Diving into Human-Centered Leadership with Andrea Carter at Belonging First
In this episode of The Leadership Initiative, Andrea Carter shares how organizations can cultivate psychological safety and a deep sense of belonging to drive performance and inclusion. Drawing on her work at Belonging First, she offers practical strategies for building truly human-centered workplaces.
Host, Jen Knox Shanahan:
“...How do we shift from just driving performance to understanding that psychological safety and belonging need to come first?”
Guest, Andrea Carter:
“Well, I’ll say that most leaders want high performance. The issue is, we often don’t think about the underlying conditions that make performance possible. We’re watching people who are performing, but we’re not asking if it’s sustainable. If someone is performing but they’re in an environment that feels threatening, their brain is spending energy on survival—sooner or later, the body and mind will burn out. Psychological safety isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s fundamental to keeping people well enough to contribute their best over time. So, when we don’t prioritize belonging, we erode performance in the long run.”
Host, Jen Knox Shanahan:
“That’s a powerful reframe. I think so many workplaces see performance as the goal, but don’t always look at the cost.”
Guest, Andrea Carter:
“Exactly. Performance without belonging is performance in distress. And distress can’t last forever without a price. That’s why when we talk about inclusion, we have to also talk about wellness and sustainability. Otherwise, we’re asking people to show up in environments that are slowly eroding them. That’s not leadership—at least, not leadership in the way that creates the outcomes we want.”
Host, Jen Knox Shanahan:
“Right, so when we don’t consider psychological safety or belonging, we’re setting people up to fail, even if they’re high performers.”
Guest, Andrea Carter:
“Exactly, and the scariest part is that burnout or disengagement can often happen without warning, especially in environments where people don’t feel they belong. Their performance starts to drop off, but it’s often subtle and hard to pinpoint, because it’s rooted in a lack of connection or safety. The leaders who can recognize and address that early are the ones who will thrive in the future of work.”
Click here to learn more about Andrea Carter and Belonging First.
Disclaimer
Here at Lead Read Today, we endeavor to take an objective (rational, scientific) approach to analyzing leaders and leadership. All opinion pieces will be reviewed for appropriateness, and the opinions shared are solely of the author and not representative of The Ohio State University or any of its affiliates.
