07 Nov 09 Lack of Leadership in Europe
The recent talk about President of Europe got me thinking. Europe consists of one of the richest countries in the world, with potential to possibly shape a lot of world events. Yet how many recognisable world leaders do we have? I am not just talking about political leadership but also business leaders.
The reason I am alluding to this is – I was annoyed by the mention that the president of Europe should be a less known figure. Well apart from 5 people in Europe guess we only have less known and and probably unknown figures who will have no influence and no way to take any issue forward with the huge and influential powers of US, China, Russia, India etc. Now why is it that Europe craves for unknowns. While I am no fan of Tony Blair, I am baffled about any other choice. Do we really want a leader who has never been in front of China, Russia and US to negotiate difficult issues. Does anyone think the likes of Belgian and Luxembourgian Prime Ministers can do much? Or as Angela Merkel suggests a Eastern European unknown leader.
I would like to take this political leadership issue further. Take for example the issue of the massacre of thousands of Bosnian men. Europe showed no leadership and turned its eye away from facts. It was only the US and UK which forced their way in and bombed Serbia to stop the Bosnian war. Why didn’t EU show leadership there? In it’s own backyard? Isn’t something seriously wrong?
This brings me to another point. We know a lot of business leaders in the US – Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos etc … the list is long. I am not sure many even in Europe can come up with such a list of business leaders in the EU countries. Why is this the case even with EU having some world class companies. Is EU obsessed with being average? Is leadership or talking about it seen as a sin? Is talking about vision and inspiring others to follow suit seen as an affront? Is it any wonder that most businesses have role models in the US rather than in Europe? In my opinion this is a very serious issue that we need to look at in order to question why we do not yet have a silicon valley in Europe. Europe needs to stop being a least common denominator continent and more of a go getter only then can people at the bottom aspire bigger and better things.
Tags: Buusiness, Europe, Leadership, Politics, US
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@Shefaly Not sure I agree with the “le president” as the le president in France is more than a chairman and very powerful. Besides not sure terminology is French driven. I remember the days of research in EPFL where mixing french terminology could happen. My favorite being – eventually and éventuellement. While éventuellement means – possibly (uncertainity of event ever happening) while eventually – means the event will happen at an unspecified later time : in the end. Enough digression.
Does Europe care? Well I am hoping they learn and care. I am afraid they don’t seem to learn. But this is what I think is the reason why UK and Eastern European countries are not at the core of EU. I am not talking about immigrants view here or the stifling if any that they might feel. That is another topic.
I agree about the those distressed Europeans becoming the beacon of change. Well long time ago they decided to go to the US instead and I think a lot of them still do for this reason.
Chirdeep:
The title “President” I believe is an outcome of things lost in translation. The role is le president, so more like a board chairman than someone vested with real powers. Should really suit a certain Blair who is good at fluff.
Now that semantics are out of the way, I agree with your contention. But you leave out the big question. Does Europe care? The continent has made general peace with a certain preferred lifestyle. Their policy choices, their social make-up all either service or validate that preference. If as immigrants, we find that stifling, we are free to go elsewhere, aren’t we?
My distress is reserved for those Europeans for whom the bigger societal preference is something they dislike. Apart from leaving for elsewhere, they have only one other choice: be the beacon of the change they want to see. No?
I can’t back this up with facts yet but my feel on this issue is that individual enterprise is just not as valued in Europe as in the US. Over here, people look to maximize equality and benefits for larger communities and might even look down on sole individuals looking to aggrandize or assert his or her own wealth/fame/leadership.
For instance, I have heard the Danish culture is not terribly appreciative of anyone claiming to be the best or trying to outdo someone else, which apparently explains the tentative claim in Carlsberg’s ‘Probably the best beer in the world’
Interesting article here about misplaced modesty amongst Danes, which can probably be applied to other parts of Europe too: http://www.winch.dk/default.asp?id=24664