Stop freezing and be brave!
I’ve been thinking for a while about writing on the topic of opportunity and concern—two notions that often go hand in hand. There is rarely an opportunity without risk, and risk inevitably brings a certain level of concern and uncertainty.
I don’t want to dwell on “trendy terms” like BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, Incomprehensible) replacing the now outdated VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous). BANI is simply a reality—whatever label we put on the world we live in. Instead of endlessly discussing it, we should start integrating it into our decision-making.
The Paralysis of Fear: Time to Move Forward
It seems that, in Europe, for a variety of reasons, we have collectively adopted a freeze/denial attitude for quite some time now. Despite our openness to the world and our access to vast amounts of information, we have chosen to burden our systems, slow down responsiveness, and struggle with decision-making. It is time to seriously question our leadership skills. We need to reclaim courage—to dare to fail—instead of relying solely on a protect-control-“don’t move” approach that paralyzes action and nurtures fear. If we continue down this path, we will be signing our own decline.
We are entangling ourselves in excessive regulations across many sectors, making our industries struggle unnecessarily and stripping them of agility. I am not against regulation—far from it. But regulations must align with the context and not act as a barrier to progress.
Leadership in Europe: A Call for Vision and Humility
European leaders need to admire visionaries and strive to become them. We need to be more humble and stop assuming that we are the best simply because we say so—or because we once were. Leadership is earned every day; it can never be taken for granted. The moment we believe we are untouchable, we lay the foundation for our own decline.
It is time to be audacious again—not fearful individuals, teams, and organizations. Feeling fear, uncertainty, or even being lost is normal. But we must embrace it and move forward. As Susan David said: “Courage is not the absence of fear; it’s fear walking.”
This is precisely why teamwork is no longer optional. In times of doubt, fear, uncertainty, and even panic, we need trust and belonging—the reassurance that we are not alone and that we can count on each other. Because together, we are stronger. Because pooling our minds, energy, drive, and determination multiplies our chances of success.
Balancing Short-Term Actions with Long-Term Vision
Some argue that in a BANI world, only short-term strategies make sense, as long-term planning is impossible in such an unpredictable reality. I strongly disagree: we need both of them, and both of them are possible. Difficult, but possible.
We have become victims of our own panic, replacing true leadership with profiles that focus solely on delivering short-term results, where we feel a false sense of control. But in our obsession with the short term, we are losing our vision and anticipation. We are becoming reactive instead of proactive. We control instead of disrupt. We protect instead of create. We endure instead of shaping the future we want.
We need to deliver short-term results while maintaining a long-term perspective, continuously adjusting our approach while staying anchored to a clear vision and ultimate goal. This guiding star remains steadfast over time, and we will reach it through perseverance, flexibility and boldness.
From Anxiety to Action: Redefining Leadership Culture
We have started comforting ourselves with the idea that “everyone is struggling” and spending too much time worrying about our competitors—wasting precious energy on anxiety rather than innovation, creation, and opportunity generation. It is time to reclaim ownership and accountability on a large scale.
We cannot control everything. In fact, we never truly have. But we do have control over our attitudes.
From Reflection to Action: Redefining Our Mindset
- Let’s start training and rewarding ourselves (and our children) for courage, risk-taking, and embracing mistakes—for real. Passivity often stems from the fear of failure. And it’s no surprise that if failure has always been harshly punished, no one dares to take risks.
- Let’s make it a habit to genuinely celebrate others’ successes instead of diminishing them. Instead of saying, “That was just luck,” or “they will never make it” what if we said, “That was a brilliant move—what can we learn from it and improve even further?”
- Let’s cultivate trust and support as non-negotiable elements of teamwork. High-performing teams do not function without them. When trust and support are absent, individual survival mode takes over—driven by fear and self-preservation. We lose focus, efficiency, and waste energy protecting ourselves rather than creating the future.
- Let’s embrace healthy competition as a means to push ourselves to be better, instead of constructing burdensome, bureaucratic systems designed to limit competition, which ultimately only limits ourselves. Restrictive thinking leads to restrictive outcomes.
- Let’s demand realism from European institutions, with stronger communication and collaboration with the private sector for reality checks. Regulations should strike the right balance between necessity and burden. How about applying Lean principles to what already exists? We need it.
- Let’s bring generosity into our professional lives. We can share our key learnings, so others don’t have to repeat the same mistakes we did. Let’s make new, better mistakes—mistakes that fuel further innovation, belonging, collaboration, and progress.
We can all contribute to a global mindset shift by changing the way we approach the world and refusing to live in constant fear. Think about it—what challenge have you faced that you haven’t survived or found a way through? Most of you won’t be able to name a single one.
Then, why so much fear?
Let’s be courageous, audacious, daring, fresh, perseverant, challenging, and unconforming again! Because the truth is, we have everything to gain… and very little to lose. And even if we fail, we will find a way forward—just as we always have.
Let’s stop freezing. Let’s stop playing it too safe.
Let’s be brave.
