Over the past ten days, I’ve either been part of, or heard about, three separate leadership conversations across three very different organisations.
- An engineering business.
- A telecoms company.
- A high-growth tech firm.
Different sectors. Different leadership teams.
But they all had one thing in common.
They were backed by private equity or venture capital.
And in each conversation the same tension surfaced.
When a business is scaling quickly, who should lead the next phase?
- The leaders who have grown with the business so far.
- Or external hires who have “seen the movie before”.
In reality, it’s rarely that simple.
The people who have grown with the business often carry invaluable context. They understand the customers, the pace and the journey that got the organisation this far.
But as organisations scale, the demands of leadership shift. Delegation, difficult conversations, talent development and clear decision-making structures suddenly matter a lot more.
That’s often where external experience can help.
At the same time, external leaders are stepping into a system they haven’t lived inside.
So the real answer is often some blend of the two.
Interestingly, another theme surfaced in these conversations.
Psychological safety.
You’ll see a growing narrative online suggesting it has gone too far. That leadership has been softened in the name of protecting people’s feelings.
I’m not convinced that’s the problem.
Harvard professor Amy Edmondson’s research, which first introduced the concept, shows that psychologically safe teams are actually more willing to challenge ideas, admit mistakes and surface risks.
Google’s Project Aristotle study reached the same conclusion. Psychological safety was the strongest predictor of effective teams.
Not because everyone agrees.
Because people are willing to disagree.
Strong leadership and psychological safety are not opposites.
When done properly, psychological safety includes difficult conversations, hard decisions and inevitable struggle along the way.
That’s part of life.
And it’s certainly part of scaling a business.