CEO's column October 2025
- Nov 7, 2025
- 4 min read
Psychological safety has become a buzzword in business, but few have understood what it actually requires. It's not about creating comfort, but about building courage. In this month's column, Mikael Nylund reflects on why real safety feels uncomfortable, and how it determines whether your team dares to develop or chooses to remain silent.
Psychological security is daring
Everyone talks about psychological safety. But few have understood that it doesn't feel safe, it feels challenging. Real safety is not about avoiding discomfort, but about daring to face it. It is only when we allow uncomfortable truths, straightforward feedback and friction that development becomes possible, both for the team and for the business. In this month's column, Mikael Nylund reflects on what psychological safety really requires and why it is crucial for leadership that lasts.
Psychological safety has quickly become one of the most beloved buzzwords in business. It appears at conferences, in leadership books and in every organizational culture that wants to feel modern. But as is so often the case with buzzwords, there is a risk: that we start talking more about it than we actually understand. Because in many organizations, psychological safety has been confused with something completely different – well-being. It sounds nice, but it is dangerous. Because safety is not about everyone feeling comfortable. It is about everyone daring to be uncomfortable.
From Harvard to HR workshop
When Harvard professor Amy Edmondson introduced the concept in the 1990s, she showed that teams that dare to admit mistakes, ask questions, and speak up perform better. Period. Then Google confirmed the same thing in its study Project Aristotle : what separated their best teams from the rest was not competence, experience, or IQ, but that people dared to speak plainly. But somewhere along the way between Harvard and Swedish HR workshops, the concept lost its sharpness. Safety became harmony. Silence was called respect. And managers began to measure culture by how rarely someone raised their voice in the meeting.
Psychological safety is not silence
In a recent study from the Niagara Institute, only half of employees say that their manager succeeds in creating real psychological safety. At the same time, research shows that teams with high safety have 50% higher productivity , 76% higher engagement and 27% lower employee turnover . So this is not a vague idea from a TED Talk. It is pure profitability . But safety requires courage. And courage starts at the top. Because you can’t say that “here you can speak your mind” and at the same time flinch when someone does. You can’t talk about high ceilings and then make the comment that makes everyone else duck next time. Psychological safety is not about protecting people from discomfort, but about creating environments where discomfort is allowed. It is only then that people dare to tell the truth before the problems have time to grow.
The Swedish paradox of psychological safety
We love consensus. It’s our national sport. We can discuss for hours as long as we agree in the end. We call it “high ceilings”, but in practice it often means everyone sits back and nods under the same low ceiling as always. The problem is that innovation is not born in unity. It is born in friction. And where security is real, it is often loud. Real security does not feel safe. It feels like heart palpitations when you say what no one else dares. It feels like the silence after direct feedback. It feels like courage.
Leadership stress test
Security is not built in PowerPoint presentations. It is earned in everyday life. And it is not tested when everything is going well, but when someone contradicts you. Research on Swedish leaders shows that the single strongest factor behind perceived psychological security is the manager's behavior in uncomfortable situations. Not visions, not policies. The leader who cannot stand being wrong will soon be right all by himself.
Security without demands is a dangerous illusion
Psychological security has sometimes been turned into an excuse to avoid responsibility. But security without demands does not lead to innovation but to convenience. Researchers at Harvard Business School have shown that without clear performance expectations, security becomes just a warm blanket over a sleeping organization. Real security is not a hug, it is a contract. We dare to speak freely because we know that everyone takes responsibility.
The silence that costs
The biggest threat to companies today is not bad decisions, it is silence. When no one says what everyone sees. When management hears what people think management wants to hear. Psychological safety is therefore not a soft issue. It is a strategic insurance against stagnation. It determines whether you learn faster than your environment.
This is the difference
Everyone talks about psychological safety. But safety is not about people feeling comfortable, it's about them daring to be true. It's the difference between leading a group that thrives, and a group that develops. And it's the difference between being a manager and actually being a leader.