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The authors
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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. They ended up writing The Psychological Safety Playbook, never having met face to face. After collaborating virtually for more than two years, they finally met in person in July 2023 when they spoke at the SIY Global Summit.

Authors, Dr. Karolin Helbig and Minette Norman

Photo by Sally Kiss

Minette Norman and Dr. Karolin Helbig, Authors Signing

Photo by Sally Kiss

Authors, Dr. Karolin Helbig and Minette Norman

Authors, Dr. Karolin Helbig and Minette Norman

Photo by Laurie Bishop

Authors, Dr. Karolin Helbig and Minette Norman

Photo by Laurie Bishop

Dr. Karolin Helbig headshot
Dr. Karolin Helbig

Dr. Karolin Helbig is a leadership consultant with a focus on mindset and emotional intelligence. She is convinced that strong leadership and real change always start inside: It’s the way we think and feel, the way we approach challenges and the people around us that determine our effectiveness and success.

Karolin has a passion for neurobiology and is fascinated by the recent research about neuroplasticity. Her background is in science, with a PhD in human genetics. She is forever grateful to her biology teacher whose passion for the subject was contagious and made her choose human biology instead of sinology at university.

After four years in research, however, she wanted to broaden her perspectives again and joined McKinsey as a top management consultant, planning to stay for the typical two years. To her surprise, she enjoyed the work and stayed much longer than expected. Most enjoyable for her were the deep connections with clients, who continued scheduling telephone coffees with her long after projects finished, discussing their leadership challenges and personal development (and family issues and books and …).

With her focus shifting from analytical problem-solving to more human-centered leadership skills and with her growing family, she decided to leave McKinsey and become a self-employed leadership consultant (she now wonders why it took her so long to come to this fantastic decision, which allowed her to bring more value to her clients and spend more time in her sweet spot).

Karolin lives in Bonn, Germany, with her husband and their four children. She loves spending time at the German and Baltic Seas, cooking simple and ambitious menus, and is a passionate reader.

Minette Norman headshot
Minette Norman

Minette Norman is an inclusive 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 and ending when she left Autodesk in 2019 (there were a few other companies in between whose names did not start with the letter “A”).

What she discovered in her two decades of leadership roles was that she was far more interested in human interaction than she was in 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, two cats, and two rabbits. She is an avid hiker, knitter, and reader.

Partner with us

Want to work directly with us? We offer talks and workshops, Fearless Organization psychological safety assessments, and ongoing consulting with individuals and teams to help you increase psychological safety in your organization. Please reach out—we are happy to explore what’s most relevant and effective for your situation!

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Our work always builds on what you already have in place, because we believe in leveraging existing strengths and growing from there.

From our experience, we know that increasing psychological safety is a true culture change and takes time to cultivate. We will partner with you to find the optimal engagement model to support your organization’s needs. We work virtually or in person. Karolin is based in Bonn, Germany, and Minette is based in the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S..

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