Ego-System to Ecosystem: Why Chicago Needs Bridges, Not Silos

By Johnny Page

Chicago has long been known as the city of big shoulders, but it also happens to be the city of big egos, and those egos have built an egosystem that’s deeply impacting our actual ecosystem.

Our government, the nonprofit sector, our schools, public safety, and public health far too often operate in isolation, each defending its turf, protecting its funding, and claiming ownership of solutions. This siloed approach is stifling our ability to create lasting change. Whether we are talking about community violence, housing insecurity, mental health, or education, none of these issues exist in a vacuum. They are interconnected and if we continue to treat them as isolated issues/problems, we will continue to fail those most impacted by them.

We seemed to be trapped in this peculiar space where competition often masquerades as leadership. Competition can’t fix broken systems; however, collaboration can. By shifting from an ego-system to an ecosystem in our thinking, we can then (and only then) begin to fix broken systems.

Because in an ecosystem, relationships are prioritized, responsibility is shared, and impact is mutual.

Think about it this way: we can’t fix education without addressing poverty. We can’t tackle poverty without dealing with housing. We can’t stabilize housing without dealing with trauma and mental health. And we can’t improve public health or safety without listening to the people who are most affected by the policies we create. It’s all connected. Yet far too often, we create programs without community. We collect data absent the lived experience. We work next to each other, but not with each other. What we have become accustomed to doing is mistaking proximity for partnership.

Chicago prides itself on being resilient, but resilience alone is not enough. We need interdependence. We need a kind of thinking that sees every institution, every community, and every resident as part of the same living system. A true Ecosystem. A system where when harm ripples out, healing does as well.

If we really want to see progress, we must build bridges across egos, co-creating solutions with communities, not just delivering programs to them. It means more funding to invest in collaborative infrastructure, not just isolated initiatives or clicks. It means valuing humility over hierarchy.

The future of our city depends on our ability to shift from ego to ecosystem. Only then can we nurture a Chicago where everyone—regardless of zip code—can thrive.

The future of our city depends on our ability to shift from ego to ecosystem.

Only then can we nurture a Chicago where everyone—regardless of zip code
—can thrive.