Thomas Buberl
The Reformer
Changing the system from inside it, principle turned into change.
Thomas Buberl reads as The Reformer because he has treated AXA not as an institution to defend but as a design problem to solve. He pivoted the insurer away from life savings products toward health and property casualty, divested AXA Financial to sharpen the portfolio, and reoriented the business around climate risk and preventive health.
“So interestingly, we actually get quite a few young people today in the business. And when you ask them, why are they in the business? The number one reason they always say is the purpose of insurance because insurance companies do protect individuals, but they are also a help. And so that's the number one driver why people are there.”
“Have to ask my board of directors. No. Essentially, I mean, the board ran a process. They first looked at extra candidates. They then looked at internal candidates. We, I think, if I remember correctly, were seven internal candidates. And then over time, the process took three years.”
“I've been able to work my way in, but that needed two things one, the curiosity of the French CEOs in me, but also my ability to then fully dive into it. And so what I did, for example, with my rudimentary French knowledge that I had from school and studying, I only spoke French the whole day to make sure that this would work.”
“So, when I joined the insurance industry in 2005, this image was already there, and I would say at the time it was also justified to a certain degree because we were not enough engaged to work really for the broader society. We were still very bureaucratic. If you fast forward now almost 20 years forward, this is not the case anymore.”
The David Rubenstein Show: “Thomas Buberl”
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