Creating An Intellectually Safe Environment

January 30, 2023

Good morning! Does your To Do List ever get so long and gerrymandered you just throw it away and start over?

Later this week it’s the Feast of Ground Hogs.

It’s a very significant feast, because if you pay attention, light dramatically accelerates its return to the northern hemisphere… and we need it.

The ninety (90) darkest days are now behind us, we have persevered, or in more modern parlance, we have been resilient.

• Last week on one of my favourite work-related morning drives, the country road was snow-white and a bit icy, but not in an ominous way, it’s winter after all.
  • You could discern the ditches by squinting, and with a bit of skill, stay between them.
  • The all-white scenery was gorgeously interrupted by a bevy of ten colorful rooster pheasants at the fence line — and by three Bald Eagles searching for wayward rodents.
  • On the same drive, I saw a friend up on a ladder at the first light of dawn filling his bird feeder.. that same friend is a faithful reader of this column (thanks, John!).
  • This guy taught me that a cardinal visiting your backyard is a sign of a deceased loved one coming for a visit.
• Who are the top ten musicians of all time?
  • These kinds of lists are a bit silly and never conclusive, but they are fun and get you thinking.
  • With so many musicians from the golden age of Rock ‘n Roll dying nowadays — seems like one or more a week — we should reflect on the question:  Who was best?
  • Different era, but many so-called experts suggest Beethoven’s ninth attempt at a symphony (choral) is the best-ever music of all time in any category.
  • Mozart was not a Nobel Laureate, but Dylan is.
  • Sixty years later, have The Beatles weathered the test of time?  Simon and Garfunkel?
  • You can now hear The Rolling Stones urging you to eat more sugary sweet short ribs at Applebees; what’s that all about?!
• The opera has gone the way of eggs… almost $500 for one good ticket to The Daughter of the Regiment.
  • Had an impulse to treat myself, but nope, it will have to be an egg salad sandwich with Carmen playing in the background on a music machine.
• Do we still live in the age of building a better mousetrap?
  • Entrepreneurs are essential, maybe more so now than ever.  Hooray for you if you are one.
• Test yourself — and/or your organization:
  • “An intellectually safe environment, as typically construed, is something like an environment ‘in which a person feels comfortable sharing ideas and opinions without fear of harsh judgment or repercussions.’ This conception of intellectual safety focuses on being open-minded, tolerant and not judging others.”  (MIT Sloan, 2023)
    • Intellectual safety, coupled with psychological safety, will result in innovation — with low staff turnover.
    • If you want to just maintain the status quo, a comfortable culture might be better, featuring less intellectual safety but a high level of psychological safety.
      • e.g., “I know what my job is, I do it, and everybody is happy — and I feel secure.”
• One person can completely change the energy in a room.  (Eades)
  • And, on a related note:  No team can overcome toxic members.  (Ibid.)
• The gripping, edge-of-your seat reporting begins on page #94 of the latest edition of The Smithsonian… don’t miss it.
• It would appear from apparently reliable data that we could make a significant positive impact on Earth’s environment by getting rid of two things:  Cars and cows.
• Movie:  King Richard, 2021 — go see it, or stream it, as the case may be.  Really good.

The Old Farm House  (Inspired by that same drive we talked about up above.)

By Michael A. Mullin

Beyond the broken shingles

peeling paint

weathered siding

sagging foundation

and broken windows

patched with cardboard and straw

is a warmth so welcoming

it awakens all six of your senses

as it massages each muscle

softens your stiff sinews

and un-brittles your bones

seeping forever into your soul

so that coming home to that space

is an intimate loving embrace.

©2021 Michael A. Mullin