Would I be where I am?
“All genders can learn so much from one another and take strength from this. It’s not about being like the other, let’s remain as we are and let’s learn together.”
Nicolas Bürer, Managing Director digitalswitzerland
If you were a woman, do you think you would have made it to the top leadership ranks? Why (not)?
I’m not sure looking back that I would have made it to be frank. In economy and society, we are moving ahead, and we are recognizing the values and attributes of both women and men. Women have different and unique leadership skills, with very good communication capabilities and a very good balance of analyzing opportunity versus risk. It’s thanks to such skills that I believe women will be able to take more leadership positions in the coming years.
How have gender stereotypes influenced your career choices and professional development?
And do you feel these stereotypes are present in your current work environment?
We don’t feel stereotypes but differences, and they are positive. We like having different characters. We concentrate on the positive differences between genders and include them in our work environment. This is true in the leadership, communication skills, resiliency, project management, conflict resolution, ambition levels and the vision shown within our team. Yes, we have different strengths clearly. And having an equal balance, we get a better result at the end. We need diversity to have higher impact.
How do you personally act against gender stereotypes in your environment?
At digitalswitzerland, we want all genders to have equal conditions in all terms. This covers flexible working, salary basis and management and leadership positions. It’s important to have a balanced gender ratio in the team. This is true when it comes to representation on panels, at events and within our projects. We try to reach this objective as much as possible. That’s our environment and we want to push fairness and diversity in this.