Wednesday 4 November 2026

Against Inertia: How AUMOVIO Built Its Own Identity Without Erasing Its Past

Most talks about culture and identity start with a blank slate. AUMOVIO could not. Born from a split of Continental AG, AUMOVIO inherited something more complex than nothing — it inherited compartmentalized cultures, decades of professional identity, and tens of thousands of people for whom the old way wasn't just a habit, it was a career. Telling them to change meant telling them they'd been wrong. This session shares the unfiltered story of (re)building a company identity while fighting against inertia in one of the most disrupted industries. From the ground-up development of new values and connecting them meaningfully to (employer) brand, to simplifying recruitment and diagnostics, integrating leadership development, deploying AI-powered learning, and running the full spectrum of HR products coherently for the first time — this is what it actually looks like to do transformation work when you can't start over, but you can finally do it right. The central lesson: you don't need a blank slate. You need acknowledgement of the past, discipline not to dwell in it, and clarity to adapt forward.