THE ILLUSION OF PROGRESS
We think of progress as a linear inevitability. A natural, progressive arc that bends organically towards better. Better outcomes. Better ways of doing. Better ways of being. And yet, our current global reality suggests that the link between more and better is tenuous at best, specious at worst.
The 21st century, with unprecedented access to resources and vast reservoirs of public and private wealth, should have been the apex of human progress and possibility.
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Instead, it presents as a vexing paradox.
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Three hundred years of industrial, technological and, most recently, digital innovation would, one would reasonably expect, result in a safer, kinder, more sustainable and more equitable world. A world in which ancient scourges like poverty, hunger, and preventable disease have been, if not completely eradicated, at least significantly alleviated. A world in which our tools and technologies are utilised for the benefit of the planet, not her detriment. And a world in which unparalleled digital access and economic opportunity have united people and elevated the human experience, both collectively and individually.​
Instead, our increasingly unchecked dominion over our planet’s physical, technological and human resources has resulted in a world more at war with itself than ever.1 A world addicted to an insatiable “more is better” mindset, and a growth-at-all-costs mentality. More extraction. More commodification. More expansion. More exploitation. More growth. ​​
BUT INFINITELY LESS SUSTAINABLE.2
HEREIN LIES THE PARADOX:
In our relentless pursuit of more, we excel at accumulating wealth and making material gains, yet we achieve less of what truly matters – the elevation of the human condition.
AN EXTENSIVE BODY OF RESEARCH CONFIRMS:
We are richer – in monetary terms – than ever before.3
​We are more efficient than we have ever been.4
And we are more connected than at any point in our history.5 And yet, we are also sicker,6 lonelier,7 more isolated,8 and less equal9 than at any point in our history.
HOW CAN THIS BE?
INTERNET USER GROWTH YEAR ON YEAR 2000 - 2024
Statista, 2024
A CRISIS OF MORE
To understand the inadequacies of the arc of more, and the emergence of the more-but-less paradox, we must confront the many contradictions that are inherent in our understanding of what progress really is.
It is my view – informed by 30 years’ experience in leading and growing businesses in South Africa – that we have become obsessed with growth, for its own sake. It is the ultimate metric by which we measure success. Or the lack thereof: Even absence of progress is termed “negative growth”.
In this ubiquitous narrative, growth has become an absolute, definitive goal. The raison d’être of organisations, economies, and even individuals. And yet, as research clearly shows, an explosion of wealth, innovation and digital agency has not resulted in a better human experience for all. Or even for most.
Has it made corporations more compassionate, conscientious, and inclusive? Has it empowered employees to find purpose and fulfilment in their work? And has it resulted in the kind of sustainable performance that is the holy grail10 of organisational success?
The data – and my own experience over the past three decades – suggests otherwise: Our relentless, even ruthless, pursuit of more has resulted in a perfect storm of escalating demand versus diminished human capacity, which manifests as what we now understand to be a global wellness and sustainability crisis.
An effective lens through which to examine this crisis – and the more-but-less paradox that underpins it – is the eight established dimensions of holistic wellness: Physical, emotional, social, intellectual, environmental, spiritual, vocational and financial wellness.11
In her 2023 reimagining of the Hettler model of wellness, physician and wellness strategist Dr Tomi Mitchell (2023) argues that the following interconnected dimensions of human experience coexist to shape and inform overall wellness and well-being, impacting both individual fulfilment and societal health.
Physical Wellness
In this model, physical wellness relates to our physical bodies and the choices we can, or have to, make that impact our lifestyles. The paradox of the 21st century is that while we live longer, on average, and have greater access to health care, we have become less active, have poorer diets, get sick quicker, stay sick longer and are more prone to lifestyle diseases than at any other point in our history (Verburgh, 2018; Swinburn et al., 2023).
Environmental Wellness
Environmental wellness focuses on our relationship with the external world and the spaces we inhabit, in a micro, meso and macro context. At the micro level, this encompasses our personal environments, including home-work-life balance, and the immediate safety and comfort of our living and working spaces. The meso context involves our community interactions, focusing on peaceful coexistence with others and maintaining environmental harmony in our local surroundings. At the macro level, environmental wellness relates to broader societal factors such as access to basic resources like food, water, and clean air, and wider environmental factors such as climate change. Naturally, environmental wellness differs vastly across the world, and across social strata. In South Africa, a country marked by crime, violence, a high level of poverty and stark and persistent inequality, most people’s lived experience of environmental wellness is especially grim.12
Financial Wellness
Financial wellness relates to our financial stability, security, habits, and the ability to make sound financial decisions. The more-but-less paradox manifests starkly in this dimension of wellness, where – as previously indicated – we are wealthier than ever, globally, and yet the concentration of this wealth in the hands of a few has resulted in diminished economic security for millions of people. This is borne out by the fact that, despite technological advances in financial services and increased access to financial products, individuals report higher levels of financial stress, carry more debt, and demonstrate lower financial literacy than previous generations (World Economic Forum, 2020; Office for National Statistics, 2023).
Intellectual Wellness
Intellectual wellness is the ability to freely pursue knowledge, foster creativity and experience intellectual growth. It enables lifelong learning, critical thinking, problem-solving, engaging with new ideas, and seeking rational solutions to challenges. Here, again, a stark more-but-less paradox is evident: The digital revolution and an always-on, always-connected world means we can access the totality of human knowledge at the end of a few keystrokes. And yet, research shows that we have shortened attention spans and diminished critical thinking abilities, we are less tolerant of divergent ideas, and we are more dogmatic and less open-minded than ever. Unlimited access to information has not resulted in unlimited knowledge; it many instances it has only strengthened our echo chambers and deepened our confirmation bias.13
Physical Wellness
Spiritual wellness relates to our sense of purpose and meaning, and the extent to which we feel connected to something greater than ourselves. While it can include religious beliefs, it speaks more broadly to our ability to find deeper meaning in our lives, our work and our relationships. Globally, there has been a marked increase in spirituality, especially in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic (Pew Research Center, 2020, 2023; Herzog, 2023). This often manifests as a greater search for purpose and meaning (Pew Research Center, 2023). However, here again there seems to be a paradox at play. While a growing number of people identify as spiritual, and many express a greater desire for purpose and meaning (Chen, Cowden and Streib, 2023), there appears also to be a steady rise in the number of people struggling with depression and loneliness (Gallup, 2024).
Emotional Wellness
The sixth dimension of holistic wellness revolves around practising self-care, developing healthy coping mechanisms, and nurturing positive relationships. Such is our collective desire for emotional wellness that it has spawned an entire sub-economy: In 2024, the global wellness economy was valued at $6.8-trillion (Global Wellness Institute, 2024).14 But again: More money, more products, more personal days, does not appear adequate to address what is widely acknowledged as an acute global mental health crisis, manifesting in record high numbers of people diagnosed with workplaces stress, burnout, anxiety, isolation, disengagement and feeling overwhelmed (World Health Organization, 2022).
Occupational Wellness
Occupational wellness is described as finding fulfilment and satisfaction in our work by aligning our passions, skills, and values with our career choices, which leads to overall job satisfaction, work-life balance, professional growth, and a sense of purpose at work. The dichotomy inherent in occupational wellness is well documented: While wellness benefits and interventions are now common features of human resource strategies – employers spend over $60-billion on wellness interventions every year – research has shown that these interventions do not have a statistically significant impact on overall job satisfaction (Spicer, 2024; Fleming, 2024). Again we see the arc of more – more money, more resources, more interventions – but without significant long-term benefit. In fact, nearly 60% of respondents in a recent study say they are disengaged at work, while 83% express concern about workplace stress (Mental Health America, 2024).
Intellectual Wellness
The last dimension of holistic wellness, social wellness, involves our relationships, our connections, and the sense of belonging we have with and in our communities. It involves nurturing supportive relationships, fostering healthy communication, practising empathy and compassion, and participating in social activities. Perhaps the most glaring paradox inherent in our concept of social wellness relates to social media. Social media, by its very name, should enable and enhance our social connections and interactions. However, our own lived experience and a large body of research suggest this is often not the case.15
PEOPLE WITH MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES YEAR ON YEAR
World Health Organisation, 2022
EMPLOYEES WITH WORKPLACE STRESS YEAR ON YEAR
Mental Health America, 2024
A SEARCH FOR BETTER
Across all eight recognised dimensions of the holistic wellness wheel, a stark reality emerges: Notwithstanding tremendous advances under the guise of progress, we are experiencing a deep and accelerating human crisis.
For over two decades, working with many of the top 500 companies in South Africa, my career has afforded me a front-row seat to the unintended consequences of our relentless pursuit of growth and the self-perpetuating more-but-less paradox. This cycle is driven by a command-and-control leadership paradigm which, while a vestige of the industrial age, remains deeply entrenched in modern workplaces (Ibarra, 2012; Deckman, 2021), stifling an alternative paradigm and eroding the conditions necessary to facilitate a different reality.
This journey, shaped by successes and the constraints of this entrenched system, has brought me to three fundamental conclusions: Growth for its own sake is unsustainable. The command-and-control paradigm is ineffective, unsustainable and no longer fit for purpose for our modern world of work. And true organisational success hinges not on mandated performance, but on creating the environment and the conditions that allow people to unleash their highest performance by learning, growing, engaging, innovating, and bringing their highest discretionary effort.
"THIS, I BELIEVE, IS THE TRUE CATALYST FOR EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMANCE AND SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS. AND IT STARTS WITH LEADERSHIP."
Leadership as the enabler of performance.
Performance as the measure of organisational success and sustainability.
And sustainability as the ultimate blueprint, not of more, but of better.
In this thesis, I propose a new paradigm of leadership – one rooted in the wisdom of the country of my birth and in the continent that birthed humankind; a philosophy anchored in the uniquely African concept of ubuntu,16 which is guided by the principle that my well-being is inextricably linked to yours, and our collective wellness is the foundation of true and sustainable progress.
Utilising autoethnographic inquiry, I draw on 30 years of professional experience to show the fundamental inadequacies of the command-and-control leadership style in the South African context. I demonstrate the holistic impact and sustainability of a new, human-centred leadership philosophy. In contrasting these paradigms, I offer my practical experience to contribute to an important emerging conversation about a new philosophy of leadership, one rooted not in extraction but in investment and empowerment and one I believe has the potential to inspire a global movement towards sustainable human performance. It is a leap into the unknown, but also a leap towards purpose.
A BETTER WAY OF LEADING
A BETTER WAY OF CONNECTING
A BETTER WAY OF INSPIRING
A BETTER WAY OF BEING
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACH
Etymologically, autoethnography (AE) is derived from the Greek for auto (self), ethno (culture) and graphy (writing), to mean self-reflective writing that seeks to connect personal experience with a wider cultural or social context (Ellis et al., 2011). Academically, it is derived from ethnography, which emphasises the importance of studying, first-hand, what people do and say in the making of culture (Hammersley and Atkinson, 1995), and the process of self-narrative, which places the self within a social context (Reed-Danahay, 1997).
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Sociologist Matthew Desmond (2014) describes ethnography as a method where researchers strive to understand people by allowing their lives to shape their own experiences as fully as possible. Self-narrative, in turn, is described by McAdams (2001) as a tool for understanding the complexities of the lived experience in the broader cultural context. McAdams goes on to argue that the value and power of self-narrative lies in the fact that it is not just retrospective; the act of looking back is to understand influences and shape future behaviours.
I HAVE CHOSEN AE INQUIRY AS MY PRIMARY METHODOLOGY AS IT ALLOWS ME TO COMBINE THE POWER OF SELF-REFLECTION AND SELF-NARRATIVE WITH METHODICAL DATA- AND IMPACT-BASED ANALYSIS AND REVIEW.
This approach enables me to draw on my practical experiences to arrive at broader theoretical insights, with a view to leveraging these insights to influence future actions, attitudes and behaviours.
Specifically, I employ longitudinal AE, which allows me to systematically analyse my experiences over a period of time to make sense of them (Hernán and Robins, 2016).
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This allows me to explore how command-and-control and human-centred paradigms either inhibited or enabled human performance across time, in four selected public works.
This longitudinal lens allows for a richer and more nuanced understanding of how extraction-oriented leadership has hindered organisational success over time and, conversely, how sustained and sustainable human-centred leadership has enabled it.
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It also allows me to leverage my long-term relationships with each of the clients showcased in the case studies to identify specific patterns and turning points relevant to the leadership initiatives and interventions showcased in future chapters.​
Finally, I am deeply mindful of the ethical considerations that must guide my work, including the care and confidence I owe to the organisations, the leaders and the people who contributed to my experiences and insights. I remain committed to ensuring that every aspect of this thesis meets with the necessary confidentiality, integrity and respect it deserves.
LEADERSHIP FOR SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE
This thesis explores the relationship between the traditional, industrial-age command-and-control leadership paradigm and the dysfunctional leadership that persists across many organisations. I show how this mindset impacted my early career and how a growing rejection of the more-but-less paradox has fundamentally shaped my own views on leadership.
​I also illustrate how my embrace of a more holistic, human-centred paradigm not only shaped my evolution as a leader, but how it became the foundational philosophy of the business I founded, and continue to manage.
​Through personal narrative and reflection, and drawing on several influential public works, I demonstrate the transformative power of human-centred leadership that is purposeful and intentional but also fragile and wholly dependent on systemic support, confident vulnerability,17 top-down institutional commitment and the capacity of organisations to find comfort with shifting the balance of power from organisations to its people.​
​Parallel but integral to this journey, and utilising the experiential and interpretative insights of AE, I examine human-centred leadership as the golden thread that enables the alchemy of human performance.
Influenced by the works of seminal thought leaders like Amy C. Edmondson (2019), Peter Senge (1990), Frederic Laloux (2014) and Simon Sinek (2009), I have long viewed human performance as a transdisciplinary, integrated outcome. However, my understanding of human performance, as infinitely more than the sum of its parts, has its genesis much earlier. It was born not from theory but from my own formative experiences with my father, and influences growing up in the demanding, high-octane arenas of professional boxing and horse racing, which I again examine through a sense-making autoethnographic lens.
​Ultimately, this thesis – while revisionist in nature – is not about looking back. And though the insights I offer have been shaped by my own unique journey, the purpose of examining them in a rigorous, academic context is to show how practice can inform leadership theory as part of an urgent global conversation about the future of work.
​​Despite our prevailing and emerging landscapes of more, corporate leadership continues to be largely misaligned with holistic human needs and long-term organisational sustainability. This work is my contribution to defining and shaping a better leadership elixir,18 a tested but evolving framework that builds rather than extracts, contributes rather than depletes, and creates the conditions for sustainable human performance as a precursor to organisational success.
"NEVER DOUBT THAT A SMALL GROUP OF THOUGHTFUL COMMITTED INDIVIDUALS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD. IN FACT, IT'S THE ONLY THING THAT EVER HAS."
- Mead, M. cited in Lutkehaus, NC 2008, Margaret Mead: The Making of an American Icon, Princeton University Press, Princeton.