In this episode of The Secret Life of Great Leaders, Michael Bunting speaks with psychological safety expert Tom Geraghty about the myths and misunderstandings that surround one of the most talked about, and least understood, ideas in leadership. Tom trained originally as an ecologist before founding Psych Safety, a global community and resource hub with over 350 articles and research papers on the subject.Together, they unpack why psychological safety is often mistaken for a magic wand or a licence to say anything, when it actually depends on accountability, shared standards, and a social contract a team builds for itself. Tom brings a reframe from his ecology background: teams, like ecosystems, don't respond to simple cause and effect, so there's no lever a leader can pull and guarantee a result. The conversation also covers why job security and psychological safety aren't the same thing, how socioeconomic background shapes how safe people feel speaking up, and the flywheel between accountability and safety that makes both stronger over time. It closes on something more personal: the idea that we are our own harshest critics, and that the way we judge ourselves quietly shapes the way we treat everyone else.If you've ever dismissed psychological safety as a buzzword, or wondered why it doesn't seem to be working in your team, this episode offers a grounded, research backed way to think about it again, starting with one uncomfortable question: how much curiosity does your inner critic actually have?

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