European leaders are rebuffing America … intellectually
This week, I am doing a presentation on frugal innovation for a group of CEOs in a European country
I created a first draft of my presentation which narrated:
- how my childhood in India in the 70s and 80s shaped my first-hand experience with frugal innovation.
- how living in Silicon Valley made me discover how UN-frugal America was.
This US experience compelled me to return to India in 2008 to do field research on frugal innovation, which led to my two books on Jugaad Innovation (2012) and Frugal Innovation (2015).
- how, as a French citizen, I am proud that many European companies like Renault Group, Siemens, Philips have adopted and mastered frugal innovation.
After reviewing the first draft of my presentation, my European client hosting the event told me candidly:
“We love your India story and your European case studies. But please REMOVE ALL slides related to America. That risks pushing the wrong button among the European CEOs who listen to you.”
I share this because last week, while in Paris, I watched an excellent debate on the French national TV France 5 titled “Trump: A bad business plan ?”
The debaters tried to answer the following questions:
“Is Donald Trump sabotaging the American economy? Could the economic panic Trump is creating worldwide backfire on him and the US?”
One of the panelists, philippe manière, co-founder of the communications agency Vae Solis Communications, suggested that if Europe wants to hit back at Trump’s hefty tariffs on EU products, it should hit America hard where it hurt them most: its SOFT POWER.
Since America spreads and maintains its global CULTURAL influence though its MOVIES, SONGS, BOOKS, IDEAS, etc., Maniere suggested European Union must place heavy tariffs on imported American AUDIO-VISUAL *MEDIA CONTENT*
Well, it seems the EU doesn’t need to impose any hefty tariff on US cultural content imported in Europe.
From my recent experience, the European CEOs are already CENSORING (or at least REBUFFING) America-related content !
In June 2025, when I promote my new book The Frugal Economy in Canada — a country where anti-American feelings are at all-time high — I guess I would also need to remove all slides related to America in my presentations !
