The Art of Ambition Maintenance

How European cultural osmosis can corrode American entrepreneurial ambition... if you let it

I said I’d write more often, but Europe had other plans.

Poking fun at Europeans for “taking entire summers off” is like a national pastime for us Americans. But now here we are. My family and I have been all over the place — Italy, the Canaries, the Algarve, even back to the Jersey Shore — all in the last 6 months alone.

We get it now, but the sporadic school holiday schedule is partly to blame… if not reflective of the culture itself.

Summer break in The Netherlands is only 6 weeks (versus ~2-3 months in the US) which adds pressure to “get out” and do something. But schools are also off for a week in May for meivakantie and a week in October for herfstvakantie — these extra weeks make up for a shorter summer. And there is still a separate spring break in February (carnavalsvakantie or krokusvakantie) and then Christmas/New Year break (kerstvakantie). That’s 5 distinct holidays each lasting a week or longer, not including one-offs.

This more regularly-occurring travel and less-regularly occurring work underpins the cultural difference in Europe versus the US around productivity, wealth/career building, and “being on.” Here, productivity comes in bursts — between holidays… and holidays are more sacred here than in the US.

The beach…

Another beach…

Even more beach…

This continent and its culture absorbs you… or maybe you absorb it.

Either way, you change a little.

An entrepreneur friend called me recently (as I was solo-touring cathedrals and breweries in Ghent, Belgium 😆) to ask me about living in Europe, what it’s like running a business or working for yourself, and what he should think about if he ever makes the move here.

I told him the biggest issue is maintaining his ambition.

In other words, you need to remind yourself more often of why you’re building your business and where your ambition comes from. What is the true source of your ambition? If you remove that source, would you lose a little motivation?

In the US, there is an exigent force that pushes us to “make something of ourselves” — to earn, to save, to innovate, to invest, to produce, to climb higher. The reasons behind this are numerous and complex and a topic for another time, but the outcomes include positive things like being home to the most innovative companies in the world, the most valuable stock market, higher incomes, higher social acceptance of failure, a more fluid social caste… but also negative things like more physical and mental health problems, longer and more demanding work hours, lower relative social spending, expensive health insurance and child care…

I think many American entrepreneurs are financially and commercially ambitious, at least in part, because they understand how brutal life can be without some financial security or a cushion. This is especially true later in life. The US is still a “Wild West” in many ways. There is also this subconscious “manifest destiny”- or “rugged individualism”-type social undercurrent where everyone “is new here” and therefore building off a clean foundation and excited about what’s possible. There is no 500+ or even 100+ year genealogical baggage weighing most Americans down. The average American is at most, what, only 2 to 4 generations removed from the Old Country?

I was speaking with a European friend who was telling me that, for example in some Western/Central European cultures, if you fail at a business venture you are literally considered low-IQ. Like you didn’t plan well or you simply aren’t intelligent enough to succeed.. and you should have known that about yourself and never have taken the risk. Perhaps this is hyperbole, but risk-taking is much less appreciated or championed in the zeitgeist. “Why did you step off the traditional path laid for you? Our family has done XYZ for hundreds of years in this very same valley. You betrayed us!” This is heavy stuff psychologically. It’s impossible for an American (non-native) to understand what it’s like living in the same town or area where their family has lived for several hundreds of or even one thousand years. “Failing” or doing something “alternative” can bring feelings of shame or abandonment. Doing so close to where your ancestors might be watching and judging you must exacerbate those feelings or spawn a few superstitions.

Most Europeans simply don’t have the same freedom and independence narratives or “we’re new here” spirit flowing through their cultures to sustain them psychologically through iterative life or career failures.

American parents will tell their children “you can be whatever you want when you grow up.” Meanwhile, European parents will say “you can be the best at whatever you end up being.” This, of course, implies they can’t really be whatever they want to be. European parents are less aspirational — and much more realist — on behalf of their kids. This culture also runs structurally in many school systems in that vocational career paths are strongly suggested and at a much earlier age (low teens) than in the US. To be fair this is probably the better approach… a lot of Americans should not have attended college but were nudged in that direction for various social and political reasons.

All of that said, the social safety net in many European countries is thick - thicker than I think most Americans realize. This means risk-taking for the purpose of building wealth is a bit less necessary or desirable. The downside just isn’t as bad in Europe, on average, particularly in Western Europe. Just look at all the cultural, architectural, and environmental beauty and density. So many simple and small day-to-day things can bring joy. But the downside in America can be bad.. very bad.. especially if you’re unhealthy or anchored in wildly high cost-of-living urban areas for personal or family reasons.

Yes, salaries are relatively lower in Europe within the professional class (and taxes are higher all-in), but you don’t need a high after-tax income to “live a good life” and cover high-quality basics like food, healthcare, and schools.

I remember the stress I had leaving my job in early 2021 in New York and talking to insurance brokers in New Jersey about setting up health insurance for my family of four. Including the inevitable deductible and out-of-pocket costs, it was about $2000/month. I can only imagine what this would cost today. Here? We pay about $300/month. Kids are free. The annual deductible is capped by law so low I won’t even say what it is. We also used to pay ~$20,000/year for a Montessori school. Here? It’s free. Combine those two major cost drivers — school and healthcare — with smaller things like more affordable and higher-quality groceries (partly due to higher private label penetration and investment i.e. less advertising and brand intensity), better and more reliable public transportation, mandated employer and government pension schemes, and far more favorable labor and income protections… I much better understand why Europeans can afford to be a bit more chill despite smaller incomes.

Rarely will someone ask you what you do for work. Few care.

This is refreshing and permeates you. So as someone who was steeped in the opposite environment and developed entrepreneurial ambition, it forces you to have really good reasons for why you’re building what you’re building.

You need a brighter north star to keep you on track because the espresso is calling your name and the alleyways won’t stroll themselves.