What if We Don't Change?

 A Call for Conscious Evolution in Leadership

Some days, I’m scared.

Not just overwhelmed, not just tired, but scared in a way that settles deep in the bones—a quiet fear that whispers, 'What if we don’t change?'

After COVID, I had high hopes that humanity would make a more profound inner shift— that we would reimagine the way we live, lead, and connect. That the rupture would lead to renewal. But now, I see us slipping back into many of the old patterns: speed over stillness, productivity over presence, disconnection over connection.

What if we keep going like this— faster, harder, more disconnected— until we’ve forgotten completely that we belong to each other, to this Earth, and to something greater than ourselves?

This is not a call for new strategies. This is a call for a new state of being.

When the World Reflects Our Inner Disconnection

Look around, and it’s easy to see systems fraying: climate collapse, division, war, disillusionment, burnout.

But these aren’t isolated events; they are symptoms of a deeper fracture: our disconnection from self, others, and the sacred.

Gabor Maté writes,

“The essence of trauma is disconnection from the self.”

When we are disconnected from our humanity, we cannot build systems that honour the humanity of others.

Healing is not a mere add-on; it is the foundation of our evolution.

The Next Stage of Human Maturity

Robert Kegan mapped a powerful journey of adult development:

• The socialized mind, shaped by others
• The self-authoring mind, guided by inner values
• And the self-transforming mind, able to hold paradox, complexity, and deep interdependence

Bob Anderson expanded on this work in The Leadership Circle Profile.

His research shows that leaders must evolve from reactive patterns—control, approval, and compliance— into creative presence: purpose-driven, self-aware, and systemically conscious.

“The complexity of our outer world now demands a revolution in the complexity of our inner world.” ~ Bob Anderson

Jim Dethmer and the Conscious Leadership Group ask one powerful question:

Are you leading from above the line or below the line?

Below the line: fear, defensiveness, reactivity. Above the line: curiosity, presence, responsibility.

Most of us dip below the line dozens of times a day. The work of conscious leadership is to notice—and choose differently.

“If you're not conscious of your top values, where are you leading from? Most often, fear.” ~ Lisa Doig

Amy Elizabeth Fox, co-founder and CEO of Mobius Executive Leadership, emphasises the necessity of addressing personal and collective trauma within organisations. She states:

“If you want an organisation that can adapt to change... you must lower the level of fear in that system.” “The trauma-informed workplace where leaders engage in deep healing work delivers enormous adaptive capabilities and a huge competitive advantage.”

Everyone agrees that the leaders we need today are not those who know all the answers— but those who can hold uncertainty, complexity, and contradiction with grace, clarity, and courage.

This is not just personal work. It is planetary work.

Healing the Soul of Leadership

Nicholas Janni speaks of a “split in the soul of leadership.” A disembodied way of working that prizes performance over presence, logic over wisdom.

He writes,

“There is no greater gift a leader can bring than their coherent, attuned, and grounded presence.”

This presence is not a technique; it’s a cultivated inner state—a return to wholeness.

It requires that we feel what we’ve avoided, slow down where we’ve sped up, and meet the world with depth instead of defences.

Lisa Doig, through her Illuminate program at Corporate Evolution, is cultivating a global network of facilitators capable of holding deep, transformational space. Her work blends ancient wisdom with modern leadership science, reminding us that leadership is not just a skillset—it’s a state of being.

“Does your presence transform a room?” ~ Lisa Doig

So What Now?

The call is clear: If we want to change the world, we must first transform how we relate to it—and to ourselves.

This means:

• From fear to love
• From fragmentation to coherence
• From reactivity to responsibility
• From separation to sacred belonging
• From performance to presence

This is not about perfection. It’s about practice.

This is not someone else’s work. It’s ours.

If you are feeling afraid, uncertain, or undone by the world— you are not broken. You are awake.

This fear is not a failure; it’s an invitation —to soften, to listen, to begin again—deeper, slower, wiser.

We cannot lead others beyond the places we’ve been unwilling to go. But if we dare, we just might become the kind of leaders this aching, beautiful world is longing for.

“May you awaken to the mystery of being here, and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.” — John O’Donohue