I’ve seen it countless times: people walk into a meeting and immediately brace themselves. They’re too afraid to voice what they really feel. They hold back an idea because they worry someone will shoot it down. Or they look across the table at a senior leader and think, “It’s safer to stay quiet.”
What many leaders underestimate is the weight of their presence. From a position of power, it’s easy to forget what it feels like to be on the other side of the table. Yet this dynamic, where fear replaces openness, erodes performance at its core.
As Grace Zuncic, Managing Director at Manna Tree, reminded me on the Happiness Squad Podcast:
“The worst emotion in the workplace is fear. But when you replace it with trust, recognition, and a spirit of togetherness, and everyone knows their role, contributes at their best, and feels acknowledged, those are the magical moments.”
The evidence is clear. Cultures built on fear, silence creativity and stifle innovation. Cultures built on trust and recognition, on the other hand, unleash performance, resilience, and loyalty.
Action for Leaders: Audit where fear shows up. Are employees hesitant to speak openly? Are ideas being shut down too quickly? Are mistakes punished instead of learned from? Replace fear with trust, recognition, and psychological safety and watch performance rise.
Courage and Kindness: Practical Leadership Muscles
Grace distilled her leadership philosophy into two deceptively simple words: courage and kindness. These aren’t sentimental values, they are hard-edged leadership muscles.
- Courage means having the tough one-on-one conversations others avoid, making the difficult decisions that protect culture, and standing firm when values are challenged.
- Kindness means clarity. It’s aligning people to roles where they can succeed, giving feedback that fuels growth, and making sure no one is set up to fail.
I described it this way during our conversation:
“Our role as leaders is to help people find their highest and best use, placing them where they can thrive and become the best version of themselves. That’s how courage and kindness translate practically in the workplace.”
When leaders practice courage and kindness, organizations stop simply filling jobs. Instead, they build systems where people are placed where they can do their best work—and in turn, drive business outcomes.
Action for Leaders: Make “strength placement” a core leadership discipline. Regularly review whether team members are in roles that maximize their strengths. If not, move quickly to realign.
Flourishing Through the Work Itself
We spend 90,000 hours of our lives at work. And in today’s hybrid and “always-on” environments, those hours bleed into evenings, weekends, and family life. Stress at work doesn’t stay at work, it spills into homes, relationships, and communities.
As Grace put it:
“Most of the day translates into the rest of your day. People who are struggling at work, bring that home to their partners and families. It never ends.”
Wellness programs and perks are insufficient if the work itself is broken. Flourishing has to happen through the work. That means:
- Ensuring roles are meaningful and connected to purpose.
- Designing workloads and processes that are sustainable.
- Building in opportunities for connection and collaboration.
I often tell leaders:
“Stop wasting money on perks employees ignore. If you want them to thrive, fix the way they work.”
The business case is clear. When work is designed for flourishing, engagement rises, absenteeism falls, and performance strengthens.
Action for Leaders: Run a “work design audit.” Where are processes draining energy instead of fueling it? Simplify meetings, cut low-value work, and free up time for creativity and collaboration.
The Magic of Trust and Togetherness
High-performing teams don’t just deliver results, they create what Grace called “magical moments.”
“It’s in trust and recognition and acknowledgement and a spirit of togetherness. Everyone has a clear role, knows their part of the puzzle, and contributes at their best. Those are the magical moments.”
These moments don’t just feel good. They accelerate execution, strengthen resilience, and differentiate companies in a tight talent market. When employees feel part of something bigger, they bring discretionary effort, innovation, and loyalty.
I framed it this way:
“Too many people chase external markers of success, titles, money, recognition. Real flourishing comes when we tune inward and ask: What truly makes me come alive?”
Organizations that help employees find that sense of aliveness, through clarity of role, connection to purpose, and recognition of contributions, become magnets for talent and outperform peers.
Action for Leaders: Create rituals of connection. Start meetings with gratitude, build in moments of recognition, and remind teams regularly of the larger purpose their work serves.
The Leadership Imperative
For today’s leaders, the takeaway is clear: flourishing is not a “soft” concept. It’s a hard-edged competitive advantage.
- Replace fear with trust.
- Lead with courage and kindness.
- Redesign work so people can flourish in the flow of their day.
- Build togetherness through trust, recognition, and shared purpose.
When you do these things, you don’t just improve employee wellbeing, you unlock performance, innovation, and resilience at scale.
Learn more about Grace on Linkedin.
Listen to the podcast with Ashish and Grace below.
Access and subscribe to all of the episodes of the Happiness Squad Podcast here.
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