Siemens boss says firm is too German, white and male

The head of German industrial group Siemens, Peter Löscher, told the Financial Times Deutschland on Wednesday his company’s managers are too German, white and male.

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"The management board are all white males," the Austrian-born Siemens chief executive told the newspaper in an interview. “We’re too one-dimensional.”

Löscher said his priority this year would be to improve the group's "global diversity," after spending his first year trying to help it recover from a scandal sparked by widespread corruption. Failing to bring onboard top directors from countries like China and India would make Siemens less competitive.

"It’s not a question of quotas. But I would like to see a more diverse management board,” he told the FTD. “I’d like to see a really good Chinese running the China business and a really good Indian responsible for India."

Löscher said such diversity was crucial to Germany’s economic future: “It’s absolutely decisive. It’s what’s most important. If you don’t reflect your global customer base you can’t develop your complete potential. If you do it then you have a huge advantage.”

afp/ftd