Born in Bielefeld, Germany, and raised in North Rhine-Westphalia, Dr. Arndt Zeitz studied industrial engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), where he also earned his doctorate from the Faculty of Economics. His dissertation, titled “Das Survey Feedback als Führungsinstrument zur Gestaltung strategiegeleiteter Veränderungsprozesse in großen Organisationen” (Survey Feedback as a Leadership Instrument for shaping strategy-driven change processes in large organizations), reflects his long-standing interest in the intersection of leadership, participation, and transformation.
Dr. Zeitz is currently Head of People and Organizational Development at Daimler Truck, a DAX-listed company and one of the world’s largest manufacturers of commercial vehicles with more than 100,000 employees at over 40 production sites. His responsibilities include performance and talent management, as well as change management. In recent years, his focus has been on 360-degree feedback, employee engagement, psychological safety, and expert career paths.
Earlier in his career, he held HR leadership roles e.g. he was Head of Human Resources at the Daimler Buses plant in Mannheim. Earlier he was responsible for talent development and HR policies at Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation in Tokyo, Japan, – a key international assignment that deepened his expertise in cross-cultural leadership and transformation. As Program Manager at the DaimlerChrysler Corporate University, he co-designed award-winning executive leadership programs in close collaboration with Dr. Otto Scharmer from MIT in Boston, bringing Theory U and systems thinking into corporate learning architectures.
Dr. Zeitz has been engaged in academic teaching for many years. Prior to his current role as lecturer at the University of Mannheim, he taught at various institutions, including the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Pforzheim University. He regularly publishes articles in professional journals such as Human Resource Manager Magazin and contributes as a co-author to edited volumes on leadership, culture, and people development.
As an alumnus of the Think Tank 30 of the German Chapter of the Club of Rome and a member of the German Association for Human Resource Managers (Bundesverband der Personalmanager BPM), he is committed to advancing leadership, learning, and sustainable transformation in organizations and society. In his free time, he enjoys long-distance cycling and exploring new perspectives on leadership, learning, and systemic change.