What is necessary for transformation to kickstart? Let’s take a look at an example, the German government’s spectacular foundation of a 500bn infrastructure fund in March 2025, and apply the shortest useful checklist for successful change, the 3C of Principia Mentis.

The 3C Model for any Transformation to Kickstart

• Right Concerns?
• Right Competencies?
• Right Coordination?

(we borrowed from Buddhism’s 8 Right paths but believe that 8 is a bit much for a daily tool to understand people and organizations by)

Condition 1: Are the Concerns Right?

So, unto the first necessary condition for change: right concerns. 2025 had seen a massive shift of resolve towards base factors like defense readiness and connectedly, infrastructure integrity. With Atlantic friends hugging Europe’s foes, security had become a credible concern to our political class. As so often, this concern required a shared feeling of “there is no other way,” a mechanism dangerously slowing down democracies.

Condition 2: Are the Competencies in Place?

How about the next necessary condition for change – do we have the right competencies, meaning both being capable and being authorized? The European defense industry was scaled to past demand and had blind spot categories, while some extension even using free capacity from the automotive value chain was underway. The topic of authorization – what regulatory blockers must be removed to free competency cross-sector – was a likely issue from the start.

Condition 3: Is Coordination Effective?

Where success depends on divided labor, the right concerns and the right competencies are nothing without good coordination. Remember the gas concerns of 2022 and the right competencies being available – in the end, substitution of pipeline gas by LNG and other sources was a masterpiece of multi-stakeholder coordination. How about the 2025 situation? With respect to coordination, the March EU summit appeared promising.

Whenever you are involved in transformation to kickstart, make it your habit to see and listen with the 3C in mind: What exactly is in short supply or even a blocker – wrong concerns, missing competencies or a lack of coordination? Our perception is that with regards to the infrastructure fund, competency was the scarce factor. And remember: Transformation platforms like ChangeMaker boost all three Cs.

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