Man of the Month – Bernhard Teriet – CFO at BMW Group Thailand

Hello, my name is Bernhard. I am the CFO of the BMW Group in Thailand and I am living now in Thailand for two years with my wife and my 7-year old daughter. Before coming to Thailand, we were living in Munich, Germany, but we were already considering for some time an expat assignment. And when the great opportunity came up to move as CFO to Thailand, we were more than happy to come here. We had travelled to Thailand 10 years ago and we liked it very much, especially the fantastic food, the great weather and the friendly people.

The biggest shock to me when I arrived here was the traffic in Bangkok. I remembered it wasn’t good many years ago, but what I experienced during rush hour in terms of traffic jam was beyond any expectations. I tried hard for one year to getting used to this, but in the end, I moved to a place where commuting time is a lot less.

I would say overall the percentage should be comparable between Germany and Thailand. And the automotive Industry is definitely an attractive industry in Germany as well as it is in Thailand.

Within the BMW Group, diversity and gender equality are very important topics. We are deeply convinced as a global company that diversity adds enormous advantages to our working teams as well as to our leadership teams. Diversity is one of the leading principles in our HR work. Currently, at BMW Group Thailand, we are employing people from 11 nations and the proportion of women in senior roles is 31%, so we are living up to our own standards.

Above all, it helps if you have a certain passion for the product, e.g. for luxury cars. Beside all necessary “formal” skills like education, experience etc., it is the passion of all employees for our Brand and our products that makes the difference in our success.

In my point of view, we are living in a time where mere “skills/knowledge” are not enough anymore to be successful, because technology and environment are just changing too fast and it also is pretty easy to “access” knowledge. So, for me the key to success for the future is more about the application of the “right” knowledge to a specific problem. And that in my opinion is especially relevant in the digitalization era because it involves a lot of communication and interpersonal skills. The best people I met in this field are the ones who understand the business/process side as well as the technical/IT-part of it and who are comfortable to talk to both parties or to translate between them So, in a nutshell, interpersonal and communication skills in addition to a sound foundation in your field of expertise are a very good base for any career.

That is a very tough question, because I love all our cars. Currently, I am driving a beautiful BMW X5 which my family and I like very much. It has a clear presence, looks powerful and elegant. Nevertheless, it is sporty and fits the need of every family. So, I would love to say that this somehow represents me.

From my experience, men tend to be more focused on engine, horse-power and technology while women tend to focus a little bit more on overall design, color, ambience and “feel” of the car. In our Portfolio, we have very nice options for every style in many price ranges, just depending on your preferences and your taste.

My role models are my wife and my daughter.

You don’t have to be great to start but you have to start to be great!