"In short, speech, and only speech, has enabled us, we human beasts, to conquer every square inch of land in the world, subjugate every creature big enough to lay eyes on, and eat up half the population of the sea.

And this, the power to conquer the entire planet for our own species, is the minor achievement of speech's great might."

Tom Wolfe, The Kingdom of Speech

Michel Serres.  Defines our Crisis and offers a Solution 

Genius.  Philosopher.  Thinker.  Michel Serres offers us a practical solution to free ourselves from our existential rabbit hole.  He defines it thus.

"To destroy, kill, exploit is worthless.  In the long run, it means destroying ourselves."   

Serres argues that geopolitics and economics can no longer be a two-player game between, for example, West and East, Nation and Nation, Corporation and Corporation, Religion and Religion, Conservative and Liberal.

This leadership model has emerged from the Bronze Age where the Earth's resources have always been viewed as unlimited, passive and free to plunder.

Serres emphasises that survival will depend on transformation to a three-player game, where the third party will be "The world itself.  Here quicksand, tomorrow the climate.  This is what I call 'Biogea', an archaic and new country, inert and alive, water, air, fire, the earth, the flora and fauna and all the living species."

From Subject to Object.  Our essential tectonic shift

Serres points out that our centuries old two-player evolution has required homo sapiens being the Subject and Earth the Object, passive, limitless and uncomplaining.  At worst, an enemy, something to be conquered.  "We do not know who will win, except that we know already we will lose even if we win."

Now the 'Other' is no longer passive.  It is stirring and reacting to our assault.  A fundamental change is taking place.  Earth is rapidly becoming the Subject, turning us into the Object.

The new three-player leadership game 

Serres contends that our success to date has been based on the two-player game of geopolitics and economics, where the power has been vested in the triad of "priests, soldiers and the wealth creators".  However we cannot win this game.

Instead we need to move rapidly to a three-player leadership game of Biogea -Science - Society.  New game.  New rules.  New intelligence.  New leaders.

The Serres Solution - The Life and Earth Sciences

The asymmetry of our leadership model of 'Subject-Sun Kings of objects' needs to transition rapidly as the global outcome is turning into a disaster.

"We are incurring the vengeance of the things of the world, the air, the sea, the climate, and species, which are less passive than we thought, less objective than we wished, and less servile that we dreamed of.  The former slave could quickly become the master's master."

Serres advocates a three-player game between Biogea, Science and Society with a new unifying centre, which is now emerging, the Life and Earth Sciences (LESC).

He sees this as a truly democratic structure free from all political influence.  He sees politicians as way too invested in the two-player model and quite incapable of initiating the three-player model.  He sees the current global leadership model as our greatest existential threat.

Connecting the Serres LESC solution to leadership today 

This is no easy task.  But no less essential for our survival on this planet.

Naturally everything we know about the two-player model, geopolitics and economics, is deeply embedded into our DNA.  We have no real experience of Serres' three-player model.

Our work on the emerging ESG model is certainly raising the level on planetary consciousness at a global level.  However the politics and leadership structures remain essentially a two-player game.

The solution lies outside of the current political and organisational structures, and among the free thinkers and game changers.   This will require a major shift in educational frameworks from a two to three-player model.

Business Schools have a special responsibility here to integrate with and contribute to a global LESC initiative.  We need to develop a new understanding of leadership at both the micro and macro levels in organisations in how to best play the three-player game.

Michel Serres has opened the door to a deeper understanding of the crisis we now face, together with a solution that fully engages Biogea.

The rest is now up to us.