17 February 2026

TED Talk Tuesday #306: Managing leadership mood vs doing the job

TED continues to spread ideas and help us all be better critical thinkers. Watching, listening and talking about TED Talks is a popular pastime for many in the CN&CO community. We visit TED.com regularly to clear our heads, have a laugh, learn or get inspired. TED Talks open our minds, spark new ways of thinking and can lead to some very interesting conversations and business opportunities. Each month we pick a favourite and publish it on a Tuesday, because we like how “TED Talk Tuesday” sounds. It’s also a way that the CN&CO team play their part in spreading ideas and helping to make the world a better place.

By Stella Carter

There’s a quiet reality in many workplaces that doesn’t show up on job descriptions, performance reviews, or organisational charts. It’s the unspoken work of managing the mood – not your own mood, but someone else’s.

Many employees spend an incredible amount of time reading the room, choosing the “right” moment to speak, rewriting emails, softening feedback, and holding back ideas… not because they don’t care, but because they don’t know how it will land today. And when that becomes normal, something subtle starts to happen: people stop focusing on what the business needs, and start focusing on what feels emotionally safe.

In this TED Talk, Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business School professor and one of the world’s leading voices on psychological safety, unpacks why so many people hold back at work – and how leaders can create environments where honesty, questions, and real feedback can thrive.

The truth, she says, is that most people don’t stay silent at work because they have nothing to say. They stay silent because they’ve learned it feels safer. And over time, that quiet self-editing becomes exhausting, not just personally, but professionally too.

Creating psychological safety doesn’t mean avoiding hard conversations. It means making space for them to happen in a way that builds trust, strengthens teams and moves the business forward. And sometimes, the most powerful shift a leader can make is simply creating an environment where people feel safe enough to speak honestly – without first having to manage someone else’s mood.

Watch the full video below:

Stella is a marketing all-rounder. Her strengths lie in big-picture thinking and bringing it all together. She likes to work and train hard and will not shy away from a challenge. She is also Greek, so #winning!