On Culture: What Are You Afraid Of?

Myste Wylde
Oct 29
6 min read

Dear Culturati Insider,

These are the things that scare me. Living an uninspired life. Falling short of my potential. Not doing enough to help others. One of the big C's happening to my family...cancer, a car crash, or in Raya's case, coyotes. (They've been especially vocal this week out in the country.) Not being open to the right partner and/or missing the window to have kids. Losing the thrill of discovery or the desire to create. Being "normal" on the one hand and being misunderstood on the other. Having my integrity questioned. Being shamed. And a particularly large and disgusting insect that my friends & family are contractually obligated to refer to as "CRs."

Everyone has their own set of fears, and organizations do, too. Executives fear loss of control. Employees fear not being heard. Teams fear that trust, once broken, won’t return. We saw this in research on anger. What looks like irritation or bluntness is often the nervous system preparing to defend authority, identity, or competence. When leaders respond from that place, people stop offering ideas and asking questions. The practical move is not to judge the reaction, but to slow it down. Treat that spike of annoyance as information. Ask what you’re afraid of losing and lead from clarity rather than defensiveness.

This fear shows up in the day-to-day experience of work, and the fear of the unknown continues to drain employees. One in five report that work is harming their mental health (SHRM) and many are staying in roles that deplete them because change feels risky. What looks like disengagement is often resignation. Leaders can’t fix the economy or rewrite every policy, but they can remove daily friction, give people agency in decisions that shape their work, normalize recognition and well-being support, create opportunities for learning and career growth, and talk openly about compensation and benefits.

Trust, meanwhile, remains the real leadership currency. Trust is the antidote to fear. And yet our instincts for judging trust are famously unreliable. We equate charisma with competence and authenticity with honesty. But the most trust worthy leaders are the ones who show restraint, consistency, empathy, and alignment between word and action, especially under stress. Voice— the ability to speak and be heard—sits beneath all of this. When people lose the ability to express themselves, they don’t just withdraw from conversation; they withdraw from themselves. Feeling unheard threatens belonging at a biological level.

Technology is simply the newest mirror for this dynamic. Our relationship with AI reflects that tension, though the conversation has shifted from “it will replace us” to “it will weaken us.” Skills don't disappear overnight, but as they say...what you don't use, you lose. The opportunity is to design workflows where humans stay mentally engaged—evaluating, interpreting, choosing—while letting technology expand capacity and accuracy.

Fear isn’t the enemy. Unexamined fear is. When we name what scares us, personally and organizationally, we recover agency. We remember we aren’t at the mercy of reaction. We can choose to act consistently, with conscientiousness and empathy. Clarity can be one of the strongest forms of courage, and it's how trust can begin again.

For bravery in the dark,

Myste Wylde, COO

Fight Versus Flight: When a Leader’s Fears Turn Into Anger

MIT Sloan Management Review

By Jim Detert

Summary: Anger in leadership is often fear-based. Research shows that when leaders feel their competence, status, or control is threatened, the nervous system can default to a fight response, which can look like blaming, dismissing, or attacking others. While it may create short-term compliance, it erodes trust, psychological safety, and performance over time. Teams start to withhold ideas, avoid accountability conversations, and work in silence. Instead, leaders can treat anger as data. Identify the underlying fear, seek honest feedback on triggered behaviors, and learn to pause before reacting.

READ ARTICLE IN FULL

Employee Discontent Is On the Rise. Here’s What to Do About It.

Harvard Business Review

By Rebecca Knight

Summary: Discontent is rising across workplaces. SHRM reports that one in five employees say their job negatively affects their mental health, and Gallup data shows stress at work remains at historic highs. Many employees are “job hugging” — staying in roles they’re unhappy in due to economic uncertainty and unclear paths forward. Leaders can’t fix macro conditions, but they can influence the daily experience of work. Remove unnecessary friction and clarify priorities. Involve people in decisions that shape their work. Give autonomy where possible. Strengthen relationships through real one-on-ones. Make well-being support visible and safe to use. Recognize meaningful contributions consistently. Create opportunities for learning and progression even when promotions are limited. Talk openly about compensation logic and fairness. Small, steady actions build trust and help shift a culture from resignation to renewed engagement.

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Why Are Some Leaders More Trustworthy Than Others? Here’s How to Tell

Fast Company

By Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Summary: Trust is the core currency of leadership. While foundational, our instincts for judging trust are often unreliable. We make snap assessments based on style rather than substance, which leads us to overvalue charisma and perceived authenticity. The research shows that the leaders who are genuinely trustworthy demonstrate self-control, empathy, conscientious behavior, and a consistent alignment between what they say and what they do. Charisma can help good leaders lead well, but it can also help poor leaders hide incompetence or harmful intent. The practical move is to slow down first impressions, look for patterns of behavior over time, and evaluate leaders based on integrity, follow-through, and how they treat others when under pressure.

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A Stifled Voice Severs Agency, Belonging, and Hope

Psychology Today

By Leigh W. Jerome, PhD

Summary: Having a voice is central to agency, belonging, and psychological well-being. When people are able to express their perspectives and feel heard, they maintain a sense of influence and self-worth. When voices are dismissed, interrupted, or ignored, the result is loss of confidence, self-doubt, and disconnection. Research shows that social exclusion activates the same neural pathways as physical pain, which is why silencing is so damaging to both individuals and groups. In workplaces and communities, environments where people cannot speak openly lead to withdrawal, helplessness, and disengagement. The path forward is to create contexts where people can contribute without fear of dismissal, where perspectives are acknowledged, and where involvement in shaping outcomes is encouraged. Restoring voice restores agency.

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The Age of De-Skilling

The Atlantic

By Kwame Anthony Appiah

Summary: The concern has shifted from AI catastrophe to quiet skill atrophy. De-skilling is real: a U.K. study found heavier AI users scored lower on critical-thinking tests, and doctors using AI support saw their unaided detection accuracy fall, even as a meta-analysis across 24,000 patients showed AI improved overall outcomes. The pattern is not pure loss but skill shift. Work moves from generating answers to evaluating them. The real risk is when people drift into “on the loop” oversight and stop practicing the core judgment the system still depends on. The path forward is intentional hybrid use: keep humans actively engaged in decisions, periodically test and refresh core skills, and use AI as a scaffold for learning rather than a substitute for thinking. The nonnegotiables remain judgment, accountability, and understanding. Use AI to elevate performance without neglecting the capabilities that create genuine expertise.

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