Sep 2, 2026
What if some of our struggles with workplace wellbeing aren’t really about individuals at all—but about the systems we’ve created around them?
My guest today is my friend Elizabeth Bachrad, a population health practitioner whose work explores the relationship between work and health, and the policies, practices and systems that shape whether people are able to thrive at work and beyond it.
Our conversation began with an idea Elizabeth had been thinking about: what it might mean for organizations to move from “ego systems”—organized largely around their own performance, efficiency and value—to ecosystems that recognize their interdependence with employees, communities, society and the natural world.
From there, we explored what changes when we begin to see organizations less as machines to control and optimize and more as living systems.
We talked about the difference between providing people with wellbeing resources and creating conditions that actually support wellbeing. We explored resilience, worker voice, human sustainability, leadership as stewardship, and why an ecosystem isn’t necessarily a healthy ecosystem.
And we kept returning to the relationships between people and the systems they inhabit.
Perhaps the question isn’t only how we help individuals become
healthier or more resilient. Perhaps we also need to ask whether
the systems around them are healthy—and what conditions might allow
the whole system to thrive.
Resources Mentioned
Impact Management
Platform
A collaborative resource for organizations working to manage their
impacts on people and the planet.
https://impactmanagementplatform.org/
B Corp
Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet B Lab's standards
for social and environmental performance, accountability and
transparency.
https://www.bcorporation.net/
Benefit Corporations / Public Benefit
Corporations
A legal corporate structure designed to embed consideration of
stakeholders—not only shareholders—into company governance.
Terminology and legal requirements vary by jurisdiction.
https://usca.bcorporation.net/benefit-corporation/
Connect with Elizabeth
LinkedIn: Elizabeth Bachrad