How Leaders Can Win The Fight For Better Workplace Mental Health For Good with Michael Landsberg

The Happiness Squad Podcast with Ashish Kothari

Employees are burnt out, disengaged, and silently struggling with their mental health. Meanwhile, leaders assume they’re doing enough because their company offers an EAP (Employee Assistance Program) or has a "Mental Health Matters" poster in the breakroom. But most employees never use these resources. Not because they don’t need help, but because they don’t feel safe enough to ask for it.

This silence is costing businesses productivity, innovation, and even lives. So, how do we change this? How can leaders not just acknowledge workplace mental health but actually win the fight for better well-being—permanently?

That’s exactly what we unpack in this powerful episode of the Happiness Squad Podcast with Ashish Kothari and Michael Landsberg, a leading voice in mental health advocacy.

Michael Landsberg is a Canadian sports journalist and mental health advocate, best known as the longtime host of Off the Record on TSN. He has been a prominent voice in raising awareness about depression and anxiety, openly sharing his own struggles to reduce stigma. Landsberg founded SickNotWeak, a mental health advocacy initiative, and continues to speak publicly about the importance of mental health support.

For leaders who want to fix workplace mental health for good, it’s not about offering more benefits. It’s about changing how it is talked about and handled at work.

Things you will learn in this episode:

• Why People Stay Silent About Mental Illness

• Hope as the Missing Piece in Depression Recovery

• The Business Case for Mental Health in the Workplace

• First Step: A Mental Health Program That Actually Works

• Why Leaders Need to Be Vulnerable to Fix Mental Health

Tune into our full episode with Michael Landsberg and take your first step toward better mental health.

Resources:✅

• Michael Landsberg’s website: https://www.michaellandsberg.ca/

• First Step – Mental Health Program by Michael Landsberg: https://www.greenshield.ca/en-ca/health/letsbereal

• Sick Not Weak - Mental Health Community: https://www.sicknotweak.com/

• Alcoholics Anonymous Program: https://www.addictioncenter.com/treatment/12-step-programs/alcoholics-anonymous/

• Health Insight with Michael Lansberg: https://www.healthinsight.ca/advocacy/michael-landsberg-on-the-record-about-mental-health/

• Darkness and Hope: Depression, Sports, and Me (Documentary featuring Michael Landsberg) : https://www.mcintyre.ca/titles/SST001

• McKinsey Study on Mental Health and Burnout: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-burnout

• Deloitte’s Mental Health in the Workplace Study: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/Life-Sciences-Health-Care/gx-mental-health-2022-report-noexp.pdf

Books:✅

• The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran : https://a.co/d/h6Jfjav

• Hardwired for Happiness by Ashish Kothari: https://a.co/d/e9sUUpL