Amidst political chaos, smart leaders keep their eyes on real growth-green technology, innovation and long-term resistance.
These are disorienting periods for business leaders, especially for those based in Europe. Blame our international time zones. It works like this: the president of the United States decides that he has to steam on an issue, perhaps at around 9am on the east coast. It announces something controversial or inflammatory on Twitter (now known as X). This means that the bosses will wake up in Europe with the news that tariffs will be set for large trade partners, or that climate change is a myth, or that NATO members should increase protection costs to 5 percent of GDP.
In circumstances such as these it could be difficult to keep your nerve or stay focused on your true trading advantages. This does not feel like “business as usual”.
All of us – business leaders, observers, citizens – we should try not to be too confused or confused. President Trump’s favorite way to operate is to make repeated announcements of the things he may or may not want or wait indeed. He likes to be the main story and keep them around him out of balance. He has survived for decades in business in this way, without ever being constantly successful in normal terms. In Europe, we can sometimes envy the US most flexible access to bankruptcy and recovery from financial obstacles. But no European figure will remain reliable after the number of trade bankruptcies that Casinos and Trump hotels have suffered.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos this year, there were excitement and many hypes about the possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI). As Gillian Tett noted in Financial timeIn the central Ski Resort promenade containing the main places of advertising, “Slogans and he were plastered in places that once held Esg signs.”
But smart business executives are not abandoning environmental, social and governing concerns. They are simply considering how to talk about these issues in a more understandable way. As Tett explained: “This means focusing more on growing, less on phrases such as’ Net Zero ‘or’ Green Transition ‘… and embracing words such as’ Investing in Infrastructure’ and ‘ Energy efficiency ‘.
This is not clear time to abandon the green agenda. As Hutton reported in watchdog Newspaper, China is pressuring bold and radical investments. The government there “determines the promoters of its economic growth as ‘three new’ solar cells, lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles (the three old ones were home appliances, furniture and clothing), all of which are the manufacturer.”
And while critics like to say about the current problems of Europe, their analysis is often wrong. “It is not a regulation, high taxes and eco-bars that have threw the European car industry as low as Trump and cooperate to argue,” Hutton wrote. “It is that Europeans did not understand growth opportunities to beat the climate crisis quickly and aggressively enough. Civilizing disaster and promotion of growth are not contrary; they are both sides of the same coin … And the British are wrong.
An important general choice in Germany sits at the center of this tension, among those who want to maintain a more progressive and resistant approach to business and those who want to burn everything in homage to Donald Trump. And, although the famous engine of the European economy struggles with some serious and deep problems, the darkness over Germany and German business has been overloaded. Other Financial time The correspondent, beyond Parikh, strongly argues that reports on Germany’s industrial fall have been exaggerated. “German production is, in fact, strangely resilient and agile,” he writes.
“Germany’s long expertise in engineering can be re -buried against new growth sectors (at home and abroad). And although exports to the US and China may be affected by increased trade tensions, the nation remains the prevailing industrial force in Europe, “says Parikh.” The demand for protective equipment and green technologies is growing throughout the continent. Both, leading Europe for patents in green technology (and in general). “
As we hear endless conversation about the so-called “seven wonderful” technological-based companies-Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Meta (Facebook), Amazon, Tesla and Alphabet (Google)-Germany can also boast a group just as impressive – sap, siemens, siemens Energy, Allianz, Deutsche Telekom, Rheinmetall and Munich Re. Internationally concentrated, these industrial giants have been to some extent protected by the economic and domestic weakness.
And then there is still powerful soughoften underestimated or misunderstood outside of Germany. Parikh quotes as examples of envelope technique (which makes equipment that rotates satellites in space); Sick (a sensor manufacturer); Kaefer isoliertechnik (which makes insulation technology); and König & Meyer (a creator of musical attitudes).
Liberated from short -term public capital market restrictions, the German “hidden champions” of the German business continue to renew and compete in a way that President Trump will fight to understand. And Germany is better for the future than some know it, Parikh concludes. It is a leader in the integration of robots into the industry and is well positioned in some growth markets – medical technology, sewage treatment, electric cars and heat pumps, for example.
Don’t be scared. Human civilized values are eternal, unlike Trump, which is limited in time and the term. Yes, the next years will be noisy and attractive. Yes, some things will have to change. But it will also be possible – indeed, necessary – to run and lead businesses in a responsible way, hire people with good conditions, make money and solve the problems of customer customer. This was always the best way to run a business, and it is still.
Stefan Stern is a writer who has contributed to the BBC, Management Today Magazine and Financial Times, where he served as a management columnist from 2006 to 2010. He is currently a visiting professor of management practice at Bayes Business School, City , University of London. Previously, Stern held the positions of the director at the High Salary Center and the Director of Strategy in Edelman.
