This year, the US launched 43 new AI models. Europe: one. The German Economic Institute (IWD) has just published a dossier documenting this gap, alongside an investment shortfall of 90 billion dollars and a share of data experts that is three times higher on the other side of the Atlantic.
These are numbers that deserve a moment to sink in.
But the question that occupies me when I read this report is a different one: what does this mean for the people who are working right in the middle of this acceleration?
Those who work in organisations that are “operationally too slow”, as the IWD puts it, rarely experience this as an abstract strategy problem. They experience it as concrete pressure, as decisions that shift and roles that change, and with them an unspoken question: am I still in the right place?
Speed requires direction
One underappreciated consequence of acceleration: those without a clear direction spend the energy they would need for speed on finding orientation instead. In January 2025, only 46 percent of employees clearly knew what was expected of them, according to Gallup. This shows up, above all, as a clarity problem.
Perhaps you recognise this: you do your work, adapt to new tools and processes, and keep functioning. In the background, a question runs alongside you that you have not yet asked out loud: are you moving in a direction you consciously chose, or simply one that happened to emerge?
Career clarity coaching can give you a solid answer to exactly that question: where am I going, and why? That is the difference between change as a threat and change as a playing field.
Adaptation is a personality competence
Those who know how they react under pressure, which values they protect and how their nervous system responds to uncertainty can adapt, precisely and without losing themselves in the process.
You may have noticed that in phases of major change, something more fundamental counts than expertise alone. Some people on the team become calmer, clearer, more constructive. Others, despite equal experience, fall into reactive patterns, and so does the collaboration around them. The difference almost always comes down to how well someone knows themselves: their patterns, their values, what stabilises them.
In self-competence coaching you develop exactly these abilities: self-knowledge as the foundation, self-competencies as the tool. Those who know themselves also manage collaboration and relationships in times of change with greater awareness.
Organisations adapt as fast as their leadership
“Operationally too slow” ultimately describes a leadership phenomenon. Structures change through decisions, decisions are made by people, and people with leadership responsibility set the pace, consciously or not.
If you carry leadership responsibility, you may recognise this situation: the organisation is in flux, expectations towards you are shifting. You notice that you are increasingly working in reactive mode, dealing with whatever is most urgent. Your team is waiting for orientation, and you are looking for it yourself right now. Precisely in that moment, leadership identity matters more than any method.
In leadership coaching, leaders can develop a clear leadership identity: a picture of what they stand for, how they deal with uncertainty, and what their presence in a team actually triggers.
What this means for you
The question “who stays relevant?” goes beyond the EU as an economic region. It applies to everyone navigating their professional life today.
If you feel that your professional compass could use recalibrating right now, let’s take a look at it together.
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Source: Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (IWD), “Die KI-Baustellen der EU”, 2025
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