An Interview with Gerrard Schmid, President and CEO of Diebold Nixdorf

Gerrard Schmid is President and CEO of Diebold Nixdorf, a financial services technology including the largest provider of ATMs. As a conscious leader, Gerrard works to be present; for him, it means being self-aware of what’s going on in the organization and being very keenly attuned to what employees are saying and feeling. Being present also means he is attuned to what customers are saying and doing; the same holds true for their investors. He believes as a leader, it is critical to understand what factors you control. During Covid, he has learned how very little control we all have. Tune in as we talk about the importance of courage, vulnerability, and self-awareness for conscious leadership.

In This Episode 

• [01:00] Meet Gerrard Schmid. Gerrard speaks about how he became a conscious leader.
• [07:00] How a conscious leader can be vulnerable in the workplace.  
• [15:00] What Gerrard has learned as a leader during Covid. 
• [22:25] The importance of self-awareness in conscious leadership.  
• [27:30] How organizations can create a safe working environment for their employees. 

Key Takeaways 

• Vulnerable leadership is something teams need to fuel their future success. 
• During Covid, there is little we can control as leaders; the one thing a leader can control is how they choose to show up for their employees. 
• Learn to be present more often; adopt a meditation practice to help you on your self-awareness journey. 
• Conscious leaders make difficult decisions using empathy. 

Meet Gerrard Schmid

Gerrard Schmid is President and CEO of Diebold Nixdorf, a role he has held since Feb 2018.
Diebold Nixdorf is a global leader in self-serve technologies for the Financial Services and Retail sectors, and generates approximately $4billion in revenues and employs 23,000 people in over 60 countries.

Prior to joining Diebold Nixdorf he served as chief executive officer of D+H Corporation, a $1.7 billion global FinTech company. Under his leadership from 2012 to 2017, the company evolved to a global leader in real-time payments and lending software.

Prior to D+H, he held senior executive roles at financial institutions in the UK and Canada, and worked for several years at McKinsey working across financial services, e-commerce and technology. Gerrard has a Bachelor’s of Science in Aeronautical Engineering and a Master’s of Aerospace Engineering.

Resources 

Diebold Nixdorf: https://www.dieboldnixdorf.com/en-us
Gerrard’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerrard-schmid/