Some things that I am thinking about….
Nostalgia is the current word of our crisis times.
I first heard Mark Carney use it during his powerful speech in Davos: “Nostalgia is not a strategy.” And last night, at the Deutsche Börse New Year reception, I heard Friedrich Merz echo the sentiment – more quietly, but no less clearly: nostalgia, he suggested, is no longer helpful.
I think both are right. You can’t lead by recreating the past. Old systems and old certainties aren’t coming back.
But nostalgia isn’t just sentimentality. It’s a signal. It surfaces when people lose a sense of meaning, belonging, and direction – when the future no longer feels trustworthy.
When leaders dismiss that signal, they create a vacuum. And vacuums don’t stay empty. They get filled by cynicism and nihilism – the belief that nothing really matters except power, speed, or survival. The leadership challenge of our time is not to resurrect what no longer works, nor to scold people for longing for what once gave them a sense of home or security.
It’s about having a human leadership stance: insisting on dignity, responsibility, trust, and moral orientation.
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Deep work is the real work
I recently spent time deep in the woods and mountains – no cell phone, no signal, no calendar. Just earth, air, fire, and time.
I didn’t go searching for silence. Because nature is not silent, it is profoundly alive. I went to reconnect with what’s always been natural for us as humans – space, rhythm, beauty, and the steady pulse of the world around us. And from that profound clarity emerged.
Away from the noise and notifications, my thinking softened and expanded. Creativity returned. Perspective deepened. I remembered that deep focus, reflection, and sharing with others around a fire aren’t indulgences — they’re ancient human practices we’ve simply forgotten how to protect.
Deep work is not a luxury. It is healthy practice.
As leaders and as humans, we owe it to ourselves – and to those we guide – to reclaim that space.
To unhook from the constant demand to respond, react, and rush.
To listen more deeply – to nature, to others, to ourselves.
To hear what’s true beneath the noise and make room for those truths to surface.
To protect the boundaries that allow deep, meaningful work – and real conversation – to happen.
To nurture creativity and welcome play – not as escape from work, but as part of what makes it human.
Because leadership, at its core, isn’t about doing more.
It’s about remembering mor