1/5/2026

A Pizza Party Won't Fix This: Why Snacks Don't Cure Workplace Culture 

Picture this, you’re in a meeting. Your team leader has just announced that corporate is creating an internal competition that is aimed to increase productivity and sales by 100%, all your team has to do is give 150% to WIN! Being the team player that you are, you ask “what is the prize?” Your team leader very enthusiastically says “a pizza party”!

Did you feel the wind go out of the room? The morale takes a nosedive to crash and burn. The entire team leaves mumbling about the extra work, not the excitement and morale boost that a corporate was aiming for.

The "Snacks & Sunshine" Fallacy
Let's be real. Who doesn't love a good snack? Or a surprise half-day off? These things are great. They're like sprinkles on a cupcake. But if the cake itself is stale, burnt, and vaguely tastes of existential dread, those sprinkles aren't doing squat.

The "snacks and sunshine" approach to morale is a classic symptom of a leadership team that's either:
1. Clueless: They genuinely think a free soda machine will counteract deep-seated resentment.
2. Cynical: They know the problems are systemic but prefer to offer cheap, visible "fixes" rather than tackle the hard stuff.
Either way, this approach doesn't just fail to solve the problem; it actively destroys psychological safety.

When Perks Become Proof of Disregard
Think about it: when a company tries to fix fundamental issues like overwork or unfair pay with superficial perks, what message does that send?
• "We see you're suffering, but we'd rather throw you a pizza than change the conditions causing your suffering."
• "We value your output, but we don't respect your time, your health, or your need for basic human dignity."

This is the opposite of psychological safety. Psychological safety is built on trust, respect, and the belief that your voice matters. When leaders consistently offer shallow gestures instead of addressing core needs, they communicate:
• Your voice doesn't matter: If you speak up about workload, and they offer "wellness tips," you learn to stop speaking up.
• Your reality is disregarded: If you're burnt out and they offer a random day off (knowing you'll just have double the work the next day), you feel dismissed and disrespected.
• Your well-being is not a priority: The ultimate violation of safety. If the company fundamentally doesn't care about your basic needs, why would you trust them with your innovative ideas or honest feedback?

This creates a culture where employees either quietly quit, burn out and leave, or become resentful automatons simply going through the motions. And none of those are conducive to a thriving, innovative, or psychologically safe workplace.

The Unsexy Truth: Real Solutions Require Real Leadership
The solution, as the image brilliantly states, is simple in concept, hard in execution: respect, fair compensation, realistic workloads, and leadership that actually listens. These aren't perks; they're the foundational pillars of a healthy, productive, and psychologically safe environmentTaking care means more than just providing snacks and pizza parties. It means creating an environment where employees feel seen, heard, valued, and safe enough to bring their whole selves to work, not just the part that can power through another 12-hour day on caffeine. So, the next time someone suggests a "morale boost" that involves sugar or a casual Friday, ask yourself: Is this actually addressing the underlying issues of respect, workload, or fair pay? Or is it just another sprinkle on a stale cake? Your team deserves a whole, delicious, and fundamentally healthy cake. Now go get it!

1/12/2026

A real talk about growth.

You know the type. The LinkedIn-influencer, polished-Instagram-quote version of growth where you transform into a majestic butterfly solely to pollinate the gardens of others. It’s noble. It’s selfless. It’s a beautiful sacrifice for the greater good.
It’s also complete garbage.
We try changing our habits, our mindset, and our career paths because we wanted to impress our boss, please our partner, or just fit in with the "hustle culture" vibe. And the same thing happens each time. We burn out in three weeks and end up binge-watching Netflix while eating cereal straight out of the box.

Why? Because martyrdom isn't a sustainable fuel source.
I recently stumbled across a truth bomb from Scott D. Clary that slapped me right across the face with its accuracy. We are programmed from birth to believe "selfish" is a dirty word.

But here’s the spunky, edgy truth: growth has absolutely nothing to do with anyone else. And the second we stop performing our evolution for an audience and start doing it because we desperately want something better for ourself, is the second it actually sticks.

It works because the stakes change. When you’re transforming for you, quitting isn't just disappointing someone else; it's betraying yourself. That hits different.

The Teamwork Paradox: Why Martyrs Make Terrible Colleagues
Now, I know what you’re thinking. "That sounds great for my diary, but I work on a team. I can't just be selfish."
And you’re right. The act of selfish transformation isn't permission to be an office sociopath who steals credit and microwaves fish in the breakroom.
This is about realizing that the best thing you can bring to a team is a fully realized, constantly evolving version of you. Think about it. Have you ever worked with a "selfless martyr"? The person who is constantly overworking, never setting boundaries, always "doing it for the team," and secretly resenting everyone? They are exhausting. Their eventual burnout takes the whole project down with them.

A "selfishly transforming" teammate, however? They know what they need to learn. They protect their focus time. They say "no" to things that don't align with their growth so they can say a hell of a "yes" to the things that do. They take ownership of their skills because they want to be better, not just because their manager put it on a Q3 review. And because they are evolving themselves, they look to evolve the team and push for innovation and inclusion.

A team full of people selfishly obsessed with their own mastery is an unstoppable force.

Enter: The Safety Net
Of course, you can't just decide to be furiously devoted to your own growth in a vacuum. You need the right soil.

This is where Psychological Safety enters the conversation. You can’t be "selfishly transformative" if you’re terrified that admitting you need to learn something new will get you fired. You can’t prioritize your own growth curve if your manager sees boundaries as insubordination. Psychological safety is the environment that says, "Hey, we know you’re doing this for you, and we support that because we know that when you get better, we get better." It’s the safety net that allows you to take the selfish risks necessary for real change without fear of face-planting onto the corporate concrete.

So, stop apologizing for wanting more for yourself. Stop waiting for permission to evolve. Your transformation doesn’t need a PR strategy. Be a little edgy. Be a little brassy. Be glorious, unapologetically selfish about your own potential. Because when you finally fix your own oxygen mask, you’d be amazed at how much better you are at helping everyone else breathe.

1/19/2026

 Why Your Team Doesn’t Need Another “Visionary,” They Need to Feel Safe

Ah yes. The classic chart that we all use to determine if we are a “manager” or a “leader”.

Management: risk averse, structured, monitors, problem solver. Leadership: risk seeking, visionary, inspirational, people solver. Somewhere in a corporate PowerPoint graveyard, this graphic has been proudly presented about 47 million times. Usually right before someone announces a “bold new vision” while the team quietly wonders if it’s safe to speak at the meeting.

Because here’s the plot twist:
Neither leadership nor management works if psychological safety is missing.

Leaders can be visionary. Leaders can be structured. Leaders can set goals, build networks, inspire, monitor, evaluate, motivate, and probably also juggle flaming swords. But if the team doesn’t feel safe to speak up, take risks, admit mistakes, or share ideas… Congratulations. What is actually present is a very polite, very silent, very disengaged group of humans.

The Chart Doesn’t Show the Missing Column
Let’s rewrite this image for modern reality:
Management: “Monitor, identify, solve, evaluate.”
Leadership: “Motivate, energize, inspire.”
Psychological Safety: “Hey… you’re allowed to tell me when something’s wrong.”

Because without psychological safety:
• Risk-seeking leadership becomes reckless chaos.
• Risk-averse management becomes micromanagement.
• Visionary direction becomes “a new initiative no one believes in.”
• Problem-solving becomes “please don’t blame me.”

You don’t need fewer managers and more leaders. You need humans who create environments where other humans feel safe to be human.

The Real High-Performing Team Secret
High-performing teams aren’t fearless because they have bold leaders.

They’re fearless because:
• They won’t be punished for asking questions.
• They won’t be embarrassed for admitting mistakes.
• They won’t be ignored for offering ideas.
• They won’t be sidelined for challenging the status quo.

That’s psychological safety. That’s the soil where leadership and management actually grow something worth keeping.

So What Should We Really Be Teaching?
Not: “Managers do things right, leaders do the right things.”
But: “Great leaders and managers make it safe to do the right things, even when they’re hard.”

Because the bravest risk isn’t launching a new initiative. The bravest risk is creating a culture where people can tell the truth. And that? That’s real leadership.

1/26/2026

The Hardest Part of Quitting Isn’t the Job. It’s the People.

If you’ve ever written something like this, in a journal, in a notes app, or dramatically on faux-vintage stationery like the image above, congratulations. You’re part of a very large club. Because like it or not, work becomes part of our lives. We share inside jokes. We survive impossible deadlines together. We celebrate birthdays with grocery-store sheet cake. We text each other when leadership announces, “an exciting restructuring.” And then one day, we realize: The job is hurting us. But the people are home. So we’re left with a brutal choice stay in a job that drains us, because we love the people or leave the job and lose the daily connection with people who made it bearable. That’s not a career decision. That’s an emotional hostage situation.

But What If It Didn’t Have to Be This Way?
What if walking away from a job didn’t feel like a breakup? What if people didn’t have to choose between psychological health or workplace friendships What if the working environment itself was psychologically safe, a place where people felt respected, heard, supported, and valued?
Wild concept, I know.

When Work Lacks Psychological Safety
In unsafe workplaces:
• People whisper instead of speak.
• Ideas die in inboxes.
• Mistakes are hidden.
• Feedback feels dangerous.
• Burnout is worn like a badge of honor.
And the only thing keeping people there is each other. So when someone finally leaves, they’re not just quitting a job. They’re leaving a community they built to survive the job.

In Contrast, in psychologically safe workplaces:
• People speak honestly without fear.
• Leaders listen without punishment.
• Conflict is productive, not personal.
• Mistakes become learning, not shame.
• People stay because the environment is healthy, not because their coworkers are their emotional support group.

And here’s the kicker: You don’t have to choose between loving your coworkers and loving your job. You can have both.

Dear Leaders: This Is Your Cue
If your best people are staying only because of friendships, not because of the culture, that’s a warning light blinking on your leadership dashboard. People shouldn’t have to write dramatic resignation letters just to preserve their mental health. They should be able to say: “I love my team. I love my work. And I feel safe here.”

That’s not soft leadership. That’s high-performance leadership.

So the next time someone leaves and says, “The hardest part was leaving the people…” Don’t just throw a farewell party. Ask why the job made them leave in the first place. Because fixing that? That’s where real leadership begins.