Schneider Electric CEO Olivier Blum credits his time as CHRO for shaping his leadership style Luck

I had the opportunity to speak with Blum from Dubai about his plan. Here are some of the main points he is focusing on now:

Creating smart energy systems: With 160,000 employees and 1 million partners worldwide, Schneider Electric already has a robust ecosystem around its products. But Blum wants to evolve from an energy company to an “energy technology partner” that uses data and connects the network to the data center in new ways to create smarter, more efficient and adaptable energy systems for customers. Blum said, “Our job is to make sure we connect the ecosystem of people and provide the technology to make that happen.”

Accelerating the energy transition with big technologies: From the need to draw more energy from current infrastructure to the need for new infrastructure to utilize solar, wind and other renewable resources, Blum prioritizes initiatives to create new advanced infrastructure with partners such as Nvidia and increase the efficiency and performance of existing systems. Among other things, it is launching a new global consulting services brand to help customers meet these needs. “This acceleration in both supply and demand is happening faster than expected,” Blum said. “This will disrupt the way we invent the technology of the future.

Moving beyond ESG: “While we want to ensure good financial results next quarter, we always try to imagine how we are positively impacting our environment,” said Blum. “We still want to be a responsible company in the short and long term. We used to call it social responsibility – it was more charity – then it moved to ESG sustainability and maybe the next cycle is more about impact responsibility… It’s not just for your wallet or the planet that you have to make the energy transition, it’s about demand.”

Keep management layers to a minimum: The complexity of large companies can be a barrier to decision-making. Blum’s solution is to “keep one common layer … 20% of things that have to be truly global in the strategy” and build four regional centers to “create reinforcement and speed in the way we run the company.” That means more resources, centralized supply chains and independence for regional operations in places like North America and China to “help people as close to the action as possible.”

Creating culture from the top: “At the end of the day, you can have the best technology, the best brand,” Blum said, “but 90% of success is about choosing the people you put to work.” Blum credits his time as CHRO for making him more attuned to the importance of leadership, noting that “you realize how much people’s culture and behavior is influenced by what comes from the top of the company.”

You can read the entire interview here.

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Contact the CEO daily through Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

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