This originally appeared on Forbes on January 4, 2022.
Psychological safety in the workplace is increasingly at the top of the employee engagement agenda. Psychological safety is the ability to show your true self at work, without fear of repercussion. Many accounts in the 15-week trial of Elizabeth Holmes, former CEO of disgraced startup Theranos, as well as John Carreyrou's book, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, describe a work atmosphere at Theranos that did little to foster psychological safety.
While Holmes was found guilty on four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, could this have been avoided if Theranos had a culture of psychological safety?