You can’t build a high-performing team if people don’t feel safe to show up fully.

When people hide parts of themselves at work, you lose trust, creativity, and performance. But most leaders don’t realize it’s happening, or how they may be contributing to it.

In this episode of Let’s Talk, People, Emily talks with Owen Rogers, founding partner of IDEO, the company that pioneered Human Centered-Design, and executive coach. They discuss how to lead in ways that create safety, trust, and ownership, especially to allow those who’ve been historically marginalized to show up in their fullest expression. 

This conversation is essential listening for leaders because it challenges you to reflect on how your presence, power, and past experiences shape the environment you create.

Timestamps: 

• [00:03:14] When leaders cause people to shrink: Emily shares from personal experience how leadership behavior can lead people to self-censor or hold back.
• [00:10:00] From complicity to conscious leadership: Owen reflects on his time at IDEO and how he began recognizing the systems that marginalize others.
• [00:16:14] The unseen impact of power: Emily and Owen unpack how a leader’s presence can affect psychological safety, often in ways they don’t realize.
• [00:23:18] Leadership is about amplification: Emily and Owen discuss how great leaders see people fully and create space for their strengths.

Access the episode transcript.

Join the Conversation: This year we’re taking audience questions! Send in your toughest people management and leadership challenges, and we’ll anonymize them and tackle them in an upcoming episode. Email Abigail on our Let’s Talk, People team with your situation as a written note or voice memo to [email protected].

Connect with Emily Frieze-Kemeny on LinkedIn and Instagram or explore her work through AROSE Group’s website.

If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to Let’s Talk, People in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts. It helps others discover the show.

Thanks for listening to Let’s Talk, People!