Architecting What Comes Next: A Shared Foundation for Human Flourishing

Two years ago, I began writing about the possibility of building a true health ecosystem—one designed not simply to manage illness, but to cultivate human flourishing. What started as an idea has evolved into a movement of people and organizations exploring what it means to intentionally create the conditions for wellbeing, collaboratively and at scale.

This writing is not a white paper. It’s not a pitch deck. And it’s not a call to reform what already exists.

It is the quiet, careful architecting of something fundamentally new—a shared foundation where health and flourishing are purposely crafted and intentionally resourced in homes, communities, societies, and nations.

The Challenge Is Not Vision. It’s Form. 

Across the public and private sectors, ambition is not in short supply. There are ten-year health plans, digital equity agendas, and ESG commitments. We have XPRIZE and Moonshots.

But bold intentions continue to be routed through outdated forms—institutions built for another era, still structured around top-down control, narrow incentives, and siloed action. Current constructs that recycle outdated approaches and seek profit from societal pain are no longer serving humankind.

To meet this moment, we need more than new tech or legacy strategy models. We need a new way of thinking about how we work together—and why.

We have become skilled at cycles of merging and splitting agencies, launching new initiatives, and reframing old language in new clothing.  Again and again, we simply recycle old models. The result isn’t immediate failure—it’s fragmentation. Fragmentation that leads to the eventual disintegration of our capabilities and systems. We continue to pursue promising efforts that remain disconnected, unable to align or scale value across boundaries. We invest billions in new approaches to medical care (and even wellbeing) that remain rooted in a foundation of legacy constructs. They may produce profit (for some), but they do not yield outcomes of reduced chronic diseases and less economic burden.

What’s missing is not intelligence. It’s connection. Not capacity, but shared intent.

Health Begins Elsewhere 

Health doesn’t begin in clinics or hospitals.

It begins in kitchens, parks, classrooms, neighborhoods, relationships, and routines.

That means sectors as varied as real estate, insurance, technology, food, and hospitality are already shaping health every day, often without realizing it. The opportunity now is to do so intentionally.

Focused intentionality doesn’t require creating something rigid or centralized. It calls for a living, participatory ecosystem. In this space, every contributor adds value, alignment emerges through interaction, and health is stewarded proactively across the full spectrum of daily life.

Like a forest, its strength comes not from control, but from diversity, interconnection, and responsiveness.

The Human Flourishing Collaborative: A Living System for Alignment 

My Co-Founders and I created The Human Flourishing Collaborative (HFC) in response to this opportunity.

HFC is a global Public Benefit Corporation, not focused on managing disease, but on supporting the environments where health begins. We exist to orchestrate science, technology, entrepreneurship, and investment toward a singular outcome: the production of affordable health at scale. 

Our work is not a rebrand of public health. It is not a continuation of the WHO’s or the UN’s frameworks. It is something entirely different:

A shared foundation for aligned contribution—a practical, participatory ecosystem where organizations, communities, and individuals each play a role in creating sustainable health and human flourishing.

Our first step is Phiggle—a simple, joyful platform that strengthens personal health agency and invites daily participation in the Care of Health. It is a growing ecosystem where community is currency, and the Care of Health is rooted in collaboration. It is not just a product—it’s a proof point—a seed in the ground.

However, our work extends beyond any single platform. We’re not building better programs. We’re building the connective space where value alignment can take root and grow across sectors, systems, and individual lives. We start with a platform to move beyond a platform. Phiggle is only our beginning.

Quiet Momentum, Tangible Progress 

Our work isn’t a campaign. We don’t advertise what we’re building. But the momentum is real.

We are already in dialogue with global companies leading in real estate, insurance, and outdoor hospitality—each exploring how their sector can help shape a future where health is not treated but cultivated.

This work is deeply practical:

• For real estate, it means creating places that support movement, connection, community, and mental clarity.
• For insurance, it means aligning financial protection with prevention and proactive care and purposely building both life-span and health-span.
• For outdoor hospitality, it means restoring our relationship with ourselves, rest, nature, and belonging as vital to human health.

These leaders aren’t just responding to trends. They’re helping design a new foundation—one that reflects the interconnected realities of modern life, and that rewards the organizations bold enough to lead.

An Invitation to Help Build What’s Missing 

To support this vision, we’ve invited a small number of sector leaders to join as Founding Members of HFC. These are not early adopters. They are co-architects of a living system—designed to empower people, align value across industries, and help build a regenerative future that lasts.

These conversations are not an investment pitch.

They are a quiet invitation to those who resonate with this vision and feel a responsibility to act.

If you or your organization identifies with this work, we welcome a similar conversation of mutual discovery.

The Legacy We Choose to Leave. 

The platforms we build are not the legacy for which we strive. Our legacy will be the foundations we laid and what they made possible for this generation and future generations. Now is the time to build what’s missing, to align value with what truly matters, and to create something strong, beautiful, and lasting. Something beyond better. Something extraordinarily different. Simplifying health: not top-down, but together. Not someday. Now. Human flourishing at scale is what we imagine. And we imagine, to create.

Written by Robert Sundelius.
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