When needs must, the boss himself is to be found in the hall. In the run-up to Christmas, for instance, when chaos reigns in the DHL centres, Tobias Meyer goes in to help out at the weekends. Putting parcels and packages on the conveyor belt or taking them off. “The parcels are put on and taken off the belts by hand,” he explains. “So you really know what you’ve been doing by the time you get to the end of the day.” In the summer, he drove a DHL van around Cologne, delivering consignments and carting parcels up to the fifth floor. He had already done something along the same lines in England, Turkey and Hong Kong. DHL is the largest logistics company in the world. The Bonn-based global logistics provider generates around three quarters of its annual turnover of over 80 billion euros abroad.

Swapping his suit and desk for the red and yellow DHL uniform is not something Tobias is doing for the first time, nor is it something he only does when the cameras are there to witness it. ”I've been doing it for years so I get to know the processes and the mood among the employees,“ he states. ”You learn a lot when you're out and about yourself. I can see how the customers behave, and I have to cope with difficult journeys or stairs." It means he experiences the pitfalls of the business first-hand, he says. He can find out a lot more in a few hours working with others than on a three-minute walk through a parcel centre.

This sounds practical and pragmatic, and the 49-year-old also sees himself as a pragmatist when asked to describe himself. That was already the case as a student. Tobias Meyer initially wanted to become a civil engineer, but in the 1990s, when he went to university, the job prospects were poor. So he decided – quite pragmatically – to study industrial engineering, specialising in mechanical engineering. “After all, it was along the same lines.” He started gliding at the age of 14 in his home town of Schwalmstadt in northern Hesse. It was a hobby he was passionate about, which is why he focussed on aeronautical engineering as a student. ”I did student internships at Airbus in Toulouse and Hamburg. I wanted to work in aerospace later on,“ he says.

He timed lectures and seminars so that he could be in the air as much as possible. ”I packed the winter semester full of exams and meetings so that I had more free time in the summer semester,“ he remembers, laughing. And it all worked really well. ”I even passed the dreaded statistics exam.“ In order to save money for gliding, he lived in Darmstadt in basic student accommodation with a shared toilet.

Today, he still sees his decision for industrial engineering as having been the right one and ”sensible“. It also gave him an insight into law, business administration and economics. ”Knowledge that I would be able to make full use of in my job later on.” With a grin, he remembers a particular professor of law who gave his lectures with great vigour and sometimes had students read out paragraphs. Tobias Meyer spent an entire year abroad during his studies in the USA, at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, a partner university of the TU. “A good experience. I got to know the American lifestyle, and the facilities at the university were impressive.” Finding one’s feet in a different culture and environment is also an important lesson for one’s later professional life.

When Tobias completed his studies, he had planned to work as a developer on the new A 380 at Airbus. However, the processes for the construction of the wide-bodied aircraft were delayed. In 2001, the pragmatic alumnus decided to take up a position with McKinsey, the management consultancy. “This was intended to be temporary until the A 380 programme started.” But then he stayed – for a total of twelve years, working in Frankfurt and also spending several years in Singapore. Tobias is married and has three children. “Singapore is exciting and extremely dynamic. I travelled a lot.” But at some point he was drawn back to Germany. “I appreciate nature and a social life.” Two years after starting work with the management consultancy, he decided he would also do a doctorate while working. His doctoral thesis focussed on global manufacturing techniques, global production and location selection. “So it's a similar profession to the one I am working in today – only from the perspective of our customers,” says Tobias.

In 2013, he moved to the Deutsche Post DHL Group, where he spent two years as Head of Corporate Development. He then worked as Chief Operation Officer at DHL Global Forwarding, the freight forwarding division of DHL, until 2018. The division's core business is air and sea freight as well as customs services in over 120 countries. This was followed by management positions in the Post & Parcel Germany division. From there, the 49-year-old rose to the Board of Management of Deutsche Post and DHL, and since May 2023 he has been CEO of the Group, which has been operating under the name DHL Group since 1 July 2023.

Was that his goal? “Excessive career planning is not helpful, and it’s not something I have ever done.” Rather, he advises: look at who you are working for. “You also become successful when you work for successful companies and with successful people,” he believes. But none the less, managerial qualities are also required. And a tactical feeling for the right decisions and timing. “I am very fact-orientated. Perhaps that’s a characteristic of engineers,” says Tobias. A motto: “I don't have to be right; it has to work.” He is currently also facing challenges. For example, a weakening of the letter business. “As a mail service provider in Germany, we are committed to nationwide delivery. There are a lot of regulatory requirements, and we work with our own people, not with subcontractors like others do.” There are fluctuations in letter traffic and many mailing occasions have been digitised away, but there are also extreme peaks – such as during postal elections or before public holidays.

These are challenges in the German business, but DHL has a global presence, mostly with its own staff. Which equates to almost 600,000 employees worldwide. "Every crisis in the world affects us in some way. For example, we have employees in Israel as well as in Lebanon.” DHL was also present in Russia as the largest express service provider with around 6000 employees until the business was closed due to the war in Ukraine.

To balance out his strenuous professional life, the TU alumnus meets up with former fellow students, among others. Once a year, they meet up to spend a few days hiking together. He has also taken up his hobby of gliding again. Just like in the old university days.