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Michael Chèze

Towards a better future

Mapping the forces of planetary change

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HOW THE FOUR DRIVERS INTERACT
 

A systemic synthesis

The four drivers do not operate independently. They form a self-reinforcing system in which each driver strengthens the others, creating patterns that are remarkably stable — even as their consequences become increasingly destructive.

The monetary system generates pressure for continual expansion. Industrial machine logic translates that pressure into systems optimised for scale, speed, and throughput. Consumption and cultural narrative normalise these dynamics by embedding them in everyday life, identity, and aspiration. Governance and growth-oriented policy then stabilise the whole arrangement, defending it as necessary for economic and political order.

Together, these drivers create a civilisation that is highly capable of accelerating activity, yet poorly equipped to question its direction.

Reinforcing loops not isolated causes

Because the drivers are interconnected, interventions aimed at only one area often produce limited or temporary results.

Efforts to:

  • Improve efficiency can increase total resource use

  • Encourage ethical consumption can be overwhelmed by cultural pressure

  • Regulate environmental harm can be undermined by growth imperatives

  • Innovate technologically can accelerate underlying extractive dynamics
     

This is not because such efforts are misguided, but because they operate downstream of the forces that shape behaviour in the first place.

Why progress feels elusive

The persistence of global crises despite decades of knowledge, policy, and innovation is often interpreted as a failure of will, coordination, or technology. From a systemic perspective, it looks different.

The system is behaving exactly as designed.

When money rewards expansion, machines optimise throughput, culture celebrates consumption, and governance defends growth, outcomes such as ecological overshoot, inequality, and social fragmentation are not anomalies — they are logical consequences.

Where leverage actually lies

The most effective leverage points are not found at the level of individual behaviour or isolated policy tweaks. They lie upstream — at the level of:

  • What is valued

  • What is measured

  • What is rewarded

  • What is considered normal, necessary, or inevitable
     

Working at this level does not mean abandoning practical action. It means aligning action with a clearer understanding of what is driving outcomes.

From optimisation to orientation

Much contemporary problem-solving focuses on optimising systems whose underlying assumptions remain unquestioned. The Four Drivers framework invites a different approach: one that shifts attention from optimisation to orientation.

The central question becomes not:

How do we make this system work better?

But:

What is this system actually working toward — and is that where we want to go?

What is this framework for?

The Four Drivers are not a doctrine or a checklist. They are a lens — a way of seeing patterns that are otherwise treated as separate problems.

Used well, they can:

  • Clarify why good intentions fail

  • Reveal hidden constraints on change

  • Support more coherent decision-making

  • Create space for genuinely alternative pathways
     

Above all, they help restore a sense of agency by making the structure of the problem visible.

Looking ahead

The Four Drivers are not a doctrine or a checklist. They are a lens — a way of seeing patterns that are otherwise treated as separate problems.

Used well, they can:

  • Clarify why good intentions fail

  • Reveal hidden constraints on change

  • Support more coherent decision-making

  • Create space for genuinely alternative pathways
     

Above all, they help restore a sense of agency by making the structure of the problem visible.​​​​​​​​​

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MICHAEL CHÈZE

Cape Town, South Africa

CONTACT

+27 (73) 146 0136

mcheze@icloud.com

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