Humanity as a Keystone Species
Humanity as a Keystone Species
How the evolution of human identity systems is the key to unlock global change
My sabbatical has been a profound journey into the deepest inner work of my life, exploring somatic therapy, sacred medicine, and movement practices like surfing and freediving. These experiences have radically altered my understanding of myself and my role in the world.
A few months ago, while listening to a podcast with Zach Bush, I was struck by a powerful question that has lingered with me since: What prevents humans from acting like other keystone species in nature?
This question led me to embark upon the creation a the Keystone Leadership Program, which I am co-developing in the open with close colleagues. Our goal is to guide cohorts of leaders through immersive rites of passage in nature, aiming to ignite systemic change from the inside out. This idea of keystone leadership came to me unexpectedly, yet it feels like the culmination of everything I’ve learned in my 17 years working in startups.
In the same way that we have learned to design disruptive products and complex software system using human-centered design practices, I believe we can learn how to design a new human identity system that addresses the root cause of the problems we face.
Who are we?
Back in February I walked into a small eco community in Arrábida with my good friend and collaborator Nicolas Micaelsen when I noticed a beautiful hand painted sign at the entrance to the yoga shala:
We are not regenerating nature.
We are nature regenerating itself.
These statements struck me at the deepest level. We had just spent most of the day talking about the regenerative movement, startup leadership and inner development.
What if the entire framing of our conversation was wrong?
Leaders are waking up
Nico and I have both experienced the highs and lows of startup life, from raising venture capital to exiting companies and dealing with co-founder conflict amidst raising children and navigating divorce. These personal challenges acted as catalysts for us to look deep within and understand the role our internal lives play in creating the world around us.
We’ve both come to observe a mysterious dance between the internal systems of our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions and the external systems of our families, communities and economy.
What if the key to unlock radical systems change does not live in large language models or in carbon removal machines but in the very fabric of our selves?
The society modernity built
Everywhere around the world people are confronted with the destructive nature of the extractive systems that our modern society has built. The severity and complexity of the crises we face as a result is undeniable. We’ve already tipped over 1.5°C and things are only just getting started…
Anyone who digs deep into the systemic challenges of the climate crisis the clearer it is that there is no single solution and that it is not one crisis, but a metacrisis we face.
Technology alone isn’t going to take all the greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. There’s no magic pill for the epidemic of suicide and depression facing our youth.
Systemic challenges require embodied intelligence
In order to solve the systemic challenges we face we need an entirely different way to understand ourselves and our relationship to the world around us. Given our reality is experienced through the lens of our nervous system this requires an embodied intelligence that is rooted in what it means to be human at a biological level.
This way of knowing does not arise from the cerebral patterns of the mind. It emerges from the constellation of consciousness of the body, heart and—dare I commit heresy—soul.
I am in no way discounting the role of the mind. We need breakthrough ideas to form the building blocks of a regenerative paradigm, but these ideas need to produce new methods that cultivate an entirely different way of being that allows us to circumnavigate the destructive motivations that are produced by the consumerist machine.
Natural ecosystems embody a wealth of wisdom that enable us to better understand not only who we are as a species and what our role is in the mess that we have made—but also the ways we can fix it.
Keystone species
A keystone species is an organism within an ecosystem that has a disproportionately large impact on its environment, maintaining the ecosystem's health, structure, diversity, and functioning. Every ecosystem contains the presence of at least one keystone species. Without them, the entire ecosystem begins to collapse—like taking out the middle stone from an arch. These are the lions of the Masai Mara in Kenya, the elephants of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Unfortunately, the growth of human civilization has destroyed much of the natural habitat for these vital species and many of them are going extinct. Ecologists have been working to restore ecosystems through a variety of interventions and one of the most successful methods is to re-introduce a keystone species to its natural habitat.
This method provides a powerful insight into the kinds of systemic interventions available to address the tangled web of challenges we face.
Trophic cascades
In 1995 wolves were re-introduced to Yellowstone National Park after being absent for 70 years. Their presence triggered a trophic cascade—an upward spiral of life that not only led to the regeneration of trees and vegetation but also resulted in the flourishing of a vast diversity of ecology including birds, beavers and bees.
The presence of wolves ended up restructured the flow of water which reshaped entire landscapes. This is the power of nature.
If we as humans are a part of nature, then what interventions can trigger trophic cascades within ourselves and in the society we built?
Why humans don’t act like other keystone species
We like to believe that humans are the pinnacle of the evolutionary process. We also like to believe that we’re logical beings motivated by rational self-interest.
If this miraculous flow of life overcame all odds over billions of years to produce opposing thumbs and a large pre-frontal cortex then why do we behave so differently from the wolves of the mountains, the jaguars of the jungle and the whales of the sea?
What makes us destroy the world around us instead?
Evolutionary history provides interesting clues to these questions as well as a pathway to learn how to embody our role as a keystone species.
Myth-making Sapiens
In the book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, author Noah Yuval Harari outlines a compelling story of the human species. Harari describes four pivotal human revolutions from The Cognitive Revolution (c 70,000 years ago) to The Scientific Revolution (c. 500 years ago)—each age representing a significant leap in our cognitive capacity and coordination ability.
Across all these timelines the arrival of human life on any given landmass corresponds with mass extinctions of other species. Harari’s thesis is that Homo Sapiens overcame so many forms of life—including seven other competing human species—through our unique ability to to create and believe in shared myths—such as money, corporations, nations, and religions—which have allowed large groups of humans to dominate other species and cooperate in a complex global society.
What if our ability to create shared beliefs is not only what sets us apart from other keystone species, but also what may enable us to come back into alignment with the web of life?
The myth of money & infinite growth
In diving deep into the Regenerative Finance movement in web3 from 2021 I came to believe that of all the myths money was the most successful and therefore provided the greatest lever for systemic change. The debt-backed monetary system of our global economy has overthrown god, religion and truth and successfully enslaved a vast majority of human attention towards a single inexorable goal:
Infinite growth.
With the open source tools of decentralized finance we finally have a toolkit for redesigning money to take care of our shared planetary needs.
Money needs to evolve in order for us to realize a symbiotic future. But money is just a reflection of the underlying myth behind the human self which is the root of our identity.
Identity is a system
Over the last 30 years psychologists have used different methods to explore the human psyche and to help people navigate the myriad of mental illnesses we face. Several of these leading practitioners have arrived on a similar conclusion:
Human identity is an evolving, complex system.
This is where things get interesting.
The work of Dr. Joe Dispenza understands identity as an adaptive system made up of our thoughts, actions and emotions. Dr. Richard Schwartz is a family therapist who developed IFS (“Internal Family Systems”) which views the mind as an internal system of parts or subpersonalities, each with its own viewpoint and qualities. Dr. Uri Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory describes human development within the context of a system of relationships that form one's environment.
This is the same way that many indigenous traditions understand human identity:
We are all relations. We ARE our relations.
When we begin to understand our identity as a system of relationships this gives us significant leverage points through which to pursue interventions that increase the conditions for trophic cascades and ultimately lasting behavior change—a topic which I have spent many years studying and sharing as one of twelve members of Dr. BJ Fogg’s teaching team.
Identity, behavior and systems change
After diving deep into every detail of BJ’s 35 years of research about human behavior he left a small classroom of startup founders, product designers and investors with one massive dangling carrot.
He said that he believed the holy grail of behavior design is actually about identity transformation and that if he had another 30 years research this would be the area he would explore.
This idea has stuck with me ever since and has surfaced as a key inquiry for the foundation of a Keystone Leadership Program which I’d like to unfold in the coming weeks.
Recap and conclusion
The intense challenges I’ve faced in my personal and professional life have been a powerful catalyst for growth. Many other leaders are exploring similar avenues of inner transformation amidst outer systems change. In having hundreds of conversations with climate leaders while pursuing many different modalities I’ve come to learn:
The challenges we face require systemic solutions
Our identity system is the root cause of these challenges
Identity is malleable and receptive to change
Specific interventions can trigger trophic cascades within these systems
If you’re a leader working on systems change drawn to apply the same tools to your inner world—feel free to reach out on Twitter or LinkedIN. I’d love to hear from you.
Freediving into the unkown
Next week I’ll share my life changing experience with freediving in Mexico and how I’ve come to realize this radical new sport is one of the most powerful ways to train what I believe is the single most underdeveloped skill we possess as leaders:
This is super cool and cleverly weaved John! Thanks so much for sharing 😁