A lot is going wrong in Germany – and we do what we do well: blame others for it. But only a radically honest analysis can get us out of the deep crisis.
A bridge collapses. Volkswagen could lay off employees. Right-wing extremists win elections. The industry is moving away. Yes, this country has a problem. Or, more precisely: lots of problems. Why do they appear to be so concentrated? Why is everything suddenly going so wrong? Why are we in a recession while other industrialized and emerging countries are growing briskly, or at least staying above zero?
There are many quick, simple answers: traffic light politics are to blame. Also that of Angela Merkel, after all, she initiated the nuclear phase-out and is responsible for the asylum crisis. Then there are the Chinese, who no longer buy our cars. And Vladimir Putin, who brought the war back to Europe and no longer supplies us with cheap gas. Oh yes – and Donald Trump has a good chance of becoming US President again, then there will be punitive tariffs and other annoyances.
The attempts to sugarcoat the situation seem desperate. But even those who honestly try to understand the situation and make concrete suggestions do not address the real German problem, or only address it marginally: our thinking, our mentality and our reflexes are not made for this present. The crisis was not caused by the Greens, or the migrants, or the long-term unemployed, but by us. Each and every one of us.
We lie frozen like fossils at the bottom of an ecosystem teeming with living creatures. Like a low-battery bumper car, we spin slowly and weakly around ourselves, while the others whirl around, bump into each other and have fun doing it. We are the Latin teachers with vocabulary trainers in a world that converses in Tiktok multi-format language. The main thing is that the grammar is correct – whether someone is listening and can follow us doesn’t matter. And we feel good about it, at least most of the time.
But a classic sentence from the management theory of change applies to all of us: What you got here won’t get you there. So: What got you here won’t get you anywhere.
A homemade cage
Here – this is the Federal Republic’s prosperity, combined with a complacency that tends to arrogance, especially towards its European neighbors: In the last five years, Italy’s economy has grown five times as fast as ours, France’s twice as fast, and even that of The Greeks, who like to chastise us, are expected to achieve growth of 2.3 percent this year.
Some of these increases may have been bought with government debt. But foreign countries are rightly wondering why we, with the highest creditworthiness, are strangling ourselves. The debt brake is just one example of what the actual German problem is leading to: We set ourselves unnecessarily rigid rules, voluntarily lock ourselves in silos that quickly run out of air, and don’t do what is most urgently needed: think networked and to respond with fresh approaches when the environment changes.
Is this a new finding? “The ability to innovate begins in the mind, with our attitude to new technologies, to new forms of work and training, with our attitude to change itself.” True. Who said? And when exactly? Roman Herzog, in his famous jerk speech, in 1997. Almost 30 years ago. And Herzog also said this: “The mental and intellectual state of Germany as a location is already more important today than the rank of the financial location or the level of non-wage labor costs.”
The jolt only came twice, there was Agenda 2010, and the noughties saw some pretty good times. For years, cheaply bought, export-driven growth has obscured how little we have changed at our core. There are certainly jerks: at our top universities, in successful start-ups or pharmaceutical laboratories. But all of this doesn’t get us to where we should be by now: a knowledge society that is willing to take risks and experiment. Who discovers and finances new business models, and boldly integrates new technologies instead of primarily regulating them.
We don’t need a jolt, just a rumble.
Old and new solutions
Just: Where does it come from? Each of us must be willing to realign our thoughts and actions. This can only be achieved if we acknowledge reality but at the same time shake off fear of the future. People do not change under fear and pressure, organizations are particularly rigid, and entire societies develop very slowly. But small steps are certainly possible – if the overarching goal is right. And we all agree to live as worry-free a life as possible, despite all the polarization. Economic growth is just one of many factors, but without it, as the past shows, everything else is difficult.
The headlines are full of statements from business leaders and association heads making demands on politicians. Yes, we need less bureaucracy, and the government and parliaments are responsible for the legal part of it. But it is even more important that the private sector takes responsibility for itself. Many German corporations operate just as bureaucratically as a wastewater association. In bad times, the solution is limited to turning off the (money) tap. Innovative approaches are hastily ended and idea creators are fired.
How do we solve the German problem of rigidity in thinking and acting and the inherent lack of imagination? By stopping teaching our children at schools with early pressure to perform within rigid subject boundaries. By introducing job rotations in companies that prevent tunnel vision. By learning lifelong and interactively instead of recycling instilled knowledge. But above all, by questioning ourselves every day: What drives my actions? Is it about short-term security or long-term progress? And is it just about myself, or about my contribution to the bigger picture?
Tackling the German problem is a complex exercise under a bombardment of bad news. Unfortunately, there is no therapist couch big enough for all of us. However, we wouldn’t have the time to lie around on it and gradually let the light of the present come in through the curtains while we work through our traumas. We have to open the windows immediately, take a breath, and direct our energy forward.
The good thing about it is that we ourselves are to blame for the new crisis? We can also fix the crisis ourselves. And this time please do it on your own. Only if we break our mental patterns, courageously try out new approaches, admit and correct mistakes: Only then will we further develop the social system in Germany in such a way that it continues to guarantee us the prosperity we hope for. Standstill, adherence to rules and laziness in thinking, on the other hand, strengthen the enemies of this system. And there are certainly enough of them.