The most valuable lesson from that journey is that I had to become very comfortable with not knowing.

When I first arrived in Germany 25 years ago, I barely spoke the language. I still remember a moment in a bakery when I tried to order something and completely froze because I didn’t understand the question being asked. It was a humbling experience — and it happened often in the beginning.

Beyond the language, there was the bureaucracy, the cultural nuances, the unspoken expectations. For years I tried very hard to assimilate. But after about 17 years, something shifted. I realized my greatest advantage wasn’t blending in — it was my otherness. This awareness came while I was coloring a picture of a peacock while at a retreat for mothers that need a break (an absolute highlight of the German health system!). I had the thought, “Look at the peacock…he doesn’t apologize for being his brilliant self, he just IS. Why do we say, ‘proud as a peacock?’ He’s just doing his peacock thing! Why are you trying to fit in when you were born to stand out?” This sentence and mind shift changed my life!

The real courage came when I stopped trying to become someone else and started embracing my own perspective unapologetically. That’s when I began acting with real clarity. I had a different set of glasses that allowed me to approach old problems with fresh questions, while bringing the determination and optimism of my Texas roots to the table.

Sometimes courage isn’t about knowing what to do. Sometimes it’s about trusting that your perspective has value — even when it looks different from everyone else’s.

In practical terms, it means learning how to work with fear instead of waiting for it to disappear. Courageous people are not born fearless. They’ve simply learned that something else matters more than their fear in a given moment.

Fear will always take as much ground as we allow it to. Especially in times of transformation, where decisions must be made with incomplete information. But once we learn to analyse our fears and question the assumptions behind them, many of them lose their power.

In my work with leaders in transformation, I see the same pattern again and again: people are waiting for the moment when everything becomes clear. But that moment rarely arrives.

Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, said it perfectly: “You can’t be afraid to make decisions. You have to act, even when you don’t have all the information.”

Transformation means dealing with imperfect people, incomplete data and uncertain outcomes. But the liberating truth is this: everyone else is navigating the same uncertainty. The most courageous thing you can do is show up as yourself and move forward anyway.

The biggest barrier between intention and action is the belief that everything must be perfect before we begin. I see this particularly often among highly capable women. They want their thinking to be flawless, their communication precise, and their strategy fully thought through before stepping forward.

But that’s not how learning works. Everything we have ever mastered in life, from walking to eating to writing to KISSING, has come through trial and error. There is no new knowledge without experimentation. There is no mastery without trying something, adjusting, and trying again. Somewhere along the way we seem to have forgotten that.

While we are still trying to perfect the plan, the world around us has already moved forward. In transformation-heavy industries like automotive, waiting for perfect conditions simply isn’t an option. As Voltaire said, “Perfect is the enemy of the good.”

Progress requires the courage to move forward before things feel finished.

What connects all of us in that room is something very simple: we are all on a lifelong learning journey. No matter what title we hold, there is still so much to discover, especially in an industry transforming as quickly as automotive and mobility.

My role as MC is to create a space where curiosity is welcome — where people feel comfortable asking questions, sharing insights, and even speaking honestly about challenges. Leadership can be a surprisingly lonely place. Many leaders feel they have to carry uncertainty quietly.

But something remarkable happens when people lower the mask for a moment and speak as humans rather than roles. You suddenly realize that many of the challenges we experience are far more universal than we thought. And that realization creates connection.

Connection starts with shared relevance. Whether someone is sitting in the room in Stuttgart or joining from another country, they are all navigating similar questions about leadership, transformation, and the future of mobility. My role is to bring those shared experiences to the surface.

That means asking questions that resonate across cultures and roles, highlighting insights from the audience, and keeping the conversation dynamic so that both the physical and virtual rooms feel involved. Energy doesn’t come from a stage — it comes from participation.

When people feel seen, included, and invited into the conversation, the distance between online and in-person audiences suddenly becomes much smaller.

In the end, the goal is simple: to make everyone feel part of the same learning experience.

The most common pattern I see is a deeply rooted belief that “I’m not good enough yet.”

What’s fascinating is that it shows up at every level. I hear it from recent graduates and from highly experienced managers. Imposter syndrome is incredibly widespread.

The reason is simple: we see only a small fraction of what other people reveal about themselves — but we see 100% of our own doubts and mistakes. Then we compare the two. It’s an unfair comparison that holds many talented women back.

The shift happens when women recognize that this inner narrative isn’t a reflection of reality — it’s simply a story the mind has learned to repeat. Once they start acting despite that voice, confidence begins to grow through experience.

The industry needs leaders who are visible, decisive, and human. Transformation brings uncertainty, and uncertainty creates pressure. But waiting for perfect clarity is not an option when industries are moving this quickly.

Leaders today must make decisions knowing that the information will always be incomplete. That requires a higher tolerance for risk — and a willingness to learn and adjust along the way. At the same time, people need orientation. They need leaders who communicate honestly about what is known, what is not yet clear, and what direction we are moving in.

Leadership today is less about having all the answers and more about creating enough clarity for people to keep moving forward.

Culture rarely changes through announcements. It changes through visible behaviour.

Large organisations are complex systems with strong habits. New strategies alone don’t transform them. What transforms them is when leaders begin to act differently — consistently and visibly. For example, when leaders start rewarding experimentation instead of punishing mistakes, or when they openly discuss uncertainty rather than pretending to have all the answers. That’s when people begin to feel permission to behave differently themselves.

Culture change isn’t about motivational speeches. It’s about shifting what is safe, expected, and rewarded in everyday decisions. And that always starts with leadership.

You may be at the beginning of your career — but you already bring unique strengths and perspectives that your organisation needs. The biggest mistake many young professionals make is comparing themselves to people who are ten or twenty years further along in their careers. That comparison will always feel discouraging.

Instead, focus on developing your own voice, your curiosity, and your willingness to contribute. Dare to share ideas. Ask questions. Step forward with what you already know. Careers are not built by waiting until you feel completely ready. They grow through participation, learning, and courage over time.

What I’m most looking forward to is the collective energy of people who care about shaping the future of this industry. When hundreds of professionals from different companies, disciplines and countries come together, something powerful happens: ideas spark, perspectives shift, and new connections form. My hope is that people leave the day with a strong sense of:

“I can do this.”

Because transformation is not something that happens somewhere else. It happens through the decisions each of us makes every day. If people leave Stuttgart feeling more confident in their voice, more connected to others in the industry, and more willing to step forward — then the day has done exactly what it was meant to do.

And collectively, we can reinforce a powerful message: Yes — she can.