Authors – The Psychological Safety Playbook Series

The authors

The authors, Dr. Karolin Helbig and Minette Norman, met online when participating in a certification program for administering psychological safety assessments based on Amy C. Edmondson’s work. They connected immediately around their shared beliefs about inclusive, empathetic, and mindful leadership and struck up a collaboration with the idea of writing a practical guide to psychological safety. They envisioned a book that they themselves would have loved to have as leaders: Concise and practical, though research-based and offering relevant resources for further exploration. hey ended up writing The Psychological Safety Playbook, not having met face to face before its 2023 release. After hearing from enthusiastic readers and clients, they realized there was more to explore, which prompted them to write the second book in the series, The Psychological Safety Playbook for Changemakers.

Dr. Karolin Helbig

Dr. Karolin Helbig is a leadership consultant specializing in mindset and emotional intelligence. She believes that strong leadership and meaningful change always start from within: how we think and feel, how we approach challenges, and how we connect with others shapes our effectiveness and success.

Karolin is fascinated by neurobiology and recent research on neuroplasticity. She holds a PhD in human genetics, inspired by a high school biology teacher whose enthusiasm sparked her love for the subject.

After several years in scientific research, Karolin broadened her horizons by joining McKinsey & Company as a top management consultant. She particularly enjoyed the deep, lasting relationships with clients and colleagues, and the conversations that often extended far beyond project timelines, exploring leadership challenges and personal growth.

As her focus evolved from analytical problem-solving to human-centered leadership, and as her family grew, Karolin made the leap to entrepreneurship. Becoming a self-employed leadership consultant has allowed her to create greater impact for her clients and spend more time in her “sweet spot,” combining her scientific mindset with her empathy.

Karolin lives in Bonn, Germany, with her husband and their four children. She loves hiking, spending time by the sea, cooking, and is a passionate reader of both fiction and non-fiction.

Minette Norman

Minette Norman is a leadership consultant and speaker, who spent the first thirty years of her professional career in the software industry. In her consulting business, Minette focuses on developing transformational leaders who create inclusive working environments with a foundation of psychological safety. Minette has extensive experience leading globally distributed teams and believes that when groups leverage diversity in all its forms, breakthroughs happen.

Minette’s unexpected career path started with a Drama and French major and aspirations of a career as an actor in New York City. The reality of needing to make a living led her to discover she had a knack for understanding software back in the days of the early IBM PCs. She left New York and ended up in a series of Silicon Valley companies, starting with Adobe in 1989, where she worked as a technical writer, and ending in 2019 after several years as Vice President of Engineering Practice at Autodesk.

What she discovered in her two decades of leadership roles was that she was far more interested in human interaction than technology. She also recognized how rare it was for leaders to foster an environment that leveraged everyone’s talent, ideas, and diverse viewpoints. Starting her own consulting practice was prompted by her desire to help as many organizations as possible embrace a model of inclusive leadership with a strong foundation of psychological safety.

Minette lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband. She is an avid hiker, knitter, and reader, avidly listening to audiobooks as her preferred book medium.