the movement
United Leaders Europe
A movement architecture for system leaders to renew Europe from the middle out.
Why Now
The European project was one of the greatest institutional achievements in modern history.
For over 70 years, integration delivered peace, prosperity, rights, and cross-border cooperation at an unprecedented scale. It transformed a continent defined by war into a zone of law. It made shared sovereignty real. It proved that power could be constrained—by design.
But today, that legacy is no longer enough. Europe is fragmenting. Institutions stall. Citizens disengage. From climate to tech to migration, the current model of integration—treaties, summits, crisis fixes—can’t respond at the speed or scale required.
The method is exhausted. But the need for Europe has never been greater.
We face a choice: manage the decline of the system we have—or construct the one we need.
That system will not come from more declarations. It won’t be built by consensus alone. It will be built through action—across systems, across sectors, and across borders.
We don’t need a new vision. We need new methods.
United Leaders Europe is a platform for coordinated action: a shared scaffolding to support those already shaping Europe’s future in technology, energy, food, health, and beyond.
We activate systemic transformation not by demanding policy—but by demonstrating what works. We start with coalitions that deliver visible results—then shape institutions to match. This is how Europe can be rebuilt: not from above or below, but from the middle out.
Building Europe Through Shared Practice
A New Way of Being Europe
Europe will not be rebuilt through ideology or negotiation. It will be reconstructed through visible, functional cooperation that solves real problems—across systems, sectors, and borders.
This is not just a set of tools. It is a method of integration through action: a transformation architecture built to connect what works, where it happens, with the institutions that must evolve.
The United Leaders Europe platform rests on five interlocking capabilities. Together, they enable cross-border systemic change—not as a campaign, but as a method of governance renewal.
System Leadership
Enable the people already shaping the future
- Support embedded actors—across government, civil society, and enterprise—who hold trust and leverage in real systems.
- Provide tools, space, and capacity for long-term transformation work.
- Build cross-sector alliances that lead without waiting for permission.
Ecosystem Innovation & Alliances
Build coalitions that solve real problems, not just make proposals.
- Assemble multi-country, multi-actor alliances in food, health, care, climate, and digital.
- Align incentives, infrastructure, and standards through shared prototypes.
- Turn cross-border cooperation into functional solidarity.
System & Policy Shaping
Move from solutions to structural change.
- Translate successful ecosystem work into institutional forms: procurement, funding, governance, legal structures.
- Partner with policymakers to embed what works into regulation.
- Use practice as a basis for codification—not the other way around.
Narrative & imagination
Make Europe real again—through results people can see and feel.
- Anchor legitimacy in lived improvement, not myth.
- Tell stories rooted in practice, not slogans.
- Frame Europe’s next chapter around shared agency, not abstract unity.
Strategic Backbone
Synchronise, scale, and support transformation over time.
- Maintain a shared map of actors, systems, leverage points.
- Provide convening, learning infrastructure, and narrative alignment.
- Operate as a meta-platform: a network of networks, scaffolding a new Europe from the middle out.
ENGAGE WITH US
JOIN — Who This Is For and How to Engage
If You're Already Building, You Belong Here
Join us to enable, scale, and accelerate a better future
Uniting the Creators of A Better Future
This platform is for people who don’t need convincing—because they’re already doing the work.
- United Leaders Europe exists to connect, enable, and scale the efforts of those shaping Europe's future across systems and borders. Not spectators, not signatories—builders.
- Whether you're working on regenerative food systems, equitable eldercare, AI infrastructure, public funding reform, or democratic participation: if you're holding real complexity and leading real change, you’re not alone. And you don’t have to do it in isolation.
Who Can Join?
This platform is for:
- System leaders in public administration, cities, national institutions, and EU bodies
- Civic innovators, movement-builders, and coalition weavers
- Founders and operators of purpose-driven ventures and transition infrastructure
- Policymakers ready to codify new standards
- Funders and capital stewards aligned with structural change
- Researchers, artists, and cultural actors shaping collective imagination
What Joining Means
When you join, you don’t sign up to a mailing list. You enter a shared architecture designed to amplify what you’re already building.
You can:
You can:
- Connect your ecosystem into cross-border coalitions
- Learn and apply the method of transformation architecture
- Co-design governance interfaces that carry your work into formal institutions
- Access convenings, shared tools, narrative support, and strategic alignment
- Help define Europe’s future through what you do—not just what you say
OUR RESEARCH
NEW PRACTICES WANTED
THE REAL VALUE OF WORK: PEOPLE AS OUR MOST IMPORTANT ASSETS
BY PETER CAPPELLI
In what is probably one of the most thought-provoking HR talks in this decade, Peter Cappelli reveals a stark divide between modern economic theory and corporate reality, arguing that finance and engineering have overtaken human-focused leadership, reducing employees to mere “inputs” optimized for short-term gain. He critiques how current accounting practices undervalue human capital, discouraging investment in employees and fostering a culture of burnout and instability, with the average 50-year-old now having cycled through 12 jobs due to constant restructuring.
Peter’s analysis sheds light on how once empowering concepts like "agile" have been warped into tools for relentless pressure, while HR struggles to defend its original mission of employee advocacy. He points out that CEOs often announce layoffs not for operational necessity, but to appease Wall Street, causing needless stress within organizations. Peter challenges HR to reject these top-down pressures and champion organizational resilience, rather than perpetuating workforce churn under the guise of efficiency.
Calling HR the "last line of defense" against dehumanization, Peter urges professionals to resist financial mandates that harm the workforce and, ultimately, the company itself. His rallying cry is for HR to reclaim its role as a champion for sustainable growth, designing workplaces that prioritize employee well-being over fleeting metrics. As Peter states, “If you’re going to make business about efficiency, at least make sure it’s efficient—constant restructuring isn’t.”
[ABOUT PETER CAPPELLI]
Peter Cappelli is a prominent scholar and thought leader in the fields of human resource management and organizational behavior. He serves as the George W. Taylor Professor of Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Peter has authored numerous influential books and articles, including "The Least Important Asset," where he examines the often-overlooked value of human capital in business strategy. His research focuses on workforce management, talent development, and the implications of labor market dynamics for organizations.
Peter’s analysis sheds light on how once empowering concepts like "agile" have been warped into tools for relentless pressure, while HR struggles to defend its original mission of employee advocacy. He points out that CEOs often announce layoffs not for operational necessity, but to appease Wall Street, causing needless stress within organizations. Peter challenges HR to reject these top-down pressures and champion organizational resilience, rather than perpetuating workforce churn under the guise of efficiency.
Calling HR the "last line of defense" against dehumanization, Peter urges professionals to resist financial mandates that harm the workforce and, ultimately, the company itself. His rallying cry is for HR to reclaim its role as a champion for sustainable growth, designing workplaces that prioritize employee well-being over fleeting metrics. As Peter states, “If you’re going to make business about efficiency, at least make sure it’s efficient—constant restructuring isn’t.”
[ABOUT PETER CAPPELLI]
Peter Cappelli is a prominent scholar and thought leader in the fields of human resource management and organizational behavior. He serves as the George W. Taylor Professor of Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Peter has authored numerous influential books and articles, including "The Least Important Asset," where he examines the often-overlooked value of human capital in business strategy. His research focuses on workforce management, talent development, and the implications of labor market dynamics for organizations.
the global community
Join The Global Manifesto Community
“There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.” (Meg Wheatley)
Build on hands-on lessons learned from social and business transformation.
Change is (Too) Slow
Improvements in Performance Management are glacial. We believe that several factors are contributing to the lack of progress in performance management evolution. One important aspect is that a coherent, credible and practical alternative is missing. Therefore, our mission is to bring together cutting-edge innovative practices with profound insights from the best of academic research, while fostering new perspectives through hands-on experimentation.
The project unfolds across three distinctive phases:
- In phase 1, the emphasis is on research and development to craft an innovative performance management manifesto for presentation and agreement at the HR World Congress in Porto in May 2024.
- Following this, phase 2 involves the ongoing refinement of the manifesto through collaborative efforts with pilot companies. Updates and findings are to be shared at the HR Horizons Conference in November.
- Phase 3 extends the project's scope to encompass broader implementation and support of the methodology throughout the 2025 performance management cycle.
Making an Impact
In order to support changemakers across HR leaders, business leaders and consultants we are aiming to develop a number of concrete deliverables:
- Performance Management Manifesto (Value proposition & principles)
- Piloting programme with interested forward-thinking companies
- Novel performance management toolkit & good/bad practice catalogue
- Training materials & support for Continuous implementation
- Promotional campaign
- Alliance of early adopters & partners
PROJECT COLLABORATORS
Business for Humanity Interviews
A new series of interviews to examine alternative models for the economy! Launching in March 2024
REINVENTING PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Leaders for Humanity Masterclass
Our Leaders for Humanity Masterclass will launch on June 28th!
A Hunt for Good Organisations
Join our global quest to chase organisations for good and revolutionise responsible leadership education!
Pilot participation now open for Fall 2024!
leadership society
See what else we have to offer
✿ Business for Humanity is our monthly webcast series dedicated to exploring alternatives to capitalism. We interview global thought leaders on economic models that promise greater sustainability, and critically examine them in our ongoing meta inquiry with an interested community
✿ Leaders for Humanity and Leaders for Humanity Masterclass represent our PhD-level research where we engage with exceptional minds to explore the development of good leaders and organizations. This series provides extensive resources and background reading materials.
✿The Flourishing Manifesto is a global initiative uniting HR and business leaders, consultants, and researchers in a collaborative effort to redefine performance management as a catalyst for responsible business transformation and leadership.
✿"Business as a Force for Good" is our pilot program developed in collaboration with Duke University, designed to create a practical module for responsible leadership education, with a particular focus on business and MBA students.
INSTITUTE OF WORK AT UNI ST. GALLEN
Institute for Work and Employment Research University of St. Gallen
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