The Sunday newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) made the issue one of its top stories in June 2023: “Why women do not remain on management boards for long,” the headline said. In the story that followed, the writer reeled off a list of spectacular examples of women leaving management boards, a development that the journalist said had “recently increased”: “Insiders from management and supervisory boards all admit that there are systematic reasons why female executives do not remain in their positions on the management boards of German companies for as long as male executives.”
In fact, female members of management boards spend significantly less time in their positions than their male colleagues – and they do so not always because they are forced to resign by other people. “Female executives frequently decide to leave of their own accord,” said one top female manager during the interviews conducted by FGS Global and Egon Zehnder. “They leave earlier because there are some things which they simply do not want to get involved in, like political infighting. And because prestige is often less important to them, they would rather just get out.” Too many potential female members of management boards do not even bother to join the game, one interview partner said. “They don’t want to have to tie themselves in knots. Sometimes, they are actually more satisfied with the specialist positions they hold on the second or third levels.”
Female executives who have their minds set on leading a listed company must accept that their status as “the new girl” requires them to learn to navigate a set of rules which their stakeholders already know by heart. They have to understand the unwritten laws of their companies and be able to apply them without losing their authenticity – just like everybody else. Of course, they also have to get involved in male-driven “power plays.” They can do so by learning “when it’s smart to raise their voices and pound the table, and when a quieter voice will be listened to,” as one female interview partner noted. She added that women would find allies faster by doing so. “These allies are enormously important because they can warn you about potential traps. It’s diplomacy in the best sense of the word.”
According to some interviewees, female executives tend to wait until someone “discovers” them instead of proactively and publicly putting themselves forward. Such behavior applies both as female executives are on the path to a management board position, and once they reach the board. One female interview remarked that: “To be successful on the management board, women have to know how to find their space and position themselves.”
The FAS also reported that another reason for the premature departure of female management board members is the even greater shortage of qualified female candidates for supervisory boards – bodies for which companies have quotas to fill. The result: if the working atmosphere on the management board is unpleasant, top female executives will occasionally decide to pursue the “more self-determined, somewhat freer lifestyle” of a supervisory board member – according to the FAS, at least.
Amidst all this, the majority of male and female interviewees stressed the need for authenticity. Female executives should not bend to the majority’s will but remain true to themselves. “Just like all managerial positions, you need a certain amount of drive and confidence,” one interviewee said. “At the end of the day, you can only be who you are. And if you have the feeling that you cannot be authentically successful in this position, then it is not the right position for you.” Ultimately, it is the system that must change – and not the female executives.
Central Individual Factors
The core job of every new female member of a management board or supervisory board is to know the stakeholder ecosystem and understand its dynamics. She must be aware of the existing stereotypes and learn how to navigate them.
Female members of management and supervisory boards must not underestimate the fact that even in 2024, they are acting as role models – and as such it is vital that they are visible players.
They must proactively and publicly position themselves, in an authentic manner.
