The news blocks that appear every day are so disconcerting that I feel nostalgic for other times, when, despite everything, we knew which side of the world we were on and who was on the other side of the wall. I was born in Germany, and I still remember the civil protection exercises that simulated nuclear attacks during the Cold War. Today, the scenario is different. An administration on the other side of the Atlantic imposes its will above the rest of the world, while in the east, wars are being started on European territory and new expansions beyond its own borders are being prepared. All this to say that, in my view, the next decade will not be for those who wait for the right moment, but for those who accept to decide with imperfect information, build while the scenario is still unstable and understand that learning fast is worth more than getting it right the first time, but too late.

We live in a moment in which everything changes at the same time. Technology, economy, value chains, energy, work models, and geopolitical balance. Faced with this, the most common reaction is to postpone decisions, gain time, and wait for the context to become more predictable. But that stability simply will not come. The reindustrialisation of Europe, the acceleration of artificial intelligence, the energy transition and the reorganisation of the world economy are already happening, simultaneously and at a pace that does not slow down for those who prefer to observe from a distance. This movement creates risks, no doubt, but it also creates rare opportunities. Opportunities that only arise when the rules are still being written, and when those who advance first learn faster and, often, help define the very scenario that will materialise.

Portugal, in my opinion, is not doing badly. We have talent, social and institutional stability and a generation of entrepreneurs and managers that is increasingly prepared. What is still missing is a simpler, more predictable, and faster system, which does not penalise those who invest, those who grow, and those who try to gain scale and productivity. There is a lack of courage to reform what needs to be reformed and there is an excess of attachment to comfort zones and ideologies of the past that end up limiting the future of the new generations. But there is a truth that does not depend on reforms or public policies. Standing still does not protect anyone. In a world undergoing rapid change, excessive prudence is not synonymous with security. The organisations that are best disrupted are not the ones that produce the most sophisticated reports, but the ones that test earlier, fix faster, and learn continuously. They make more mistakes, take risks, do not have all the answers, but they build advantages that are not replicable by those who arrive late.

I do not believe that 2026 will be an easy year. There is no reason to romanticise this. But it will be, for me, a year of action, investment, internal transformation, and strategic decisions that can no longer be postponed, because these are the decisions that guarantee a future for the people who work with me and for me. The future does not happen alone. It does not come to us by chance or by inertia. The future is the cumulative result of the decisions we make or avoid every day. Portugal can and should be more ambitious. Waiting has never been a good growth strategy. Acting, learning, and adjusting are. And that is exactly what this time asks of us.