For decades, Allianz was the German insurer. Becoming an international financial service provider has changed the face of the company. Like many of his colleagues, board member Clem Booth was not born in Germany. He talks about his experiences with diversity in his home country, South Africa, and why diversity is an asset for companies.
 | Clem Booth, Member of the Board of Allianz SE"Apart from being a valuable thing in itself, reflecting all groups in society is key to being a successful company" |
Being South African you must have had many experiences with diversity in your home country. What does it mean for you?
I think that diversity - or rather diversity as a nation’s core value - is one of the most important characteristics of dynamic and winning societies.
At a time when integration in South Africa was blocked by the apartheid regime, I was privileged to lead a company that was representative of the entire nation, not only the white part. We were the largest and most profitable operation in our market and I think that was to no small measure because we attracted talent from all communities. I learned just how strong diverse teams can become if there are common goals and the will to search for consensus.
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How do you see diversity in South Africa since the end of Apartheid?
South Africa under President Mandela regained its self-respect. It became a country for all its people, rather than just the privileged few. Mandela’s role was decisive – he embodied values such as reconciliation and tolerance when there was a good deal of fear about the future. But he was not alone. Many South Africans joined hands in the "Rainbow Nation".
Today, South Africa has many challenges. There is still a lot of poverty, and the question how to equitably redistribute and share wealth and opportunities remains. AIDS is spreading and there is an unacceptably high crime rate. But this is not because of diversity; on the contrary, diversity is one South Africa’s greatest assets.
So what is the best way to foster diversity? Some people are already criticizing affirmative action programs that establish quotas for underrepresented parts of society saying such measures impede talent.
Affirmative action in the South African context didn’t impede talent at all. There are 40 million people in the country, but the whole top work force was being chosen from a group of four million, so from ten percent of the population. And even if the four million people were incredibly smart it was unreasonable to assume that there weren’t any smart people among the other 36 million people in the country.
So I think opening up the talent pool to everybody and managing the issues which stop people coming through is very important. I think it improves the talent pool. The smart guys who were in the privileged minority before, they will still be fine. When you open up there is more competition for jobs and this is good. I really believe that diverse societies achieve more sustainable outcomes. It is the same for companies. At Allianz we have lots of people from all over the world and all walks of life, and to my mind, that is one of our greatest strengths.
You mentioned diversity at Allianz. There has been a lot of talk about Allianz being international, global – but diverse is a fairly new term. How come?
Actually, diversity is nothing new to Allianz, nor, for the most part, to the financial services industry. Allianz is a highly international company so we are not starting out on the diversity path from zero; we are already well along the way. But the important point is that being international and being diverse are two different things.
What characterizes diversity and why should it be of importance for a company?
We live in a world that is constantly changing. People are migrating within the global village like never before and multi-cultural societies are the norm these days. This has opened up opportunities to acquire new customers, colleagues, and shareholders. And many examples show that there is a clear link between diversity and performance. Apart from being a valuable thing in itself, reflecting all groups in society is key to being a successful company. For us, this is the essence of diversity.
Is diversity only about targeting different ethnic groups?
Basically, diversity is about all groups that are underrepresented, and about those who have been there all the time but whose potential still needs to be tapped: Logic tells you, for instance, that if more than 50 percent of your customers are women, it makes sense to check their point of view.
The same applies to other customer groups, such as, for example, gay people or the disabled. So the question for me is to say, let’s take a reality check of where we are right now and where do we want to be. The company must be representative of its clients and the communities it is responsible to.
Do you have some examples for diversity at Allianz when it comes to addressing different customers?
There are several examples, such as our Sharia products for Muslims or special assistance products for the older generation. In the U.S., Allianz Life is marketing specifically to Hispanic, Asian, and African American customers.
You just mentioned women, too. Aren’t women still underrepresented at Allianz? How could you address this?
If you take entries into the company’s workforce, the gender split is about 50:50. On the other end of the hierarchy, which of course has fewer people, there are not so many women. And this also varies country by country. What we have to find out is whether there are factors that retard progress. There is no one saying we rather want men in senior positions, it is often just practical issues and if you solve them, it should make a difference.
When Women decide to have children, to my mind that should not have a negative impact on career development. We need to manage that. Not only as we have done already, for example in Germany you can come back to the company even after 36 months of parental leave. It's the little things. Can we create more work sites at home? Can we provide women the opportunity to still participate in projects while they are at home? Can we avoid having meetings in the evening when parents have to take care of their children coming back home from school?
In general I don’t think we need to change our culture as much as nurture and encourage what we already have. There isn’t anyone saying that the promotion of diversity is a bad idea. If anything – and the Leadership Culture Survey 2006 showed this – the support for diversity has been very positive from the outset. What we’d like to do now is give a further impulse to what’s already happening. But it’s not only about hiring; it’s about retention and about tapping into the resources we already have. And it’s also about fighting discrimination and stereotypes where they exist.
editor: Thilo Kunzemann, Britta Tietze
publishing date: September 13, 2007
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