Is There Life After the Corner Office?
Why would anyone, particularly a well-spoken, knowledgeable and globally connected top executive, still not even sixty years old, even ponder retirement?
(image: iStock)
How can a 56-year-old executive scale back and retire after a career sufficiently dynamic to guide the fortunes of a global tech company with revenues in the double-digit billions?
Ask a Wall Street analyst, and the answer would involve snagging a board membership or a figurehead chairmanship at yet another multinational tech company.
Seriously, why would anyone, particularly a well-spoken, knowledgeable and globally connected top executive, still not even sixty years old, even ponder retirement?
Indeed, geopolitics today favors perseverance. China is at war with the West in every tech segment. The resilience of Western-bloc automotive and semiconductor industries is in peril. These dangers cry out for a mature hand equipped with serious tech/management expertise and experience in the arts of diplomacy.
Kurt Sievers fills the bill. But he’s bailing.
CEO and president of NXP Semiconductors since 2020, Sievers will retire next week.
Always approachable, articulate and direct, Sievers has been a godsend to my reporting career. Last month, I happened to spot him at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, site of an annual conference for automotive industry executives, regulators and the odd professor, called the Autonomous.
A few minutes before the first speeches, I saw Sievers in a front row seat, by himself, undisturbed by either corporate handlers or selfie hounds.
I knew I had to get closer to him, in hopes of striking up a casual conversation. Sievers recognized me but he couldn’t remember my name. No offense there. After all, I’m just a reporter. However, aware of his upcoming retirement, I knew I had to ask the obvious question:
“Kurt, what’s your plan after your retirement?”
Of course, the whole world had been notified. In a conference call last April, he noted, “…For three decades, I’ve passionately prioritized and dedicated my energy to NXP and all of our stakeholders. Now, the time has come to start planning for a shift in focus on my personal journey. I am looking forward to entering the next chapter of my life in good health, taking more time for family, friends, and personal passions.”
“Spending more time with my family” is the boilerplate cliche for virtually every big shot leaving. But what were these “personal passions”?
I popped that question. Without hesitation, Sievers said, “I will get back into photography and hiking.”
I asked, “Wait, what do you mean by ‘getting back’?”
Sievers said, “Few people would know, but I used to be a professional photographer. While I was in the university, I took photos that I sold to [the] National Geographic [Society]. It paid for my life when I was studying.”
No kidding. A lot of people say they like taking pictures. But was he that good?
Apparently, photography wasn’t just a pastime or a college job. It was a “personal passion” he yearned to revive.
Kurt Sievers holding court on a stage at a conference, The Autonomous, in Vienna, Sept., 2025 (Image: Philipp Lipiarski)
After graduation
While earning his keep as a photographer, he obtained a Master of Science degree in physics and information technology from the University of Augsburg in Germany. After graduation, first—and only—corporate job was at NXP Semiconductors (then called Philips).
That was in 1995. He suspended his career as a photographer.
Sievers once told me how he got his first job at Philips. He was initially offered a job in the components division, which he rejected. Acknowledging that as an idiot move, he explained, “I was not under pressure to find a job, and I was arrogant — thinking why would a physics person want to deal with coils and capacitors? I thought that was boring.”
Philips came back two weeks later with a job offer in the semiconductors division as a product engineer for microcontrollers. This time, he acquiesced.
In his years at NXP, he mentioned photos and hiking as hobbies, but he never revealed these avocations as a passion that haunted him.
Sievers worked only at Philips, rising steadily through NXP’s ranks. In 2018, he was promoted to president. In 2020, at age 50, he was tapped to succeed Rick Clemmer as CEO. Over the last five years, at the helm at NXP, Sievers has had to navigate the pandemic and the geopolitical divides that shook the very foundations of his industry.
Why now?
I had to ask why he decided to get back into photography now.
Sievers admitted that “nobody on Wall Street gets it.” But, he explained, “When I get older, I won’t be able to hike up mountains any longer. Certainly, I wouldn’t be able to wait for hours in severe weather just to capture the right moment when the sun is coming out from a certain direction at a certain angle.”
In other words, it’s now or never.
Of course, over the last three decades, photography itself has drastically changed. The transformation from analog to digital photography is a big deal. A photographer today has access to a chemical-free digital dark room where he can freely manipulate and alter images. Sievers can experiment with AI, with God-knows-what results.
I asked him, “How do you feel about that?”
“It’s unsettling,” answered Sievers.
But he quickly turned the tables. “Of course, you guys [in the media] have the same challenges.”
Indeed, whether a reporter or a retiring big shot, we’re still in this together.