We tend to glorify the lone genius. The visionary CEO. The star athlete. The charismatic founder.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth: brilliance without culture rarely lasts.
I’ve seen this shift firsthand in the last year with some of my top clients, Pfizer, PepsiCo, and The Jackson Laboratory. Their success doesn’t depend on a few high-profile individuals; it rests on the strength of the High-performance teams they’ve built, teams designed for candor, trust, and collective performance.
Pixar figured this out decades ago. Their secret weapon isn’t just extraordinary storytellers, it’s the Braintrust.
Here’s how it works: A director presents an early, rough version of a film to a roomful of colleagues. These drafts are messy, incomplete, sometimes downright awkward. Then the feedback begins, direct, candid, and unfiltered.
Here’s the twist: the criticism is never about the director. It’s always about the story. That distinction is the difference between a defensive culture and a creative one.
Psychologists call this psychological safety, the ability to share half-baked ideas, admit mistakes, and take risks without fear of judgment. Pixar has institutionalized this approach, turning a notoriously hit-or-miss industry into a repeatable blockbuster machine.
What can executives learn from this?
- Progress over perfection: Make it safe to be imperfect and reward courage over polish.
- Separate the idea from the individual: Focus feedback on the work, not the person.
- Engineer the environment: Don’t hope for innovation—create the forums, rituals, and structures that make it inevitable.
The lesson is simple yet transformative: psychological safety isn’t soft; it’s the foundation of High-Performance Teams. It’s the hidden framework that turns messy first drafts into masterpieces and ambitious groups into industry-shaping forces.
The question for you is: Do you have a Braintrust inside your organization, or are you still waiting for a genius to save the day?
Dr. Mark DeVolder is a Top Change Management & Transformation Expert, Award Winning Motivational Keynote Speaker Empowering Confidence through Change. Mark can teach you how to change, anticipate business trends and accelerate future-proof transformation. He’s done it before with industry leaders like Qatar Petroleum, PepsiCo, Royal Bank of Canada and Pfizer.
