What do you do when powerful tailwinds change to headwinds as you’re growing your business?

Many Membership Economy businesses have struggled to keep up momentum in the past few years as the golden era of growth has evolved to a bottom-line era.

Today’s guest, E-Lin Tan, took the helm at BlueMovement offering subscriptions to Bosch Appliances in Europe during the bottom-line era.

In our conversation, we discussed how they balance circularity and sustainability with profitability.

Listen to learn how they’ve built support across the organization, developed the right culture, and continued to evolve the offering to respond to changing customer needs.

—

Listen to the podcast here

 

Subscription Intrapreneurship with Bosch BlueMovement’s E-Lin Tan

What do you do when powerful tailwinds change to headwinds as you’re growing your business?

Many Membership Economy businesses have struggled to keep up momentum in the past few years as the golden era of growth has evolved to a bottom-line era.

Today’s guest, E-Lin Tan, took the helm at BlueMovement offering subscriptions to Bosch Appliances in Europe during the bottom-line era.

In our conversation, we discussed how they balance circularity and sustainability with profitability.

Listen to learn how they’ve built support across the organization, developed the right culture, and continued to evolve the offering to respond to changing customer needs.

—

Robbie Baxter: E-Lin, welcome to the show.

E-Lin Tan: Thanks for having me, Robbie.

Robbie Baxter: I’m so glad you’re here. I wanted to start by having you share with our listeners how you came to lead Bosch’s subscription initiative?

E-Lin Tan: I am almost 21 years at Bosch, I’m with the BSH Home Appliance group, and I’ve been leading innovations, turning businesses around for the company, growing businesses for the company in different regions. And of late, I’m really into sustainability topics. So when they needed to look for somebody new to turn the business around, which is somewhat four to five years old, when I inherited it, it was quite a nice fit, both a pull and push topic for me to inherit this new baby.

Robbie Baxter: Tell me a little bit about what your model is and what they needed you to do.

Bring us up to the moment when you joined, what was happening, and what they asked you specifically to do? What were the goals at that time? 

E-Lin Tan: Basically, BlueMovement is the circular model that we have. It’s the subscription rental/subscription business of BSH. BSH used to stand for Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances.

Now, it’s wholly owned by Bosch for quite a few years now. And on the trend of as a service, usership instead of ownership, whether it be from the content world like Netflix to more durable goods like ours, home appliances, this is the trend that we are leveraging on.

When BlueMovement was born at the end of 2017, we wanted to learn how we can also strengthen our business in the space of subscription. One of the more important reasons for existence at that time is the element of a circular model. That means we would bring our appliances to our consumers like yourself, and instead of buying a washing machine, you would rent a washing machine from us, and we would still, as the manufacturer, own the product, and perhaps after 2-3 years your life has changed or you want to upgrade to a new model, we take back the washing machine from you, we refurbish it and we bring it to second life to your neighbor perhaps.

This was the model, and it was a test and learn phase, and it was very important how we could make this whole dream work.

The rental business model is not the easiest from a financial point of view. Cash flow, capital expenses, and nonpayment. If you stop paying after six months, what happens with the bad debt, and of course, the growth? When you are working in innovation, you’re always hoping that the hockey stick will come sooner rather than later, right?

What is your value proposition? What is your operating model to make it viable for the company to do this in the long run? All came to be questioned, right? And therefore, that was my mandate to take a look at how things are run and how we can actually turn the business around. Yet fulfilling this goal of finding new consumers, new customers for BSH or for Bosch, but doing it in a viable way, so with a profitable bottom line and growing profitably as well.

Robbie Baxter: Where does BlueMovement operate?

E-Lin Tan: We are now in two countries. We started in the Netherlands, and I think you’re quite familiar with Europe. The topic of circularity and sustainability is quite prominent in the minds of the Dutch consumer. There it was, the birthplace. And then it was such a nice, interesting model and business opportunity that we took it over at that time before I even came into this space.

Our headquarters is in Munich. Now, the second country, since 2021, is Germany. I’m happy to say that with our new approach, we are also seeing the opportunity to go to further countries because as the trend is global, whether it’s subscription or as a service across industries, and therefore we really believe that now we have a model that we can truly capture the hearts of consumers and customers across the world. So we will scale as well beyond these two countries. 

Robbie Baxter: I know we spoke a few weeks ago, and one of the things that I found really interesting is that there are really a lot of different value propositions for consumers with this model. So it’s more environmentally sound. You mentioned that you have capitalization and cash flow issues on your side, but for the consumer, renting is much easier.

There are fewer repairs. You don’t have to be responsible for taking care of your big appliance. You have a lot of different value propositions that you could put forward, but I know that sometimes the more value propositions you put forward, the more confused the consumer is. How do you think about positioning, especially across different segments of different markets where there are maybe different senses of what denotes value?

E-Lin Tan: Yeah, so it’s interesting that you started with a topic of sustainability because, in fact, that was one of the main reasons besides this annual recurring revenue and a continuous relationship forever promised with the consumer. But sustainability was also one of the reasons for the existence of BlueMovement, and we are a corporate startup, but the promise is service and convenience directly from Bosch. That means, in other words, the appliance, the products, or the washing machine, and the ovens. That’s just like the bridge, right?

But at the end of the day, it’s not like a status symbol to have the sexiest washing machine, but rather, you always have clean clothes. And everything around it, we are taking care of that for you.

The vision is that if you want clean clothes, you have an excellent, reliable washing machine, which could switch on and off, connect, and everything is taken care of. In that monthly price, should it ever break down, Bosch hardly breaks down. It’s also in the price for us to come and repair and replace parts, and in the future, you don’t have to worry about ordering your detergent. It’s also part of that monthly fee, so the service and convenience around the entire job to be done of having clean clothes. Hopefully, in the future, we will also partner with energy companies because you obviously need electricity to run your home appliances. That is the general idea. Service and flexibility.

But at the end of the day, it's not like a status symbol to have the sexiest washing machine, but rather, you always have clean clothes. And everything around it, we are taking care of that for you. Share on X

Everything for you is directly from the manufacturer, who knows the appliance the best. That’s actually the promise. And we continuously learn what else we can do for you to make your life more enjoyable. And that is the case that continues to learn and potentially can bring you digital use cases. You don’t even have to change a machine, but should you want to, you can upgrade with us, and we’ll take it back, refurbish it, and bring it to the next consumer. Rest assured, we are taking care of the planet as well while we’re doing this. 

Robbie Baxter: I’m so glad you brought up the point that people don’t want a cool washing machine. They want clean clothes. One of the things that I’ve found with many organizations is that they start their business because they know people want clean clothes or whatever the ongoing outcome, and then they become really attached to their awesome products.

I spoke a few years ago at the International Car Wash Association, and I tried to make the point, which was not well-received at the time. Nobody wants to go to the car wash, even if it’s two minutes faster than the car wash down the street. What they want is for their car to magically be clean. In fact, if little fairies came at night and cleaned your car for you, that would be ideal because then you don’t have to bring it anywhere and you don’t have to wait even eight minutes, even six minutes. And it’s that mindset, I think, that often can unlock the power of a subscription, because then, as you said, now you’re blending in. It’s not just about the machine, it’s about the detergent…

E-Lin Tan: It’s about the electricity, it’s about the digital use cases.

Robbie Baxter: Another conference that I spoke at was the conference for detergents, the American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS). We talked about how to ensure that everything in someone’s closet is clean and ready to go, and what kinds of possibilities emerge when you look through that lens.

E-Lin Tan: I really believe in this close relationship with the consumer so that we can continuously find out how her needs and wants evolve through time. And then we, as appliance manufacturers and developers who are really good at that and maybe even obsessively so, may not be the ones who are the best to bring the best detergent, therefore. I believe in the power of partnering.

First to understand how we can create value, and then to see which company, and there are so many companies out there, whether it be boys and girls like Bosch or even startups. And then if we can truly partner up along the value chain, then we can create the maximum value and capture the maximum value too, as a partnership.

I really believe in the power of partnering. 

Robbie Baxter: Power of partnering. I saw that on your LinkedIn feed. I’m going to start using it. I love that.

E-Lin Tan: Yes, that’s exactly right. I think that’s also a mind-shift change from appliance as well, as we have to do everything ourselves. I think those two mind-shift changes are necessary to be nimble and continuously innovate. And not be down by defending what we think is our competence. We need to continuously innovate. 

I really believe in this close relationship with the consumer so that we can continuously find out how her needs and wants evolve through time. Share on X

Robbie Baxter: I’ve had many guests on the show who are just pure subscription.

They’ve been in subscription from the beginning. A lot of them are in software media, even retail memberships like what Amazon Prime does. It’s all software. There’s no physical product, but Bosch has a proud history in manufacturing. And a lot of what you’re doing depends on software, on finance, on doing things a little bit differently. How do you navigate that? And I know you’ve mentioned you’ve been with the company for quite a long time, which I believe is probably a great asset in this kind of role, where you’re driving change in new business models, and new ways of engaging with customers.

What have you done internally to make this model successful, and how do you think this model is changing the way your peers across the organization think about what your mission is?

E-Lin Tan: The BlueMovement step starts already after the factory, right? So after the oven is produced from the factory, the whole value chain of BSH and Bosch is from the raw materials, talking to our suppliers and designing the product, designing the refrigerator, and if we can design the refrigerator to be fit for repairability and modularity, then when we talk about bringing it to the consumer and bringing it back, refurbishing it, it would be already so much easier to just change over that part, which is from wear and tear.

If it is necessary to hook up the brain of the machine for the performance to still make the durability and the lifetime of the appliance longer, we truly can then have the competence to see through from cradle to cradle and have a lower impact on emissions and resource use. So that’s how we can truly make a difference. To be honest, more than 90% of our business is still that we manufacture but then our partners sell on retail. And we are now doing more direct consumers to learn how he/she thinks and what he/she needs. But at the same time, we are also in models like BlueMovements’ business model. We are able to truly connect the dots, even see how the consumers are truly using our appliances, doing remote diagnostics, and by that, on the software elements.

I’ve mentioned the modular design, but we are also talking about what kind of software that even if your machine doesn’t change. By understanding that you want an oven that can automatically choose the program for you when you put in your pizza. You just have to say, I want it crusty and it even knows it already, because it knows Robbie wants her pizza crusty. It will automatically do everything for you, and through the software updates, we are able to, in the future, give you your better enjoyment of your oven or your pizza. Talking about the service behind without even having you buy a new one or rent a new one.

Robbie Baxter: Tesla was one of the companies that sort of, whatever you may think about their leadership at this current moment, and some of the challenges they’re going through. I think one of the big innovations that they had was that they started with the software and thought about how to build the car so that we could continue to update it. That you don’t have to wait until you buy the next model, but there’s actually room for the same kind of upgrades that you enjoy on your computer or your phone. 

E-Lin Tan: That’s exactly the point, and that’s why you talked about SaaS. They don’t have the physical products, but we could potentially partner up to make the experience of the consumers so much more delightful. So it is truly cradle to cradle, end to end, beyond the hardware, beyond the software, truly holistic as an experience. I mentioned the word service, but for the consumer is the experience that we are selling. 

Robbie Baxter: You mentioned that most of your products you still sell through retailers, through third parties, which is honestly true of most manufacturers. Changing the business model to an as-a-service model or to a subscription model requires at least some direct-to-consumer interaction. Whether that’s just to learn or whether you’re actually selling a product directly. It’s often a new muscle for the organization. This consumer research is also about balancing the big business from the future business. I know you’ve done a lot of work in innovation in new products and new divisions and turnarounds within Bosch, BlueMovement being the latest part of the company that you’re leading.

What guidance do you have for others who are in big organizations that have traditions of success doing things the way they’ve always done them when you’re leading a tiny initiative that could be very strategically important, not just for the revenue, but also, learning from the consumer, from cradle to cradle, knowing her whole journey is valuable for everybody in the organization who historically have not had that same level of access to information.

E-Lin Tan: I always like to call myself an intrapreneur, right? And the joke is that I just don’t have the guts to use my own money for the fund. Basically, I think there is a lot of overlap in the skillset and mindset between an entrepreneur and an intrapreneur. But an entrepreneur needs to understand how this future-proof, innovative idea, whether it’s a product innovation or software, or business model innovation can strengthen the corporate, the big company, the big ship in the long run. Because I can choose something like rocket science, or some other topic, which has nothing to do with home appliances. That would be very ill-fitting, right? So it’s got to pay into the corporate strategy. And being a company person, you would understand the strengths because you do your SWOT and you know the threats that you’re facing, so you know that you need to change. And yet you’ve got your heavy load of the tanker that has all the reasons for you to defend your strengths, but also maybe the hurdles of being nimble and daring to fail. So the organization also has to have different focus points and different budgets and different people because the moment you have the same budget and same people doing business as usual, that pays our salaries and those that probably need to use money. Before they can make money, then you have a setup for failure. Different buckets of people, also different mindsets, because we need to continuously say, “Hey, failure is the only option to learn because you never know what will happen until you try.” 

This whole mindset shift, skillset shift, and the whole way of working is very important, whether you fail or succeed, which also means that if you truly believe in a certain innovation, then it’s got to have top management’s attention. If not, it’s not going to live very long because the moment it is subjected to budget constraints and prioritization, it’s very easy to say whether the business as usual, that pays your salary, gets the budget, or this business gets that money. And how it’s going to support the company in the longer run has to continuously make sense for the bigger picture. 

Robbie Baxter: I’m just updating a course I developed for LinkedIn Learning on being an intrapreneur, entrepreneurship inside the company, which is such an important skill, and I think it’s understudied and underappreciated because you were being modest and saying I don’t want to take the risk of my own money. But the other part of it is that trying to do something entrepreneurial within a large company can actually be harder than doing it on your own because you have so many constituents to answer to. 

E-Lin Tan: The intrapreneur needs to know how to win over the internal stakeholders as well. And oftentimes, if you are the new topic, you may not be the new kid. 10 years in the company but you are always fighting for something, not business as usual, and therefore, how not to be labeled the distractor, the troublemaker, the one taking the resources and attention is super important. Therefore, the need to find the win-win, right? You need to have a vision and strategy first that fits into the bigger picture of the corporate vision and strategy, and then you need to see how it’s going to be realized. So you need proof of concept. You need your little pilots, you need your little tests and your little successes in order to then show that, “Hey, it’s truly adding value for our big company together.” And then gain more and more support along the way. For example, if I were to try to make my little speedboat, we would call ourselves a little Speedboat 10x. If I were to try to make my little Speedboat 10x, it would mean that I would need so many more resources in software developers in operationalizing it in the sales and marketing touchpoints to reach the consumers. And why should I do that when Bosch, as the tanker, has already so much power in the operations as well as in the touch points, in the sales and marketing, customer service, et cetera. And therefore, in my mind, it’s like for us to understand, in which context do we do what?

When we talk about scaling, we should understand which are the strengths you should play with and which are the areas that you better try to do on a small scale, where you have control.For example, if you want to change a typo on the webshop. If you were to do it in the big tanker, you would probably have to do an IT ticket and wait for your turn for someone to change it for you. To understand who your internal stakeholders are, how to win them, and when to get in touch with them. I think it’s also important. And also, which strengths and gaps to fill in at which point in time.

Robbie Baxter: I’ve been thinking a lot about entrepreneurship inside the company and whether it’s important to have credibility in that organization before you take on a major new initiative that requires a lot of support. 

In what ways do you believe that it’s helped you to have worked across the organization in different regions, different product lines?

And to what extent are you calling on those old pals, old relationships, to grease the wheels and make it easier for your nascent business to grow?

E-Lin Tan: The simple answer is this, at the end of the day, I feel very blessed that I also come from engineering, and I worked in the technical line, product line management, factory planning, and everything before going into business and innovation. If I do need anyone to adjust something on the product side, they can’t pull a first one on me.

Similarly, on the business side, I have seen how it is in the market, so I’m not the headquarters lady, right? So I’ve seen how it really happens in the real world, in the consumer’s home, and talk to customers and build relationships and partnerships with customers, manufacturers, and everything. So this bandwidth is really very important, and knowing who to call, who to spar with, and who to gain as a champion is so important. I feel very thankful that I do have the people to call. And they always make time for me. Because at the end of the day, in a big company or a small company, to be honest, it’s not the facts that win the day, right? It’s the people, and it’s who you partner up with to make the crazy dream and the impossible come true.

In a company, it's not the facts that win the day. It's the people, and it's who you partner up with to make the crazy dream and the impossible come true. Share on X

Robbie Baxter: I personally think that having credibility in the organization is such an advantage in intrapreneurship. I’ve seen several really skilled, experienced subscription people go to a different company and be blindsided by people who don’t take my calls. They don’t trust me. They think I’m the bad guy. And I think that’s one issue. 

The other one that you brought up that I think is really important is that you keep tying it back to the corporate goals. You keep showing how everything aligns, how we’re all going in the same direction, and I think that can be exhausting. I just talked to a division leader who was like.

Isn’t it obvious that if the company put this division in place and put me at the top of it and gave me resources, that it’s important, but you have to keep reminding people and showing them how the pieces fit together, and that can be exhausting? 

E-Lin Tan: Yeah. So you cannot be an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur if you’re not resilient.

And I think you need a little bit of a masochistic thing in you, that you like pain. You’re so driven by the sense of achievement of doing pioneering that will make sense for the bigger picture. And I think at the end of the day, we have all lived through this. 

You cannot be an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur if you're not resilient. Share on X

The leadership changes, right? The board of management changes, the division head changes, your fellow stakeholders in the other functions change, and you continuously have to repeat the story and strengthen the story. And I would say repeat the story because I constantly think that we need to pivot, so the story gets stronger and the story gets adjusted to the time, constantly being ahead of it. I always say five steps ahead of everyone else. I think that’s really important because if they see that you truly make sense, and it’s not just tying it to the bigger picture of the corporation, but also to your stakeholders. If it’s the next function, your stakeholder’s agenda. And if you can’t do that, you can’t find that win-win. How can you win-win? It’s okay, you may be interested in sustainability, but what’s in it for me? This is connecting the dots, whether it’s partnering with internal stakeholders or partnering with external partners. This is key. And that’s the same for the consumer, right? You are not in it to get as much money from the consumer as you can. You are in it to delight the consumer, and have them engage in such a wonderful experience that it’s a joy for them to be in this partnership with you. Whether it is an internal stakeholder, an external partner, a consumer, or a customer, it’s all the same. It’s to really empathize how to find a win-win. I see it like that.

You need to find joy in that, and I had to learn it too, because I’m an engineer, it’s facts and figures. And I knew I always enjoyed people, but I always thought, “Oh my God, that’s a waste of time. I have to work. So hardworking Asian as I am.” Then in the end, why do I deprive myself of this joy of connecting with people, learning from them, and understanding how we can partner up and create something cool? I allow myself to enjoy it, and it’s in fact one of the key factors why I think I’m a successful intrapreneur. This is the key success factor. 

Robbie Baxter: Let’s talk briefly about your success. How is BlueMovement doing? How has the growth been? What are some of the milestones that you’re particularly proud of? 

E-Lin Tan: It was funny because in earlier months of my time with BlueMovement, I was drawing this mountain and then saying, we want to go up 10-20 times, and where are we now?

Are we at the 0.1%? Are we halfway there? But I truly believe we’re like 1% or less. Because this is such a new world, right? That’s for me, such an exciting thing. We are still pioneers, even seven years down the road because it’s still so new to our durable goods. The Appliance World. But it will become a norm in the long run.

For me, this whole finding out what great potential is not just a dream, but truly data founded. It’s really the first thing.  How are we going to make it work in the markets that we are already in? The turning-around part, changing the business model, finding partners that truly are the right ones for us. What is our value proposition to begin with? Who are the target consumers? The sales channel for going B2B. That’s also something I’m really proud of because when you want to try to change. If you go to B2B, the business partnering part, and from that viewpoint, your target group, of which business partners or which business channels you go to, is also very important. And they could potentially help you convince the end consumer. Because the end consumer is from the innovation, let’s say, uptick is a little bit slower than the more innovative business players. Those are the milestones, and where we are right now is basically also opening the B2B space, clarifying who and why we’re in this game. Not just why for the consumer and the customer, but also why the company has changed.

Then, also going forward, which are the new markets to capture and win? The business model part is also another critical factor because if we are not able to do it right in the existing markets, how can we scale? We don’t want to scale and go to new markets with the wrong thing, and the CEOs will just kill me. They are my internal stakeholders as well as partners in crime, and therefore, those are the critical milestones that I’m proud of so far.

But we are really just below 1% of where we want to be, so it’s very exciting. 

Robbie Baxter: I wanted to ask you, are there other companies that have analogous models that you look at or even talk to, to say, “Let’s see how they’re doing it, or let’s explore different options that we have that other people have already paths, other people have forged?”

Or do you feel like we’re so unique that everything for Bosch and everything for BlueMovement is de novo, from scratch, or starting with a clean slate? 

E-Lin Tan: I don’t like to be alone. Within the industry of home appliances, there were a couple of players, and there is a huge player like LG in Asia. They’re doing extremely well and aggressively expanding their rental and subscription model.

I always look beyond the industry. I like to play in the blue ocean. So if you’re in a red ocean, then you are oftentimes on price. You have price wars and all that, and who’s a little bit faster, who’s a little bit cheaper. But when we’re in a blue ocean, a new space, then we might be new in our industry for this, but just among the few players. But in the end, you have been in this space forever so we can learn a lot about how others are doing membership economy, because it’s also going like the Bosch Club, right? If you want a new appliance, you can always get it from us. We will make sure that your machine goes to the next person. So it can also be in that way that I learn.

Because ours is a product-as-a-service, I try to learn from product-as-a-service companies first. The easiest way is car leasing. They are hundreds of years old, and at the end of the day, earlier on, everybody would say, “I buy a car and that’s a status symbol.” Why should I lease a car?

But now everybody says, “Oh, because I don’t have to worry about repair. I get the latest model, et cetera.” And it’s actually almost a parallel. Whether it’s how SIXT does it, the car rental, we have so many different models, and now we are talking about leasing instead of just rental, and how production equipment manufacturing has been using leasing for the longest time. Sell and lease back. These are the different business models, but also how they do customer success elements. The Forever Promise and what other additional services are beyond the initial package that could be interesting. Whether it’s Amazon Prime, there’s so much to be learned, and I think that I take inspiration from various industries and various parts of the value chain.

Not just the product side, but also the whole consumer lifetime value and customer engagement side. And really globally. So I think that in the end, it’s about seeing what takes impulses to and see what you can copy and adapt for your use. That’s how I try to approach it, so I don’t feel so lonely.

Robbie Baxter: I’m with you. It’s so funny because a lot of organizations think they’re unique, and they are, to a certain extent. The products are different. The history is different. The culture is different. But at the end of the day, when you’re offering someone a subscription, it means moving the alignment from ownership to access, and it gives you the freedom to think about the outcome rather than just the moment of transaction, the sale that’s the value, and the automotive computer. Even the wearables now, I’m pointing at my old school watch, but the different kinds of devices that can track your health. I wear an aura ring. These are all products as a service offerings with different ideas about whether you own the physical product, how you subscribe to the services, and whether there are add-ons.

There are lots of great models out there, so it’s great that you’re using those. 

E-Lin Tan: That’s why I feel so thankful that you reached out because I really believe in the power of community. Not to mention that you are an expert and I’m just a newbie.

I’m so grateful that the other practitioners in this area have also built some communities, and I try to give value from my end and in my experience, and when we share all these experiences, we are like, “Oh my God, how did you solve that problem?” And I think in the end we face similar challenges, maybe at different phases in our lifecycle or journey. Maybe in a slightly different context, but the general line that joins us all is the subscription, which is a continuous relationship and not just transactional. And then, of course, my side is a little bit on the circularity, but to your point, it’s not always with that element but that consumer recurring relationship, I think is one of the things that bonds us, and coming from that linear, recurring, continuous mode is the part that links us all up together quite nicely. 

Robbie Baxter: Beautifully said. I have a lot more questions, but we’re running short on time, so I’m going to ask you if you have a chance, are you willing to do a speed round? 

E-Lin Tan: I don’t know whether I’m fit for that, but let’s do it.

Robbie Baxter: Okay. The first subscription you remember having?

E-Lin Tan: Milk in Malaysia, back home.

Robbie Baxter: Your favorite subscription today, not including BlueMovement?

E-Lin Tan: Amazon Prime. 

Robbie Baxter: If you’re given a choice, growth or turnaround?

E-Lin Tan: Both. I’m a coward.

Robbie Baxter: Most surprising difference in business culture across the many continents where you’ve worked?

E-Lin Tan: Top-down control and democracy.

I loved India because I learned there that you need to spark the vision and then just let it go. If not, you will have a lot of white hair and let the team reach the goal. And in the end, it really released me of any too close management. Because if you do micromanagement, the best thing that the team can reach is where you want them to be, but if you inspire them for the vision and let go, you can reach even higher than what you, as a leader, thought. That was an amazing lesson learned for me. 

Robbie Baxter: Amazing. And then a housekeeping hack that you’ve learned at Bosch?

E-Lin Tan: Get a weekly person on two feet to come in.

Robbie Baxter: Let them use all the good equipment. E-Lin Tan, thank you so much for being a guest on Subscription Stories. It’s been a real pleasure. 

E-Lin Tan: Thank you so much. I enjoyed every moment.

—

That was E-Lin Tan, Global Head of BlueMovement by Bosch. For more about BlueMovement, go to www.BlueMovement.com, and for more about Subscription Stories, as well as a transcript of my conversation with E-Lin. Go to RobbieKellmanBaxter.com/podcast.

Also, I have a favor to ask, if you like what you heard, please take a minute to go over to Apple Podcasts or Apple iTunes and leave a review. Mention E-Lin and this episode if you especially enjoyed it. 

Reviews are how listeners find our podcast. And we really appreciate each and every one. Thanks for your support, and thanks for listening to Subscription Stories.

—

Important Links

• E-Lin Tan, Global Head of BlueMovement by Bosch
• BlueMovement by Bosch
• BSH Home Appliance
• LinkedIn Learning Course: Taking on New Initiatives in Your Company
• The Blue Ocean Strategy
• SIXT

About E-Lin Tan

E-Lin Tan is a visionary global leader with over 25 years of experience transforming businesses across Asia, Europe, and North America in the semiconductor and consumer goods industries. As Global Head of BlueMovement at BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, she pioneers a Subscription Business for appliances and services that increases consumer and customer reach and lifetime value, as well as driving sustainability through circular economy.

Previously, she served on the BSH North American Board, grew the Dish Care business in Asia Pacific, and has led Innovation, Operations, and Sales and Marketing teams. Known for her results-driven and people-focused leadership, E-Lin builds high-performance, diverse teams with an entrepreneurial, agile mindset. She holds degrees in Chemical Engineering and an MBA.

 

Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!

• Here’s How »

Join the Subscription Stories Community today:

• robbiekellmanbaxter.com
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Robbie Kellman Baxter on Instagram
• Subscription Stories: True Tales from the Trenches on Apple Podcasts