History doesn’t care how successful you were.
It only cares whether you’re still relevant.
I’m beginning to wonder whether Germany and many corporations in this country have misunderstood the nature of the crisis they are facing.
We debate energy prices, labor costs, AI, China, tariffs, regulation, and bureaucracy. They all matter.
But what if they’re all symptoms rather than the disease?
What if the real crisis of Germany and many companies in this country is an identity crisis?
For decades, Germany built one of the world’s greatest industrial economies. Engineering excellence. Manufacturing leadership. Export strength. We became exceptionally good at improving what already worked.
That made us successful.
It also shaped how we think.
The uncomfortable truth is that every success formula has an expiration date. There comes a point when refining yesterday becomes more dangerous than inventing tomorrow.
A recent interview with economic historian Adam Tooze crystallized something I had already been sensing. His argument wasn’t really about China. China simply became the mirror.
It spent years building technological capabilities while much of Europe kept perfecting the industries that had already made it prosperous.
Whether you agree with every conclusion is almost beside the point.
Are we still trying to win yesterday’s game?
I recognize the same pattern in many organizations and executive teams I’m working with.
These aren’t bad leaders. They’re intelligent, experienced, and highly capable.
Yet I often leave their conversations with the same thought.
They spend hours discussing efficiency, productivity, and execution.
Far less time asking whether the assumptions behind the business still deserve to survive.
That isn’t primarily a strategy problem.
It’s a leadership problem.
Because letting go is harder than analyzing.
Because success quietly becomes identity.
Success doesn’t become dangerous because it ends.
It becomes dangerous when it turns into an identity that leaders are no longer willing to let die.
The leaders I trust most recognize reality before it becomes obvious.
They stay calm while others search for certainty.
They create uncomfortable conversations before circumstances force them.
They challenge assumptions others still protect.
And they’re willing to let yesterday’s success die to create tomorrow’s relevance.
Technology matters.
Disruptive strategies matter.
Industrial policy matters.
But none of them emerge from leadership teams still defending yesterday.
So don’t ask yourself only the question everyone else is asking.
“What should you build next?”
Ask yourself the question almost nobody wants to ask.
“What are you willing to let die before reality kills it for you?”
That’s where the real turn-around management starts.
Because reality doesn’t negotiate with nostalgia.