Redefining leadership at the intersection of transformation & technology with Fabian Ringwald - Live from Lead26

This interview,Live from LEAD-26 in Zurich, links real leadership lessons to lived experience. Fabian, a CIO and ultra runner, talks limits, psychological safety, and practical steps. He also shares a clear, cautious view on generative AI and a smart fast follower strategy for regulated organizations.

Key Learnings:

1. Admit leadership limits: Openly share small, real limits with your team to build reflection and performance.
2. Psychological safety matters: Create a safe team space so people speak up and help cover leadership gaps.
3. Use smart fast follower: Experiment early, then buy enterprise-ready solutions to avoid costly long-term build and maintenance.

 

Summary: 

Fabian Ringwald is the CIO of a Swiss health insurance company. He says they have the most satisfied customers in the industry. He is also a board member at lead 26 and helps shape conference content and speaker selection. Outside work he runs ultra trails. He runs over 100 kilometers and gains more than 6,000 meters of altitude. These runs can take more than 20 hours and include day and night. Night is more challenging. The long runs teach self-leadership and a clear view of personal limits.
Fabian argues that every leader has limits. He says hiding limits wastes energy because close colleagues already see them. He encourages leaders to share limits openly with their teams. Open discussion builds self-reflection and helps form a high performance team. Teams can then help fill leadership gaps. He highlights psychological safety as the key trait that separates good leaders from great leaders. He recommends starting small when opening up. Share a minor limitation first, set an example, and scale openness gradually over time.

Fabian says AI is not the solution for everything. He explains generative AI is a statistical tool and is not suited for fully deterministic tasks. He sees strong potential in areas like detecting anomalies on MRI or CT images, but he warns against using generative AI for direct medical advice. His company follows a smart fast follower strategy: experiment early with startups, then adopt enterprise-ready solutions rather than build long-lived custom systems. To keep agility, get top-down alignment with the board and enable bottom-up experiments with LLMs or ChatGPT for hands-on learning.

 

About Fabian Ringwald:

CIO of SWICA - the leading Swiss health insurer with the most happy customers
Prior: digital transformation in several different industries from freight railway (SBB Cargo), energy trading (BKW), consulting (Logica) to inustrial manufacturing (Siemens) and Ravensburger, the well known jigsaw puzzle company.

Chapters:

0:00 - Intro
0:35 - CIO's Role in Health Insurance
1:12 - Leadership Lessons from Ultra Running
3:06 - Identifying Leadership Limits
4:21 - Creating Psychological Safety in Teams
5:37 - Taking Small Steps Towards Openness
7:40 - Insights from Conference Speakers
9:13 - Evaluating AI Applications in Leadership

Resources 
Fabian Rinwald Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabianringwald/

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About the host: 

Gregorio Uglioni is a seasoned transformation leader with over 15 years of experience shaping business and digital change, consistently delivering service excellence and measurable impact. As an Associate Partner at Forward, he is recognized for his strategic vision, operational expertise, and ability to drive sustainable growth. A respected keynote speaker and host of the well-known global podcast Business Transformation Pitch with the CX Goalkeeper, Gregorio energizes and inspires organizations worldwide with his customer-centric approach to innovation.

Follow Gregorio Uglioni on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorio-uglioni/