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Why does Europe seem so well endowed with fresh business talent? European society is clearly loosening up, allowing bright young men to make it on their talents, instead of on their class origins. More important, World War II decimated the age group now in its 50s, so more men in their 30s and 40s have been drawn into leadership positions. There has also been a gentle cultural drift toward more respect for youth. Says Nils Gustav Grotenfelt, 49-year-old chairman of the Finnish Paper Mills Association: "We are going back to the 17th and 18th centuries. Most of the world's great leaders then were under 40. We have decided that the greater experience of age does not necessarily outweigh the greater daring of youth."
Perhaps the main reason is that good managers are a function of their competition. If the competition is slothful, as it was in some parts of Europe for many years after World War II, management becomes moss-backed. If competition is brisk, management turns innovative. The big entry of U.S. companies into European markets has done much to galvanize home-grown managers into meeting "the American challenge." And the decline of tariffs within the Common Market has made European producers start thinking about the competition immediately beyond their borders.
That competition will become even sharper in the decade ahead. The Common Market is expected to be expanded from six nations to ten on Jan. 1. And Continental businessmen are watching with concern the emergence of a "Japanese challenge," as names like Toyota, Sony and Hitachi rise across Europe. Everywhere the conviction is growing that companies with conservative, nationalistic managements will be left behind in Europe's competitive leap forward—and that firms with impatient, internationally minded young executives will command the future.