A few months ago, I had a conversation that stayed with me far longer than I expected. I was connecting with Jess Price, founder and Chief Vision Officer at Paradigm Makers, based in Australia. We live on opposite sides of the world, with different contexts, accents, and daily realities. Yet, within minutes, I felt a sense of deep familiarity. Jess was naming the very same questions I hear from leaders every day.
Jess is devoted to reimagining how work works. Not through small tweaks or surface-level fixes, but by questioning the assumptions we’ve inherited about productivity, systems, and success. As we spoke, I realized she was giving voice to many questions leaders are quietly holding—questions they sense deeply, but don’t always feel permission to ask out loud.
When Toxicity Became a Turning Point
What struck me wasn’t just the clarity of Jess’s aspiration, but how personally grounded it is. The focus of her career today emerged from lived experience. When a job left her anxious, depressed, and unable to work for months, she didn’t decide she was the problem. Instead, she listened more deeply and recognized something essential: it wasn’t the people who were failing, it was the systems and processes surrounding them.
That insight became a turning point. Rather than trying to help individuals adapt to toxic work conditions, Jess chose the bolder path of helping redesign the conditions themselves. As she said quite simply, at some point she realized the easiest way to help others was to change work altogether. It seems like a radical idea, until you sit with it.
We May Be Struggling, But We Are Not Alone
Across industries, geographies, and roles, leaders are sensing similar signals: burnout, disengagement, and a quiet (or not-so-quiet) knowing that the way we’ve been leading, living, relating, and working no longer matches the dynamics of our world. These experiences can feel isolating, as though we’re the only ones struggling to reconcile responsibility, humanity, and sustainability.
And yet, conversations with people, such as Jess, remind me: we are not alone.
When leaders across the globe articulate the same concerns, it’s rarely coincidence. It’s a collective signal. A sign that something deeper is asking for our attention, not just individually but systemically.
Jess’s work is one expression of this larger movement: leaders who are willing to question what’s been normalized, listen to the signals of strain, and imagine work that supports human and planetary thriving rather than undermines it.
There is something deeply reassuring about realizing that these questions are being asked everywhere. Our collective power to foster positive change begins with shared inquiry—with knowing that others, whom we may never meet, are listening closely to the same signals and wondering what’s possible next.
If you’ve been feeling this tension between what is and what could be, I want you to know this: you are not behind. You are not alone. And your experience is real. Across the world, leaders like Jess are helping give language and form to what many are sensing—that thriving isn’t a “nice to have.” It’s foundational.
Together, even from far-apart places, we’re learning how to lead from a deeper, more life-giving knowing.
About Jess Price
Jess Price is the founder and Chief Vision Officer of Paradigm Makers, an organisation designed for the world of 2075. Jess works from a long-horizon vision: a world where our invisible systems are intentionally designed with flexibility for humans and structure where it’s needed. After two years of researching the systems that shape work, Jess challenges the idea that these systems are broken. Instead, they are working exactly as designed, and that’s the problem. In 2026, her focus is on sharing everything she has learnt so others can begin designing new systems fit for the future
Want to receive the latest research, practices and insights on thriving directly to your inbox? Subscribe here.
Wisdom Works’ Be Well Lead Well® newsletter features conversations, strategies, and resources to empower a global movement of change leaders committed to a world where everyone thrives. I’m grateful to Jess Price, founder and Chief Vision Officer at Paradigm Makers, for the generosity of her wisdom in this month’s conversation. Jess lives in the City of Melbourne, home to the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong/Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin, who have sustained this unique place for more than 2,000 generations. Wisdom Works’ AI team member, Sage, supported the refinement of this newsletter.
Wisdom Works was founded with the belief that wellbeing and wisdom are the foundation of truly effective leadership. Over 25 years, we’ve supported leaders and organizations worldwide in creating cultures where everyone can thrive. If you’d like to explore how these principles could transform your team or organization, please reach out to us via this form.
