Over time the diversity of human leadership expressions have been functionally fragmented. We can consider five traditional leadership archetypes:
- Sage – mindset, phylosophy
- King – territorial
- Expert – science, education
- Magician – innovative entrepreneur
- Commander – operational execution
We can recognize these types of leadership in our daily lives. The current overarching mindset or sage is political (power) economical (financial). The kings are represented through regional governments. Universities and schools are the experts and the innovative businesses and artists can be seen as the magicians (creative in seeing the unseen). We citizens are the workforce. All the (competitive) interactions among those archetypes are based on financial self interests, growth, competition or survival. The absence of a general guiding moral compass has caused the enormous worldwide problems in terms of pollution, social disintegration, climate issues, poverty, wars, refugees, inqueality, etc.

Another serious side effect of this destructive development is the growth of silos of hierarchies that defend their interest even further, using the force of violence if necessary to impose their will. Others invest in remedial activities, needing increasingly more money to finance such operations. This only flattens the curve of destruction but never challenges the origin of the problems (the Sage).
The SDGs of the United Nations are an attempt to introduce a moral compass into this ecosystem of financial and political framing. Issues like poverty, climate change, hunger or gender equality thus become business cases for those who also cause them. Governments provide subsidies to finance structures that learn to depend on the problem rather than solving it at the expense of themselves. As long as a problem exists the wildgrowth of structures around it florishes too. It all just creates an illusion of action.
Shared responsibilities
The biggest problem of it all is at the level of “Sage” leadership, the overall mindset, or storytelling. The SDGs are not positioned as Sage level yet at the level of action based commanding (workforce) and magician (entrpreneurial innovation). With the mindset of political financial hierarchies the SDG become a business model, largely financed by subsidies and executed by NGOs and semi government institutions. These will not solve the SDG’s, they will make believe that there is action while the deterioration goes on at full speed.
When I (Jean-Paul Close) developed the vision of core natural human values for sustainable human progress, I also had the option to place it at the operational levels. In fact, at first I did by addressing the business community with my “Entrepreneurship of the 21st century” approach. This 4 x WIN ideology was a new leadership model (magician) within the limited context of business development. It did have a certain impact but it showed me also that such values driven entrepreneurships need to be embedded in a similar overall societal culture. I had to leverage my own intentions to the level of a new overall mindset, a new Sage. It was not at king (government) level or anywhere else. It had to become a new Sage. There was only one who could represent such Sage and that was me myself, or (on my behalf) the STIR Foundation as a representative of the Sustainocratic ideology and practical execution.
When the financial crisis hit the world in 2008 the world of leadership was upset. Their Sage (their governing mindset) had been blown apart. The doors started to open to look for new ways of developing society. Time was there to position the core natural human values as a shared responsibility of all. It became a new Sage and moral umbrella for the world. Proof of concept could start locally in the region of Eindhoven (Netherlands).
All leadership archetypes were invited to the table of shared responsibility and into the sustainable cocreation and protection of these core values. Each archetype was challenged to let go of their isolated and fragmented competitive power in order to be present with their natural leadership authority and authenticity. Self interest was still dominant but this time the interaction was not based on political and financial exchange, it was based on contributing to a common values driven objective. This new mindset impacted all of the archetypes. Issues like “health” became a common dominator for regional development, innovation, behavioral changes, policy making, institutional transformation, etc.The impact could be measurably sensed in all communities and participating partners.
Even the SDGs could be placed into this same context of the core values and solved at the root of all issues.

This UNITED evolution into the combination of all archetypes of leadership TOGETHER around our common natural human objectives of sustainable resilience as a species, became also a self cleaning mechanism of the wildgrowth of expensive, useless remedial institutions of the old mindset. At the same time it became spaceholder of new regulations agains polluting industries and corrupt or tunnel visioned goverments. This is still to be further developed and manifested to the world as this new Sage concurs the world. A new human era is born, with incredible heart driven dynamics and change driven innovative potential.
From an evolutionary perspective the moral compass of our core natural human values and the acceptance of our shared responsibilities, can be seen as the most intense “To Be” breakthrough of the human species ever since its birth into existence. It UNITES those leadership profiles that share the love and care for our wellness as a species within the context of our natural environment. It eliminates the dogmatic, narcist hegemony of criminal mentalities that manipulate, murder and abuse humankind and our planet for their self interests, often misusing our systems of law and governance for their own benefits. This automatic cleaning up, taking to justice of criminality, and the consolidation of the new overall Sage worldwide, marks an historical era of awareness development of humankind. An era that we have giving the name of Sustainocracy (Sustainable Human Progress and our real time Democracy), or level 4 awareness driven regional and global co-creation of our core natural human values.
