What if the safest thing you could do at work has nothing to do with anyone else, and everything to do with how you talk to yourself? In this episode of The Secret Life of Great Leaders, host Michael Bunting sits down with organisational ecologist and psychological safety expert Tom Geraghty to unpack the myths and misunderstandings around one of the most talked about ideas in leadership.
Drawing on his original training as an ecologist and years working in C-level technology roles before co-founding Psych Safety, Tom argues that psychological safety isn’t a magic wand or a licence to say anything, it’s built on accountability, structure, and a social contract a team creates for itself.
Together, Michael and Tom examine why teams, like ecosystems, don’t respond to simple cause and effect, how power gradients quietly shut people down, and why the real cost of avoiding accountability is a slower, more dangerous kind of failure.
They also explore the deeply personal side of the topic: the idea that we are our own harshest critics, and that learning to be honest with ourselves, without the harsh judgment that follows, might be the most overlooked leadership skill of all.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why psychological safety is often mistaken for a free pass to say anything
- How Tom’s ecology background reshaped the way he sees teams and organisations
- Why simple cause and effect breaks down in complex human systems
- How power gradients shut down speaking up, and simple ways to flatten them
- Why accountability and psychological safety strengthen each other, not compete
- What the “Andon cord” from Toyota teaches us about the right to speak up
- Why job security and psychological safety aren’t the same thing
- How to tell the difference between honest disclosure and reckless behaviour
- Why we are often our own harshest critics, and what that costs us
- How to reframe work itself as a learning endeavour rather than a delivery endeavour
Tom Geraghty is an organisational ecologist and co-founder of Psych Safety, helping teams and organisations become safer, higher performing, and better able to learn. He holds a degree in Ecology, an MBA, and a postgraduate diploma in Global Health from the University of Manchester, and has worked in C-level technology roles across sectors from startups to global finance before turning his focus fully to psychological safety, human and organisational performance, and just culture.
Episode Highlights:
- [00:00] Intro
- [00:48] Tom’s Journey From Ecology to Psychological Safety
- [02:14] Why Ecosystems (and Teams) Resist Simple Cause and Effect
- [06:50] Defining Psychological Safety
- [08:54] Does Psychological Safety Mean Anything Goes?
- [14:24] Accountability as the Backbone of the Social Contract
- [22:54] The Myth of “Too Much” Psychological Safety
- [29:00] The Why and How of Building Psychological Safety
- [32:14] Power Gradients and the Andon Cord
- [39:03] Navigating Mistakes and Consequences
- [48:33] Legibility and Reframing Work as Learning
- [54:02] We Are Our Own Harshest Critics
- [57:02] Closing Advice and Where to Find Tom’s Work
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