“Monoculture has no future”
Claudia Nemat has been a board member of Deutsche Telekom AG since 2011 and is responsible for the Europe and Technology division. The lack of women in MINT professions and leadership positions in Germany is incomprehensible to them and has long been out of date.
Ms. Nemat, you yourself studied mathematics and physics. Why, what interested you in it?
I've always wanted to understand exactly how the world around me works. How did the earth and the universe come into being? Why do the planets move around the sun? thanks to the
During my studies I was able to live out my enthusiasm for these questions. Is there perhaps a physical law or mathematical problem that still fascinates you today?
The Heisenberg uncertainty principle: The more precisely you try to observe a system or specifically determine the location of a particle, the more you change its state. This
In the 20th century, knowledge turned the previously valid deterministic world view of physics on its head. In a figurative sense, today it can be referred to the management or leadership of
large companies and organizations: Micromanagement and command and control leadership styles (destroy) the corporate culture and thus performance. A young woman is interested in studying a STEM subject. What would you say to her?
Make it easy! In my opinion, the deciding factor when choosing a subject is: How interested am I in the topics that are being taught? And if you are interested in a MINT
If the compartment is the largest, there is no reason not to try it. When I consider what factors might prevent a young woman from pursuing her interest in science,
I always end up with the same topic: The strange idea that women are unsuitable for technical professions is long outdated, but unfortunately has not yet been completely eradicated. As head of Europe at Telekom, you can make international comparisons: Is the lack of women in the MINT sector a specifically German problem?
In most of our European subsidiaries you are more likely to meet women in technical professions and management positions than in Germany. This has to do with the fact that there are more role models for this in these countries. It has been normal there for decades for men and women to go to work. The image of the housewife is less common there than it is here. Children who grow up under these impressions naturally approach their career choice differently. We need more female role models! The more visible strong girls and women are who are involved in technology and MINT, the more future generations of young women will orient themselves in this direction. But we also have to work on the general conditions: In Scandinavian countries, the working hours of women and men are similar; The proportion of women in management positions is also much higher than here. Balancing family and work is not an issue for women, but rather an issue for all working fathers and mothers. We should start there and look carefully at what we can take over from these countries. If you consider current trends such as “Industry 4.0”, the times to study a MINT subject have seemingly never been more exciting than today. Can women work on future-oriented projects, especially at Telekom, in the next few years?
In today's society, more and more data is being generated. Everything is becoming digital and networked. This creates many new opportunities, but also new points of attack and dangers. Our
The task is to secure the networks and thus our customers’ data. We need forward and lateral thinkers who drive innovation through different ways of thinking, regardless of gender and origin. A concrete example would be a Telekom project that was recently decisively shaped by the winner of the MINT Women's Award, Katrin Erlinghagen from the TU Dortmund. She has dealt with the “networks of the future” and wrote about heterogeneous networks in her master’s thesis. This is a very important topic for us because, among other things, we have to densify the mobile network in metropolitan areas in order to continue to meet the needs of our customers and their smartphones in the future. The size of the radio cells varies and so-called “small cells” are used instead of large antennas. Think about smart components that can monitor and control their own maintenance and care. We will be in the area of networking
see very exciting developments in the next five years.
Women in leadership positions are particularly rare. Where is the root of the evil?
At the moment, women in leadership positions are still relatively rare. In today's society you can't think in such black and white terms. The role model of women must change. Currently seeing it often
still like this: women primarily look after the children. That's why it's more noticeable when the mother isn't at home. You can ask the same question: Which father of the family?
middle or upper management is happy with the situation of only seeing their children late in the evening or even only on weekends? The trick for fathers and mothers alike is to bring everything together
Bring a hat. I am also a woman in a leadership position, a mother of two children and together with my husband we have to combine our professional and family lives.
The economy must create the necessary infrastructure for this. I would like to see women become more visible in the professional world. Companies must create framework conditions that...
Promote diversity and thus enable new perspectives on products and markets. Deutsche Telekom has been doing this for some time. We have numerous programs in place
called to support women on their career path. Why do companies do well to promote differences or diversity?
Companies today face brutal global competition for good ideas and the best products on the market. The digitalization of the economy has led to a rapid pace of innovation; the markets are moving in ever faster cycles. This competition of ideas is about new views on old markets. Any type of management based on monocultures will not survive in this competition. That's why it's important to bring people together who have different views and ways of thinking. Modern management must manage and promote difference – also known as “diversity”. In Germany in particular, we have tended towards a monoculture in the past - the same markets, with the same managers, who often had the same training and often worked together for a long time, are analyzed using the same methods. And then everyone wonders why the products are interchangeable. Managers should ask themselves how they can change this. Initiatives such as greater compatibility of family and career, lateral entry into management or much more international experience are a necessity that will enable companies to attract creative minds in the future.
Claudia Nemat has been a board member of Deutsche Telekom AG since 2011 and is responsible for the Europe and Technology division. The lack of women in MINT professions and leadership positions in Germany is incomprehensible to them and has long been out of date.
