Last week I had the privilege of presenting at a learning and connecting session for the Governance Futures (GF) Network. This network brings together individuals with diverse expertise and backgrounds who are united by a shared goal: to transform how we collectively steward the interdependent well-being of people, planet, and technology, now and into the future. As I prepared for the presentation, three key questions stood out to me from the prompt that was shared:
How do we define governance in our current paradigm?
What shifts are necessary to change the stories we tell about governance?
How can those stories build an emotional and personal connection to governance?
These questions got me thinking about governance as not just the practice of leadership, but as a fundamental reflection of human relationships in society. The stories we tell about governance today are often written in dense, bureaucratic language—impersonal and technocratic. Yet, if governance is truly about human connection and belonging, we must rethink how we tell these stories. To illustrate the shifts we need in governance and leadership, I find that the Three Horizons Framework can be useful in helping us understand how the systems of today can transition into the systems of tomorrow.
First Horizon (H1): The current paradigm of governance is rooted in fear, control, and profit-driven leadership. In this horizon, we see a top-down approach to leadership, where decisions are made with short-term financial gain in mind, often at the expense of people and planet.
Second Horizon (H2): This is the space of transition and innovation. It’s where leaders and organisations begin experimenting with new ways of doing things, but still struggle with the remnants of the old paradigm. Leaders in this horizon are learning to embrace new values but are still entangled in legacy systems.
Third Horizon (H3): The future we aspire to—a regenerative model of governance where leadership is relational, collective, and deeply accountable. This horizon is where people and planet take precedence over profit, and leadership is driven by empathy, love, and inclusivity.
We are currently living between H1 and H2. The challenge of leadership today is navigating this space of transition—letting go of outdated, fear-based approaches while cultivating the seeds of regenerative leadership that will define our collective future.
In today’s materialistic world, we operate in a governance system that prioritises profit over people and planet. As Bell Hooks so powerfully states in her book All About Love, “When greedy consumption is the order of the day, dehumanisation becomes acceptable. [And] treating people like objects is required behaviour.” This is the paradigm that has shaped our political, economic, and social systems—a paradigm where money is God, and human beings are mere objects in a marketplace of exchange.
But we now know that fear-based leadership—the kind that prioritises control, dominance, and short-term gains—is no longer sustainable. Leaders who cling to these methods and modalities of being are holding us back from the future we need. The first shift in leadership is to move away from this old world view and embrace again, an ancient love-based approach that centres human connection. Key questions for leaders to reflect on:
How does my leadership support the profit-centric capitalist system?
To what extent am I concerned with the bottom line in my day to day?
How can I shift my leadership to prioritise people and planet?
As I reflected on the second question—how do we change the stories we tell about governance?—I realised that this shift must start with how we lead. Fear is a poor foundation for leadership. True leadership is built on trust, empathy, and relational accountability. The answer, as Bell Hooks explains, can be found in adopting a love ethic in our leadership practice. This shift requires those in positions of power and authority to change their heart posture from one of fear-based control over others to love-based servant leadership for others. Key questions for leaders to ask themselves are:
Am I willing to adopt a love ethic in my leadership practice?
Do my daily actions reflect my stated values of inclusivity, equality, and collaboration?
In a time of global uncertainty, leaders who prioritise love over fear will be the ones who create sustainable, resilient systems. Real leaders walk their talk. If you cannot walk your talk, it's time to sit down, and stop talking because the gap between your words and actions causes more harm—especially as a leader with power and wealth alive at this time. Again, fear is a poor foundation for leadership.
In thinking about the third question of building an emotional and personal connection to governance, the concept of relational accountability came to mind and thus the question, who are you to lead? Who am I to lead? In my mind, governance and leadership is not just about power—it’s about accountability. NgesiZulu sithi "ngiphoqwe isimo", a phrase which means, “the situation forced me.” For me personally, it has taken a long time to accept that I have power as a leader because the size of the attendant responsibility seemed so great. As a leader, I would always be publicly accountable but privately responsible for my actions. As a leader, I would have to always prioritise the collective interests of the people that see me as leader over my own personal interests. As I leader, my everyday decisions would have real life consequences for those around me.
The constant vigilance required for leadership is no small thing. That is why I believe that you have to be called to do this work. That is why I believe that authentic leadership is one where power seeks the leader and not the other way around. True leaders don’t seek power—they step into it because the circumstances call them to. Leadership requires that we constantly ask ourselves if we are doing the "right thing"—not for ourselves, but for the collective we claim to serve. We live in a world where doing the the "right thing" isn’t always easy, but for those concerned with governance, the "right thing" means always prioritising the collective interest over self-interest. Key questions for leaders to ask themselves are:
“Did I actively seek power, or did power seek me?”
"Can I consistently choose to do the right thing for the collective I serve?"
To close, I want to emphasise that the future of governance must be grounded in Ubuntu—the Zulu idea that “I am because we are.” Governance should not feel like an impersonal system, but a reflection of relationships, care, and belonging. This is a significant departure from the top-down, hierarchical leadership models of the past. As cliche as it is, Love is always the answer. Working with a love ethic means we can love each other through the crises and challenges of today and build governance systems where we truly belong to each other. Governance cannot continue to be about domination— governance needs to be about fostering relationships that allow people and planet to thrive. The Third Horizon of governance is within reach, but it requires leaders who are willing to walk the talk and lead with love, accountability, and empathy. As we navigate this period of transition, we must ask:
Am I ready to let go of fear-based leadership and embrace a future rooted in collective well-being?
Am I willing to walk my talk? And if not, am I willing to stop talking? And if not, why not?
The future of governance depends on us adopting a new approach to leadership. Building new economies needs us to, in tandem, build futures where governance can be about belonging and where decisions are made with the well-being of people and planet at the centre. The stories we tell have to shift, the visions of power that drive us need to change, and our heart posture must be based in love for all as self.
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Thank you for reading my rambles dear reader :)
With light,
Ashanti
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