Ask Peter Löscher what drives him as chief executive at Siemens, Europe’s biggest engineering group, and you will not hear another round of stereotyped formulas about challenges and maximum performance. Instead, the towering 52-year-old rises from his seat in his light and modern office at the “pink palace”, Siemens raspberry-coloured Munich headquarters, to fetch a letter he received a few weeks ago.

In it, a former US government official sends a late acknowledgement for a portable cardiac defibrillator the company provided 40 years ago for US President Richard Nixon’s inauguration. At the time, only two such devices existed and the official wanted one just in case something happened to Mr Nixon during the event. A Siemens employee, asked at short notice for the portable device, went a long way to make sure that the 35-pound defibrillator arrived in time.