Europe Lacks a Growth Mindset

The Hide Behind Risk Edition

Dan Ilett

03 Sep 2025 — 3 min read

Europe is falling behind.

The US thrives on bold ambition. China scales with relentless momentum. But Europe's many committees and caution culture sap its capacity to adapt, innovate and lead. Without reframing its mindset to one that embraces experimentation, rapid learning and unified growth ambition, it is vulnerable on the global stage.

Europe’s problem isn’t capacity - it’s one of comfort, caution and committee culture that lead to a lack of conviction. To an extent, Trump has drawn this mindset out into the public eye by highlighting Europe's lack of defence capabilities - and he could start poking at businesses next.

More than ever, CEOs must lead with urgency and growth mindset - and a narrative that gives leaders courage to thrive rather than rewards them for risk-based apathy.

Growth mindset in Europe: At lunch...

Too many European leaders are still focused on operational safety over transformative bets - and I would say Covid exacerbated this sentiment.
One third of UK CEOs believe their company will not survive the next ten years without a major mindset shift.
Regulatory drag and economic pessimism from Europe’s heavy regulation and protectionist stance weigh heavy on innovation and competitiveness. Leaders such as ECB’s Christine Lagarde and BlackRock’s Larry Fink have raised alarms that Europe risks being outpaced in AI and tech compared to the US, which benefits from deregulation and abundant resources.
The World Economic Forum spotlighted “growth mindset” as a key leadership posture for 2025. (I don't think the WEF achieves much, but still, it said so.)
Organizations that embed growth‑mindset cultures see measurable gains. Research from the NeuroLeadership Institute shows that cultures focused on growth mindset generate more trust, ownership and an appetite for risk.

What should European CEOs do now?

1 - Make growth everyone’s business by bringing growth mindset to front and centre stage.

2 - Speak in growth. McKinsey found that European "growth leaders" are 70% more likely to bet on multiple growth initiatives, and 80% more likely to communicate successes regularly.

3 - Do rather than plan. In China they take early stage products to market first and build the plan afterwards. Equip people to fail fast and learn faster with structures that reward experimentation.

4 - Question 'no' or 'too risky' responses at meetings or committees. Does that one person's 'no' warrant the entire project not going ahead?

This summer...

The kids went back today. I had the best time with them but I could barely hear myself think. After racing around Croatia, France and Slovenia, I think my best memory was showing my boys the German WW2 bunkers and heading to Gold and Omaha Beaches to learn more about D-Day.

Over the summer, I ran a number of growth performance assessments with clients who are trying to get out of flatline hell. The resounding theme was that growth mindset seems to be missing and Covid culture has contributed to this.

Perhaps it's working from home too much. Or it could be that risk aversion and cautious decision making has been allowed to fly for too long.

But it is more evident than ever - and leaders need to shake this up fast or get lumbered with the consequences. Hence the article above...

This quarter...

Stand by for a stellar line up of events and interviews in the run up to 2026: A major sports star, a brilliant geopolitical commentator and someone who knows how to command.
They will feed into the podcast
More frameworks, research and tools on growth, productivity and leadership
Regular updates on AI
New assessment tools on performance, communication and mindset