Last week, Lauder Business School hosted Dr. Lóránd Balázs for the November Fireplace Talk. He offered an in-depth look at his professional journey, leadership philosophy, and the rapidly evolving world of autonomous mobility. Now serving as Managing Director of AUMOVIO Autonomous Mobility Hungary—formerly part of Continental Automotive’s mobility division— Dr. Balázs leads one of the world’s largest AI development centers dedicated to self-driving technologies. The organization is a major global provider of mobility solutions ranging from display systems and sensors to advanced satellite technologies.
Building the World’s Largest AI Development Center for Autonomous Mobility
Dr. Balázs’ current mission centers on steering a 300-person engineering hub in Hungary, the company’s largest center for AI development. This team works at the forefront of neural networks, deep learning, and computer vision, developing systems that help autonomous vehicles perceive and interpret their surroundings.
Their work is critical: enabling cars to recognize pedestrians, detect objects, assess road environments, and make split-second decisions. As AI capabilities advance, these systems are rapidly maturing from experimental prototypes into commercial-grade safety technologies.
From Academia to Industry: A Deliberate Career Path
His career reflects a deliberate shift from academia to high-impact industry leadership. After spending a decade at the university teaching, conducting research, and earning his PhD, he moved into industry roles at a major system integrator and later GE Digital, where he advanced to leading the data science and data mining team. In 2018, he joined Continental’s mobility division, building its AI and deep-learning capabilities from the ground up, including a major GPU cluster investment. Under his leadership, the organization grew from a small team to more than 300 engineers, establishing itself as a global AI powerhouse.
Leadership Principles: Energy, Awareness, and Discipline
Throughout his talk, Dr. Balázs emphasized several core leadership lessons drawn from both successes and challenges:
- Motivation Is Everything
For Dr. Balázs, motivation and personal energy are the most important qualities in a team member. Leaders, he believes, are “chosen by the team,” and leadership energy must come from believing in the value of one’s work—for the company, the team, or society.
- Master the Organization
Reflecting on a past mistake, he stressed the importance of gathering stakeholder support before presenting major proposals. Securing buy-in “step by step, level by level,” particularly from finance, is essential in large corporations. He warned that if informal networks start outweighing merit and results, it may be time to move on.
- The Power of Saying No
A leader must communicate priorities clearly. Dr. Balázs views a project manager’s mindset realistically: staying on the front line, cutting unnecessary scope, and resisting the temptation to “solve everything” are crucial for sustainable progress.
- Succession from Day One
Effective leaders, he argued, should always be cultivating their successors. Yet he also believes that periodically bringing in “new skill sets and new mindsets from outside” is vital for renewal and long-term success.
Lauder Business School will continue to bring industry leaders like Dr. Balázs to campus, fostering forward-looking dialogue and inspiring students to engage with the technologies shaping the future of global business.
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