Society & Culture
Guest: Jessica Bensch
Jessica Bensch is a global advocate for workplace transformation and the founder of Vanguard Voices, a movement dedicated to making psychological safety a non-negotiable standard across all industries. With decades of professional experience across continents and sectors, Jessica has witnessed firsthand that good intentions and isolated efforts are not enough to create meaningful change. True progress, she believes, demands collective responsibility and unwavering accountability from leaders, employees, and organizations alike.
Having lived, worked, and traveled in nearly 40 countries, Jessica has developed a deep appreciation for the power of diversity—and the damage inflicted when voices are silenced. She knows that unchecked workplace abuse undermines creativity, erodes morale, and stifles organizational growth. Through Vanguard Voices, Jessica unites individuals and organizations around the world in a shared commitment to fostering cultures of true safety, inclusion, and accountability.
For Jessica, this work is more than a career—it is her passion and life’s purpose. Driven by a powerful vision of change, she continues to lead the charge toward a future where psychological safety is not just an ideal but a universal reality.
HIGHLIGHTS & TAKEAWAYS:
- JESSICA: I truly believe in creating environments where people can feel free to express their thoughts fully, openly, and contribute it meaningfully as well.
- JESSICA: My work is all about removing the barriers that silence people. The fear, the bureaucracy, the unspoken rules that are keeping people from speaking up, like taking risks and also driving change. I truly believe that companies thrive when people are heard and valued and empowered. And I truly believe that changing our workplaces, particularly workplace culture, is not just an HR issue, it's an everybody issue. It involves all of us. It starts with leadership responsibility, but a collective movement is needed to ensure that we have those safe workplaces that I believe that everybody craves for.
- JESSICA: Vanguard Voices is a not-for-profit association. Our laser focus is to bring the topic of psychological safety, that is where people can feel free to express their thoughts fully. Vanguard Voices was founded with the belief and the research that proves it, that psychological safety is foundational for our teams and our organizations to thrive.
- KG: Can you share with us what inspired you to start it?
- JESSICA: I think it was about seven, eight years ago, our company was going through a transformation. And at that time, the messaging that was coming through from, you know, as part of that transformation is that we need to be more bold, we need to be more courageous, we need to speak up. And I thought, that's great. And we started a grassroots effort within our company. We were doing speaking engagements, we were doing surveys and focus groups and sharing a lot of stories, not with the corporate jargon, but real, authentic stories were coming to the surface. And we were speaking to leaders at all levels. And at that time, we were seeing such momentum. With this effort because it was resonating. were really getting to the core of why people felt uncomfortable, generally speaking, of bringing their voice forward. And along the way, we were, of course, speaking with leaders at all levels, and we had tens of thousands who were following us.
- JESSICA: What I learned is that fear is not at just one level at the organization, it's at all levels. And it was very difficult to kind of push everything through without engagement at the higher levels. And what I also learned was this is not a topic specific to one company. It's really a global topic. It's a human topic. And so with that understanding in mind, I thought, well, first of all, I can't let go of this passion and fire I have on this topic. And I want to make this bigger. And so that's why I founded Vanguard Voices with the pure belief that we can make change. We can link arms around the world and it will happen.
- KG: What environment or context does it take for a person to come up with a truly original powerful idea and build that, nurture that into a global movement. What did it take for you to do that?
- JESSICA: I just believe in treating everyone equally as human beings, eye to eye, not looking up, not looking down. And that's what fuels me forward. And I'm a big believer that as well that we all have a purpose and a purpose, know, I was born with a particular purpose to fulfill in life. And I believe everybody has their own purpose. I have discovered my purpose through this experience, you know, in corporate and now through Vanguard. And even though it's hard, even though there are lots of struggles along the way, I know I can't let this go because my values are too deep and my purpose is very much on my mind.
- KG: What do the terms ethics and integrity mean to you in the context of all that you do?
- JESSICA: Ethics and Integrity isn't just about doing the right thing. It's about doing it even when it's inconvenient and it's uncomfortable and even costly.
- JESSICA: Integrity is about doing what we say we're going to do when no one's watching. And it's how we're handling hard decisions. It's the moments where we could easily take another way, but choose not to. Ethics, it means aligning what we say with what we do. It's words with action. And so it's not about words on a wall, like from a company perspective, values written on a wall, it's making sure that those values guide our decisions, even when it's hard.
- KG: Have you observed any typical ethical dilemmas that professionals might face and what would your advice be to professionals on this?
- JESSICA: One moment that stands out is when a leader who wanted to have a culture of openness in his team was unknowingly shutting down voices that were around him. He would say, I want open feedback. I want honest feedback. My door is always open. But the reality from his team's perspective was when people challenged him, there were some subtle consequences. So they were excluded from key conversations or decisions. Their ideas were dismissed in meetings and basically their confidence in raising their voice to him stalled.
- JESSICA: I chose to be direct. And it wasn't easy because there was resistance at first. And over time, that leader realized that psychological safety wasn't just about asking for feedback, you also have to earn it. And so the most ethical thing to do in this situation for me that we can all do is tell the truth. And it goes back to telling the truth, speaking your truth, even when it's hard.
- KG: What I'm receiving from you right now is that sometimes it might not feel safe to call something out. And it's okay if a person cannot do it directly and may choose to do it a little later and slightly more indirectly. But in this case, you made it clear that there was a choice you made. And so, you're saying that someone can assess in that situation and if they feel they can, call it out and if they need a little bit more time, that's okay. So would you like to share a little bit more about that?
- JESSICA: Wisdom is needed. You need to sense, follow your intuition. We can usually sense when somebody is ready to receive feedback and is able to take it under the circumstances. What I often have found is when I've been direct, people come back and appreciate it. Many people like to receive kind of the reflection, you know, from the mirror. And that's sometimes what I provide. But there are others who may not be ready. And that's where that wisdom is needed.
- KG: Are there some typical scenarios you notice where it triggers failure of psychological safety or trust in the workplace in general and workplaces as you coach leaders today? Classic scenarios. Can you also share any tips to professionals in these classic scenarios? How would you say it? How would you begin? What's the opening gambit to be honest and reflect the truth back to somebody, especially in situations where perhaps you don't feel like you have all the power?
- ESSICA: The gap that I often see in companies is back to what they say and what they actually do. And so in companies, we often talk about inclusion. We talk about integrity. We talk about all these values, these beautiful values that are shown on the wall. We talk about them, but then some classic examples are when we're protecting the toxic performers. We encourage the feedback, but then we start to punish those who speak up. Another classic example is when there's a promise of transparency, but critical decisions are made behind closed doors. So this gap between what is said and what is done is really dangerous and it will damage the trust. And it just teaches people that what's said in public isn't really practice in reality.
- JESSICA: The advice I would give is that leaders need to look in the mirror first. And invite, truly invite the feedback from others, but they need to also be looking at themselves and asking their questions to themselves like, are we truly modeling this ourselves? Where are we short, falling short? What's one action we can take today to align the words with reality? People trust what they see, not what they hear. That's essentially, I think, the work that's needed in companies today.
- KG: I observed that this is also a great parallel to parenting too. You and I have both bonded over the fact that we're also parents and children too will trust you based on your actions and not your words. And so I think our outside personas and inside personas both need mindful attention to the fact that our actions speak way more loudly than our words do.
- KG: As you said, people actually appreciate your honesty. What can we say or do that brings that reaction out of at least some of the people we interact with?
- JESSICA: I am not somebody to focus on negatives. It's more, I'm a big believer in looking at their strengths and enhancing on those strengths. And if they are willing to go deeper and really working on one particular area, then I will meet them there. And provide some advice or some tips along the way.
- JESSICA: I do have a comment though about providing feedback. It doesn't always feel safe to give feedback nor to receive feedback. And part of the reason why I started Vanguard is because I believe that in order for us to feel safe to give feedback, psychological safety, feeling free to express our thoughts, has to be prioritized and measured and monitored at all levels of the organization.
- KG: Have you come across any technology or modality or assessment system that you have seen to be particularly effective? Have you seen anything that is surprisingly good?
- JESSICA: There's different tools in terms of us as individuals, MBTI is a famous one. There's 16 personalities, there's strength binders. From an individual perspective, you can assess. I've seen other tools like learning circle profile, LCP, which is widely used in some of the corporates and where you have an opportunity to see what are your creative behaviors, when are you in the creative space versus in the reactive space. And here you get feedback from your team as well.
- JESSICA: I like to have people be at ease. I want people to feel comfortable, but that feedback, again, if you know that psychological safety is there and we can be human and make those mistakes, the feedback is what will, from others, which will help us identify where we have maybe strayed and where we could make some correction.
- KG: Are there any books or quotes that have been particularly amazing for you that you want to share with the audience of this podcast?
- JESSICA: There is one book I absolutely love and it's from Mark Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce. And he wrote the book Trailblazer. And he says, values create value. If trust is our highest value, then we must earn it every day. And so to me, this is a powerful reminder that trust is not just a single moment, it's built through consistent action. And so every decision, whether it's big or small, leaders are either reinforcing that trust or either breaking it. There's no neutral ground. And so that's the real challenge and the responsibility of leadership.
REFERENCES & LINKS:
JESSICA’s LinkedIN/Website page
JESSICA’s Book/Suggested Article
The Human Conversation Podcast Channels