The “human-centred” is tired!
Do not take me wrong, I am the first one who keeps using this terminology. However, when it happens I try to stop myself and reflect on a sort of little itch I feel around the word centre. It places us on a throne. It makes us ask “What people want?” But, forgets to ask “At what cost?”
We have focused so much on the word “centred” and forgot its limitations.
We implied that to do something better everything had to revolve around humans…forgetting that, that was exactly the problem.
When humans are the focal point, and everything else (nature, animals, systems, even future generations) is secondary or instrumental to human needs, we encourage anthropocentrism, and risk perpetuating exploitation of the environment or marginalised communities, as long as it’s “for the good of people.”
I prefer instead the term human-flourishing. Flourishing is more holistic.
By replacing “centred” with “flourishing” we shift focus from “centralised control” to care and coexistence.
From humans as the central beneficiary to a broader systems view, where human well-being is entangled with the well-being of ecosystems, communities, and overall with life.
When we think of flourishing we open space to include:
Emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of well-being.
Collective over individual good.
Regeneration instead of short-term gains.
We Were Never the Center.
We decided to put ourselves at the center.
Not as participants.
As rulers.
Human-centered design.
It sounded good.
Empowering.
Compassionate.
But dig a little deeper, and the cracks begin to show.
To Center is to Control.
Centre assumes a single point of focus.
We became the Sun.
And everything else became shadow.
Human Flourishing Is Not Human-Centred.
Flourishing is not about putting people at the centre.
It’s about reconnecting them.
With each other.
With Earth.
With the unseen, the unborn, the unspoken.
Our Future Doesn’t Need a Centre.
It needs connection.
It needs us to sit with the unknown.
Policymakers who ask trees what they need.
Researchers who write with the moonlight in mind.
To flourish is to remember.
That we are not the center.
We are just one pulse in a much older rhythm.
We Flourish. Together. Or Not at All.
This is not about scaling.
It is about sacred pace.
Not innovation for profit.
But imagination for life.
I invite you to embody a leadership presence that focuses not only on people functioning but on people flourishing.
If you are looking for developing a leadership capable of fostering organisational and individual flourishment have a look at our program Artful Leadership and all other Artful Programs.
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