The risk and ambiguity inherent in innovation can make employees shy away from it. Creating an innovation culture where risk-taking is embraced must start at the top.

Most executives will agree that fear—of criticism, of uncertainty, of career consequences—can paralyze innovation. In this episode, three innovation experts discuss ways to create an environment of psychological safety that rewards creative initiative and destigmatizes failure. Laura Furstenthal, Alex Morris, and Erik Roth, all leaders in McKinsey’s innovation practice, are the co-authors of the recent article, Fear factor: overcoming human barriers to innovation.


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The risk and ambiguity inherent in innovation can make employees shy away from it. Creating an innovation culture where risk-taking is embraced must start at the top.
Most executives will agree that fear—of criticism, of uncertainty, of career consequences—can paralyze innovation. In this episode, three innovation experts discuss ways to create an environment of psychological safety that rewards creative initiative and destigmatizes failure. <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/laura-furstenthal">Laura Furstenthal</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex--morris?originalSubdomain=ca">Alex Morris</a>, and <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/erik-roth">Erik Roth</a>, all leaders in McKinsey’s innovation practice, are the co-authors of the recent article, <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/fear-factor-overcoming-human-barriers-to-innovation">Fear factor: overcoming human barriers to innovation</a>.
 Join our <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&amp;-corporate-finance/?viewAsMember=true">LinkedIn community</a> of more than 86,000 members. 
Explore Inside the Strategy Room podcast transcripts <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/itsr">episode transcripts on McKinsey.com</a>

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We all know the world is moving faster. We also know that as upheaval becomes the norm, vast business opportunities will be within the grasp of the extraordinary few.  But it takes bold people and courageous approaches to seize those opportunities and create value.

In each episode of our weekly podcast, we sit down with the world’s highest-performing CEOs, CFOs, innovators, and McKinsey experts and discuss how they build the courage, clarity, conviction, and cohesion that allows their businesses to win by moving faster than the world around them. 

We all know the world is moving faster. We also know that as upheaval becomes the norm, vast business opportunities will be within the grasp of the extraordinary few.  But it takes bold people and courageous approaches to seize those opportunities and create value.
In each episode of our weekly podcast, we sit down with the world’s highest-performing CEOs, CFOs, innovators, and McKinsey experts and discuss how they build the courage, clarity, conviction, and cohesion that allows their businesses to win by moving faster than the world around them.

The risk and ambiguity inherent in innovation can make employees shy away from it. Creating an innovation culture where risk-taking is embraced must start at the top.

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