Man of the Month – H.E. Georg Schmidt – German Ambassador

When DBWT met the German Ambassador H.E. Georg Schmidt we learned that the number of his team in Bangkok is roughly 100, with approx. 60 female and 40 male employees.  Gender is not the key point in his management style, most important for him to consider is Communication, both verbal and non-verbal, to avoid any misunderstandings that could happen in interactions with men and women as well.

He told us about his intercultural experiences from a posting in Africa where body language is used intensively, very much different from mentality and culture in countries like Thailand or Japan. He therefore always takes his time to listen carefully and gain advice from his Thai as well as German staff to ensure a clear communication and understanding as a general management principle.

Ambassador Schmidt emphasizes that he does not apply a different approach between male and female staff in his team – in every aspect. “Trust and openness are the key, regardless of gender”

He believes that the criteria for someone to be successful in his/her career are the same for men and women, and he also does not see much difference in the limitations to be successful at work, for example with regard to work-life balance, since more and more men are also actively seeking paternity leaves instead of pursuing their career, and take more responsibilities for family matters. However, we agreed that the salary gap is still an important obstacle in Germany and in Thailand.

In any case, Ambassador Schmidt’s personnel policy is to support diversity, apply gender equality and always offer equal career opportunities to his female staff. And luckily, the German Embassy in Bangkok is large enough with a notable number of positions to serve this purpose.  Job rotation is another option to support the female staff’s career development.

Responding to our question on the average quota of women on the management level in Germany, the Ambassador informs us that since 2016, German law requires a minimum quota for women on companies’ supervisory boards. And at all listed companies, and those with workers’ participation in corporate governance (thus applying to around 100 companies), at least 30 % of boardroom positions must be filled by women.

Simultaneously, companies must now set and publicly report their own targets for women’s participation in the boardroom and senior management. The results are monitored by the German government. Failure to report gender statistics could lead to a fine of up to € 10 mio. (around $ 11.7 million) or 5 percent of annual revenues.

First positive effects have become visible in Germany, with significant increase of women on the board level, i.e. from 25% in 2015 to 31 % in 2019.

The Ambassador wishes us success in creating an efficient and meaningful networking platform for female empowerment. We truly enjoyed our talk and the open communication, and we thank him very much for his great encouragement and support! He is our Man of the Month!