Leading through transformation: Stefan Grosch on innovation, people, and progress

A crisis has a beginning and an end; what Bosch and its peers face is something more enduring – a transformation requiring new mindsets, business models, and leadership capabilities. 

The evening’s conversation – part of the Today’s Global Leader series at ESMT supported by izf–Initiative Zukunftsfähige Führung and the Karl Schlecht Stiftung –  brought together business leaders, students, and partners to explore how one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers navigates this period of profound industry reshaping. In dialogue with journalist and moderator Astrid Frohloff, Grosch shared insights on leadership, innovation, and the human dimensions of organizational change. 

The evening opened with welcoming remarks from Matthias Koch, COO and CFO of ESMT, and Uta Menges of izf, before ESMT President Jörg Rocholl framed the discussion with a faculty impulse on technological progress. 

Transformation and identity 

Bosch built its reputation on mechanical engineering excellence – ABS, ESP, and ASR systems became synonymous with automotive safety and performance. The company now integrates software-defined capabilities and AI into this heritage. Rather than abandoning engineering foundations, Bosch leverages its proven capabilities in high-volume production, quality standards, and domain expertise while adding software and AI layers. This strategy bridges traditional engineering and emerging software talent, allowing both communities to contribute meaningfully to the company’s evolution. 

The philosophy reflects lessons from Grosch’s 33 years at Bosch, including formative experiences in Brazil and Spain. His career trajectory – with multiple board-level role changes within five years – demonstrates the organization’s commitment to continuous learning and adaptability at senior levels. 

In his opening remarks, ESMT President Jörg Rocholl linked the discussion to this year’s Nobel Prize in Economics, awarded for research on innovation and growth. He noted that the laureates’ findings echo Robert Bosch’s belief that technological progress must serve humanity — a conviction that continues to guide both Bosch and ESMT’s approach to responsible innovation. 

Over the past five years, Bosch has filed more than 1,500 patents in artificial intelligence, underscoring sustained investment across mobility, manufacturing, consumer devices, and services. 

Leading people through change 

Grosch outlined Bosch’s leadership framework, organized around three dimensions: lead myself, lead my team, lead the business. This structure encompasses nine attributes derived from the company’s mission, “Invented for life,” including talent development, customer orientation, courage to advance, celebrating success, and creating psychological safety through diversity and inclusion. 

The framework addresses practical realities. Bosch is implementing significant structural adjustments, including workforce composition changes that affect employees and their families. Grosch emphasized the company’s approach: explaining the target clearly, involving people in shaping implementation, maintaining transparent communication, and remaining close to those affected.  

When addressing employee concerns about AI, Grosch was direct about necessity. Bosch pursues AI along two paths: using it internally for productivity, speed, and quality improvements; and building AI-enabled products and services. Grosch emphasized that generative AI is not intended to eliminate jobs but to serve as a virtual assistant that supports employees in their daily work and simplifies processes. This requires extensive training cascading from senior leadership through the organization, coupled with systematic sharing of successful practices across business units. Internal multi-agent AI systems in Bosch factories now optimize scheduling, reduce unplanned downtime, and streamline production throughput. 

Innovation and the road ahead 

Global vehicle production remains essentially flat at approximately 90–91 million units annually. In such conditions, growth requires innovation not only in technology but in business models and market approaches. Grosch described Bosch’s evolution from lengthy upfront planning cycles toward starting small, partnering strategically, then scaling successful initiatives. Simultaneously, the company maintains substantial long-term investments in areas including highly automated driving and hydrogen technology. 

This dual approach addresses the reality that meaningful progress requires both rapid experimentation and patient capital. Bosch’s worldwide footprint – including roughly 130,000 associates in Germany – becomes an advantage, enabling the company to absorb insights from markets like China, where speed and customer focus drive competitive dynamics, then transfer learning across regions. 

The company forms international teams that co-innovate between China, Europe, and other markets, maintaining Germany’s role as home to fundamental research capabilities while leveraging global execution strengths. As Bosch CEO Stefan Hartung has remarked, “there is no world car or world refrigerator.” Grosch underscored the point, emphasizing that products must be tailored to local requirements while benefiting from global scale and knowledge exchange. 

When asked about talent retention amid industry transformation, Grosch pointed to several factors: Bosch’s foundation ownership structure, which dedicates profits to charitable purposes; career mobility across B2B and B2C business units; and the company’s capacity to support diverse development paths. He cited a board colleague responsible for AI who came from a chemistry background, illustrating how continuous learning enables unexpected career trajectories. 

During the audience discussion, questions ranged from technological disruption beyond AI to strategies for maintaining innovation amid cost pressures. Grosch emphasized adaptability, speed, and flexibility as core capabilities for managing uncertainty and shortening decision cycles. He stressed that innovation must flow through organizations rather than becoming trapped in bureaucratic structures, requiring diverse perspectives in decision-making and skip-level communication to ensure messages reach throughout the organization. 

Leading with purpose and perspective 

Grosch’s personal leadership approach includes a revealing practice: planning private life first, then fitting business commitments around it. This reflects his broader philosophy that sustainable leadership requires personal balance and structured routines. His advice to aspiring leaders emphasized staying positive, cultivating continuous learning, building strong teams, and finding mentors to navigate large organizations. 

As Rocholl noted in his opening remarks, progress is not the enemy of stability but its foundation. Societies that embrace openness, value rational discourse, and support entrepreneurship create conditions for shared prosperity. This principle animates both Robert Bosch’s century-old vision and ESMT’s contemporary mission: developing entrepreneurial leaders who think globally and act responsibly. 

For Bosch and Germany’s industrial base alike, the challenge involves managing the transition to software-defined, AI-enabled products and services while maintaining competitive position amid intensifying global competition. Yet the message Grosch conveyed throughout the evening centered on capability rather than constraint: adaptability matters more than perfect forecasts, and innovation pursued responsibly serves humanity. 

The question, as Robert Bosch understood and as today’s leaders must answer anew, isn’t whether to innovate. It’s whether leaders can create environments where innovation flourishes alongside the values that give it purpose. 

The Today's Global Leader series continues on February 11, 2026, with Nora Fehlbaum, CEO of Vitra. Sign up for ESMT Berlin’s leadership events at esmt.berlin.