Are you ready for 2025?

Leadership doesn't mean smiling away uncertainties, denying reality, or summoning up stereotypical images of our glorious past.

Is it bothering you too, how the current situation is being discussed?

Digitalization, decarbonization, and demographic change. Stagnation, wars, and geopolitical conflicts. So many challenges.

Some of these are just frightening, and I can’t understand those who sugarcoat every crisis or even completely deny it. But what bothers me even more are those who now reminisce about the supposedly "good old times." Because the carefree past has always been an illusion.

For instance, those who have followed the US election campaign and other power struggles have noticed that the climate crisis hardly plays a role. And this, despite its effects being more directly felt than ever. Heavy rain with floods and mudslides, extreme heat with wildfires and droughts, one typhoon after another. Everywhere, we’re seeing what scientists have long predicted.

Yet, instead of talking about effective measures, you hear statements like:

*“There was bad weather in the past too.”* That may be true, but it doesn't mitigate the consequences of climate change.

There are also interesting patterns to be observed among some business leaders. The complaining about the government has recently become almost a national pastime, not only at local pubs but also in top business circles. It only takes an average IQ to know that today’s structural problems are not the result of a few years but the consequences of decisions made in past (golden) times.

Sure, politics sets the framework, and there’s potential for improvement, but it has never been responsible for everything that went well in the economy, and it certainly isn't now, when much is going wrong. There are plenty of companies that have failed to react to changes for far too long. As long as business was good and the numbers were shining, sticking to old strategies was even applauded.

But the world has moved on. The changing framework and new global competitors are putting pressure on established business models. The new disruptors don’t care about the word “tradition.” A restructuring of our economic system is therefore inevitable.

Politician-bashing may get applause from one’s own bubble, but to me, that doesn’t count as a solution to the overdue structural change. Ideas on how to solve the problems are neither easy to define nor quick to implement. That makes it much harder to make a spectacle of oneself.

Yes, in times of crisis, people long for clear direction. For leaders who give them the feeling that things are under control. However, responsible leadership doesn’t mean smiling away uncertainties, ignoring past decisions, denying reality, and evoking stereotypical images of our glorious past. What we need now are people who dare to speak uncomfortable truths and implement reforms.

Reformers are rarely celebrated for their ideas at the start – and even later, applause is not guaranteed. But without them, some companies would no longer exist, and some countries would be worse off. We should never forget that true leadership means not taking the easiest and already predetermined path but finding the new one.

I hope I’m not alone in these thoughts. Let’s use today’s step into 2025 as a commitment to create a successful future. And this step into 2025 needs each of us to contribute to a tomorrow that addresses the needs of all groups of society, from the rich, via the middle class, to the poor. Let’s be responsible and successful in 2025 and show resilience and determination in the fight for integrity and justice.

In the spirit of the saying The best way to predict the future is to create it, let’s embrace the promise of fresh beginnings. Together, we can continue to shine a light on corruption and advocate for transparency and accountability.

Let’s make 2025 a year of action, unity, and progress!

I look forward to your responses; you can contact me at [email protected]