Polycollapse and the Future of Business Strategy | Alice Kalro

Alice Kalro joins host Jeni Miles to explore why traditional businesses fail to transform amidst systemic breakdown. As founder of arkH3 and lead author of "Leading Through the Polycollapse," Alice believes that conventional corporate sustainability approaches amount to "fairy tales" disconnected from planetary realities.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand that polycollapse describes multiple interrelated breakdown processes across environmental, economic, and social systems

• Recognise that conventional sustainability approaches focused on "doing less harm" remain fundamentally inadequate

• Accept that financial system collapse may occur in the 2030s, preceding full ecological breakdown

• Prepare for metadisruption—the predictable aggravation of current trends affecting multiple industries

• Transform core business models toward providing essential needs without causing harm

• Abandon incremental metrics for binary questions about business necessity and impact

• Match your level of courage to your level of privilege to drive systemic change

Timestamps:

00:00 — Introduction and overview of polycollapse

07:59 — Approaching difficult conversations about systemic breakdown

13:52 — Understanding polycollapse versus other collapse terminology

18:44 — How systemic foresight differs from traditional scenario planning

23:49 — Financial system collapse and meta-disruption

30:49 — Implications for shareholder value and future business viability

37:18 — Metrics for future-compatible business models

41:20 — Matching courage to privilege for business leaders

Resources:

• arkH3: https://www.arkh3.com

• Leading Through the Polycollapse eBook: https://www.arkh3.com/resources/leading-through-the-polycollapse-a-guide-to-systemic-foresight-for-vuca-native-strategy

• arkH3’s training programs: https://training-series.arkh3.com/

• Regeneration Journal interview: https://www.regenerationjournal.org/on-leading-through-the-polycollapse-an-interview-with-alice-kalro-claudia-gasparovic-and-julio-campos/

• Breaking Together by Jem Bendell: https://jembendell.com/2023/04/08/breaking-together-a-freedom-loving-response-to-collapse/

• Global Tipping Points Conference: https://global-tipping-points.org/conference-2025/

• Business Declares: https://businessdeclares.com

Connect:

• Follow Alice on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-kalro/

• Follow Jeni on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenifisher/

• Subscribe to the Moral Footprint Substack: https://moralfootprint.substack.com/

About Alice Kalro:

Alice Kalro is founder of arkH3 and an emerging global thought leader in transformational corporate sustainability, providing practical guidance on science- and ethics-aligned business transformation for a just and liveable future.