The End of Pretending: Leadership in an Unraveling World – Part 1
We live in a time when the dominant tone is resignation disguised as realism. But I believe in a different tone. I believe in the human capacity to remember what we’ve forgotten.
leadership in crisis
A three-part series inspired by Luke Kemp’s “Self-Termination Is Most Likely”
Part 1. “Collapse Is Not Our Only Story”
A Response to Luke Kemp’s Warning on Civilizational Decline
I read Luke Kemp’s article in The Guardian this morning with a tightness in my chest and a fire in my gut.
His research is sobering. His logic is difficult to refute. His warning, that our interconnected global civilization is heading toward collapse unless we dismantle the machinery of inequality, rings with historical precedent and moral clarity.
And yet, I offer this not as a counterpoint, but as a continuation: Collapse is not our only story.
From a Full Spectrum Leadership perspective, what Kemp calls “Goliaths” are not just political or economic superstructures. They are also internalized postures, patterns of domination, disconnection, and denial we carry within ourselves. Systems replicate what we have not yet resolved. The question, then, is not just how do we stop collapse? but how do we stop collapsing within ourselves?
Kemp’s insight that collapse is seeded by the “dark triad” of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism is powerful. But these traits don’t only show up in autocrats or corporations. They express themselves in smaller, quieter ways: in how we silence dissent, cling to comfort, or trade integrity for belonging. If we want to interrupt the outer trajectory, we must interrupt the inner one.
That’s where leadership begins. Not in titles or systems, but in the daily, often invisible act of refusing to abandon ourselves.
We live in a time when the dominant tone is resignation disguised as realism. But I believe in a different tone. I believe in the human capacity to remember what we’ve forgotten: that we are not here to dominate the world, but to belong to it. That power doesn’t have to mean control. That clarity can coexist with compassion. That we can choose presence over performance.
Kemp writes: “Even if you don’t have hope, it doesn’t really matter. This is about defiance.”
I agree, and I’d add this: Hope isn’t an emotion. It’s a discipline.
The discipline to see clearly but not look away.
The discipline to lead without abandoning our humanity.
The discipline to name what’s broken without becoming bitter.
Full Spectrum Leadership is not naïve. It doesn’t deny the fractures. It just insists that fracture is not the final word. We have a say. We always have.
We are not powerless. We are potent.
But only if we stop outsourcing change.
Only if we stop waiting for the next savior.
Only if we are willing to become the leaders we’ve been longing for.
Collapse, as Kemp reminds us, is not always a tragedy. Sometimes it’s a kind of liberation. But I believe we can evolve without imploding. We can decentralize power without destroying each other. We can tell a new story, one rooted in courage, not cruelty; in coherence, not control.
Goliaths fall. That’s true.
But what rises next is up to us.
Let’s Keep Talking!
Peter Comrie
Co-Founder and Human Capital Specialist at Full Spectrum Leadership Inc.
Reach out to me at peter@fullspectrumleadership.com
Or connect with me here to book a call!
Reach me on Linkedin; https://www.linkedin.com/in/petercomrie/
TAGS: leadership in crisis, transformational leadership, systems change, regenerative leadership, post-collapse leadership, future of leadership
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