The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth by Amy Edmondson

Neuroscience shows that fear consumes brain power, impairing analytic thinking, creative insight and problem solving. Edmondson, of Harvard Business School, weaves together case studies, research and insights to show how Psychological Safety (which lowers this fear) is essential to producing high performance in our VUCA world. She defines Psychological Safety as an organizational or team climate in which people are comfortable expressing themselves and sharing concerns and mistakes without fear of embarrassment or retribution. Edmondson describes the leader’s role in carefully cultivating candor and transparency and in reframing failure as a pathway to innovative and independent thinking.

HIGHLIGHT(S): Edmondson celebrates the competitive advantage of Psychological Safety at firms like Pixar (candid feedback and “early” failures as key parts of the creative process) and Bridgewater Associates, (“if you think it, you must say it”). It’s easy to come up with unfortunate counterexamples in the #MeToo era, and even in China’s handling of the Coronavirus.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Fearless-Organization-Psychological-Workplace-Innovation-dp-1119477247/dp/1119477247/ref=mt_hardcover?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1581004339