One Day in Transformation – Season 2, Episode 6

In this episode of One Day in Transformation, we welcome Aarti Gupta, a leader who bridges the gap between India and Germany, corporate strategy and start-up agility, and resilience and innovation. Aarti shaped the IT sustainability strategy at Allianz Technology, now leads an AI and Agentic AI innovation programme at Deutsche Bank, and founded Fiutran, a platform democratising tech knowledge. Her journey—from YouTube motorcycle repair videos to building global AI sustainability communities—reveals how transformation thrives when humanity and technology align.

We explore:

• Why human-centered innovation is more than a buzzword—it’s a systemic necessity.
• How Aarti reduced IT disaster recovery reporting times from 5 days to 1 hour at Allianz by redesigning processes, not just automating them.
• The cultural contrasts between Indian improvisation and German precision, and why combining both creates unstoppable resilience.
• Why 300-member AI sustainability communities succeed without budgets—and what corporates can learn from start-up decision-making.
• The uncomfortable truth about AI: It’s not about replacing humans but amplifying their potential.

Aarti also shares her "One Week of Transformation" challenge—a daily journaling practice to foster self-awareness and systemic change—and adds Coldplay’s "Fix You" to our podcast playlist as a reminder that acknowledging uncertainty is the first step toward clarity.

1. 00:00 – Introduction: Aarti’s hybrid career—corporate strategist, start-up founder, and YouTube mechanic.
2. 03:25 – Roots of Resilience: Growing up in an entrepreneurial family in India and the "figure it out" mindset.
3. 07:02 – Human-Centered Innovation: Why technology must serve people, not the other way around.
4. 14:16 – Cultural Synergy: Merging Indian agility with German structure for transformative impact.
5. 19:39 – Corporate vs. Start-Up Innovation: Decision-making clarity over speed.
6. 24:23 – AI at Deutsche Bank: Use cases where AI empowers, not replaces, employees.
7. 27:11 – Lessons from IT Disaster Recovery: Why resilience ≠ speed, and how behavioural design prevents failure.
8. 32:42 – Inclusion as Risk Mitigation: The business case for accessibility and diverse teams.
9. 35:55 – One Week of Transformation Challenge: Aarti’s journaling prompts for systemic self-reflection.
10. 39:05 – Hope in Action: The power of a solution-oriented mindset in uncertain times.

• Aarti Gupta: LinkedIn Profile
• Fiutran: Instagram
• Coldplay – "Fix You" (on our playlist)

• Human-centered innovation, AI ethics, Agentic AI, IT sustainability, disaster recovery strategies, corporate-startup collaboration, resilience in leadership, digital transformation, inclusive design, behavioural systems, twin transformation, Deutsche Bank innovation, Allianz Technology, Fiutran, AI communities, cultural agility, decision-making frameworks, emotional intelligence in tech, journaling for leaders.