Fearless Health Promotion and an Interview with Dr Amy Edmondson

Psychological safety at work means that you can be yourself at work and speak up with a dissenting opinion without fear of reprisals. I'm lucky to have worked more often than not in cultures predominantly defined by respect and with colleagues who not only make me feel safe but who also routinely inspire me to bring my best self to the office. Can the same be said for most workplaces in America? If you study this question, you will find that all roads lead to the extraordinary scholarship of Harvard Business School's Amy Edmondson. This editorial reviews the advantages of building a fearless health promotion profession and argues that we need to substitute some natural, understandable tendencies with some unnatural but powerful traits.