York and Westchester, actually, in Rye, Westchester. Nice. All right. How's the weather out there today? Oh, gloomy, a little bit gloomy.
1:08.2	Yesterday was sunny.
1:09.3	It's still cold, you know, but tomorrow's going to be sunny again.
1:13.2	All right.
1:13.8	Well, in New York, I'll take that. I agree. I agree. That's what I'm here. Yeah. So, you guys, we're in for a tree today. Klaus is a very decorated leader in the world of business. His PR agency, Fortier, reached out to us. and I was telling him before the show that we get a, they have a lot of great people that they, they introduce us to, folks like, oh, gosh, oh, I'm blaking on him right now, but I'll remember him later.
1:40.0	Seth Godin was, actually, Seth Godin was one of the first people that came on the show from Fortierre.
1:45.5	But we've had a lot of great guests from that group. If you ever have a book launch, I always recommend them. I think they're probably one of the best, if not the best in the country for book launches. But they reached out because you wrote a book, when we're talking about the book today. before we go there though though, I want to go through your formal bio very quickly, Klaus, and then I would love to talk a little bit about your origin story. How did you get to where you got to? Does that sound good for you? Yes, fantastic. Perfect. So Klaus, like I said, is a, am I pronounced your name properly? Yes, yes, yes. All right, there we go. Klaus is, like I said, former chairman,
2:17.9	CEO of ACOA,
2:18.9	as well as Siemens,
2:19.9	AG, massive, massive organizations. How many employees read each of those organizations when you're CEO? At that time, Alcoa had about 80,000, and Siemens had about 400,000. Wow. That's crazy. So not a lot of our listeners, maybe not running 400,000 person organizations, but super
2:38.5	impressive.
2:39.5	But at the end, it's all about people, whether it's 400,000 or whether it's 10, you
2:44.8	know.
2:45.0	Yeah, 100%.
	...

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