Innovation Begins With How You Treat People

I have worked in a very toxic environment.

And I have also worked in an environment where my ideas were championed and genuinely welcomed.

I’ve been in places where you second-guess yourself before speaking,

where you calculate whether to say what you really think or say what sounds politically “safe”, just so you do not get penalized.

And I can tell you… that thing is a drag.

It drains your mind.

It drains your confidence.

It drains the life out of an organization that claims it wants to move forward or create real impact.

Harvard Business Review notes that fear-based environments reduce creativity by up to 40 percent, because people stop taking cognitive risks when they feel watched or judged.That finding aligns with what many of us feel in real life.

When someone feels dismissed or caged, you can only ever get the barest minimum out of their potential.

Not because they lack talent, but because they do not feel allowed to use it.

To truly lead someone is not about exercising power.

It is about presence.

Real innovation does not happen when people are pushed, rushed, or forced.

It happens when people feel nurtured, respected, and trusted enough to think out loud.

According to Google’s Project Aristotle, psychological safety stood out as the number one factor distinguishing innovative, high-performing teams.

Not experience, not intelligence, not efficiency… simply the feeling that “I will not be punished or embarrassed for speaking up.”

It is not just about thinking big or coming up with groundbreaking ideas.

It is about treating people well,

not only the customers, clients, or stakeholders who benefit you,

but the people who carry your ideas,

the ones who take them from theory to reality.

They matter so much more than companies realize.

In tech specifically, everything we build is built by teams that run on trust.

For an industry that depends heavily on people’s special abilities, intuition, analysis, creativity, and pattern interpretation, emotional clarity is not optional.

Think about it:

• AI engineering

  
  

• Product development

  
  

• UX design

  
  

• Data modeling

All of these require human interpretation, empathy, and psychological clarity.

A McKinsey study found that teams with strong collaboration and emotional intelligence outperform others by up to 25 percent, especially in digital and innovative industries.

The ability to sense nuance,

the courage to propose new solutions,

the curiosity to explore…

these things only thrive in healthy environments.

And the truth is simple:

People do their best work when they feel well-treated.

When they feel safe to explore, question, imagine, and express ideas freely.

This is why leadership cannot just be sharp, it has to be human.

Especially in tech.

Especially in innovation.

Especially in the world we are building.

But here is the thing many people forget.

These principles are not limited to work.

They show up every day in our relationships.

When you talk to a friend…

When you correct your younger sibling…

When you comfort someone you love…

You lean into patience, clarity, understanding, and presence.

It is the same energy that helps someone feel seen, heard, and safe enough to open up.

That exact human energy, the one you use to bring comfort in your personal life,

is the same energy that makes teams brave enough to innovate.

Innovation does not start from a whiteboard.

It starts from how people feel in the room.

If people feel guarded, they shrink.

If people feel respected, they rise.

A Deloitte workplace survey found that 61 percent of employees perform better when they feel emotionally supported by leadership.

And teams that feel psychologically safe are nearly three times more likely to innovate consistently.

And suddenly, innovation no longer feels like magic…

it feels like what happens when people feel safe enough to bring their full selves forward.