HBR IdeaCast Why Your Team Won’t Speak Up (And How to Fix It)
418 snips
Apr 28, 2026 
Charles Duhigg, journalist and bestselling author of Supercommunicators and The Power of Habit, explores why teams stay silent. He digs into psychological safety, ostentatious listening, and meeting tactics that draw out every voice. He also gets into rewarding candor, handling public pushback, letting junior people speak first, and debating hard before committing.
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Acknowledge Feedback Without Pretending To Agree
- Respond to bad suggestions honestly instead of pretending all feedback will be acted on.
- Duhigg's Skittles example shows that acknowledging concern while explaining priorities preserves trust better than fake enthusiasm followed by silence.
Respect Matters More Than Granting Every Request
- People mainly want acknowledgement and respect, not guaranteed action on every idea.
- Duhigg argues even a seemingly foolish request deserves a hearing, because disrespect makes employees stop trying to help the company succeed.
How To Answer A Public Challenge Gracefully
- A leader can preserve candor by thanking a critic, avoiding defensiveness, and creating a better path for earlier input.
- In Adi Ignatius's cover-art scenario, he says the criticism is subjective, appreciates it, and invites future input before publication.
