Fränzi Kühne in conversation: "Gysi asked if I think he was beautiful"

What did you want to become as a child?

Nadine Bad

Editor in business, responsible for “Job and Opportunity”.

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Detective Inspector.

Not only as a child, but also during my studies.

I also applied to the BKA and took the entrance test in Oranienburg.

I was immediately sorted out on the grounds that I was too stress-resistant.

How come?

Isn't Stress Resistance Good?

I was told that I would react too slowly in dangerous situations.

And then I told someone about it at a party a few weeks later.

And she said: “My dad also works for the police.

This is a synonym for the fact that the quota of women in the recruiting year is too high. "

So this was the first time you've been offended because you're a woman.

Why was it such a dream - to become a commissioner?

At the scene of the crime, I was always the first to guess the perpetrator.

And did this ability bring you something completely different later?

I think knowledge of human nature plays a role in being able to assess people - I can do that, and that has often helped me.

As a Commissioner you have to ask a lot of questions.

You have now made up for that in your book and asked men all the questions that you have been asked very often in your career as a woman.

Your favorite question?

It's difficult because there were so many different questions.

So when I asked Gregor Gysi if he had ever been promoted because of his visual attributes, that's one of my favorite questions because he couldn't do anything with it.

He asked back if I would like to know because I think he was so beautiful.

Most men have simply forgotten in the course of the conversation that these are all questions that I myself have been asked before.

You also asked: What sacrifices did you have to make for your career?

What answers did you get?

Most fathers have said they haven't seen their children grow up.

For example, Jo Kaeser sat in front of me, who was still CEO of Siemens at the time, and said: “I no longer know where I was on the day my older daughter started school.” And he regrets it bitterly today.

What was the funniest scene?

Heiko Maas, who rolled back in his chair to show me what he was wearing!

He then held his sneakers up to the camera.

It was bizarre to ask the foreign minister so banally about his clothes.

He was also the only one who was a little piqued about it.

The others may just have been amazed or have prayed down their outfit.

But he reacted a bit harshly.

He said he was voted Best Dressed Politician and that he didn't want that award because he didn't want to be reduced to his looks.

What was the question you were asked the most upset?

Whether I am even taken seriously in these men's groups.

For a long time I always answered that obediently and said that I already knew a lot about digitization.

And when I then asked Joe Kaeser: Were you always taken seriously as CEO?

It was only then that I realized how presumptuous this question is.

Keyword digitization.

Does the Corona digitization swing benefit women's careers?

I would differentiate between women and mothers.

It is clear that mothers, but of course families as well, suffered a lot in this Corona time from this double burden of all the care work and at the same time the career.

On the other hand, I believe that leadership has changed due to the many Zoom meetings.

In what way?

Leadership is no longer: Who is the one here who is the best at small talk, who hits the table the most, and who takes up the most space?

On video tiles, they are all the same size and present.

Young women who are rather shy but know their way around and are used to using these tools were able to prove themselves.

But the bottom line is that the Corona period did not advance women's careers very much.

Will the more flexibility through more home office not make it easier to combine child and career?

That could be useful, yes.

But now I also see a lot of companies that say: everyone comes back to the office and we'll do everything as before.

Because that's the easiest thing to do.

One should now take countermeasures and say: Without a home office, without flexible hours, it no longer works.

At the age of 34, you were also the youngest woman to be elected to a supervisory board.

Have you been asked as many puzzled questions because of your age as because of your gender?

It was a mixture: the youngest, a woman, then a mother, no traditional educational background and from East Germany - a lot came together.

But Freenet is a company that is quite young.

The board members are all pretty young, in their mid-40s, that's not the typical group of old men.

Have you always had to multitask a lot?

It didn't feel like that.

These are different roles, but it is a question of organization and of: Who is helping?

In my supervisory board mandate, I have a board office that helps me.

I have my partner who is half responsible for the children.

I have a nanny, I have my mother around the corner, I have a kindergarten - so a lot of people who support me.

In addition to good networks - what are other career tips for women?

Show a little ignorance.

Have a thick coat.

Don't always think: what could they think of me now?

Rather: Rather, have your own path in mind and ask yourself: How am I doing?