In ‘Turning Up: Taking Your Self to Work’ (published Feb 2026), I define a healthy workplace community as “a group of people, drawn together in the context of an organisation, who form a shared identity. Together they feel recognised, valued and safe.”
To enable people to feel recognised, valued and safe you’ll need a hypothetical cat.
Creating a workplace community in which people feel they belong requires nuance. Without that ability to embrace subtle distinctions we are left only with dominant, simplistic views to which people must either conform or feel excluded. These black and white distinctions create an illusion of belonging but the reality is that they create tension, suspicion and toxic conformity.
That’s why your business needs a hypothetical cat. Not any cat – Shrödinger’s cat. Fortunately – being hypothetical – we can all own this same cat. Shrödinger famously set out a thought experiment in which a cat is placed in a box with a canister of poison that may, or may not, have been released. He argued that for as long as the box is closed, you cannot know whether the cat is alive or dead. It is not intellectually possible to know the state of the cat until the box is opened. You must be willing to hold both possibilities as being equally true.
Pushing Shrödinger’s analogy a little further – life is full of stuff which is both true and not true. This is the stuff in which we feel compelled to add caveats to simplistic statements – “The cat must be dead (if we assume the poison was released).” It is the expression of different worldviews, opinions and insights, that are true to the individual but which may not be shared by everyone.
Imposed conformity is the antithesis of community. Brené Brown’s distinction between fitting in and belonging is important here. She argues that fitting in is about assessing a situation and changing ourselves in order to be accepted. In contrast, when we feel like we belong, we also feel free to develop our own distinctiveness.
When a manager or leader enforces conformity some may rally to the cause and experience an illusion of belonging, but most will face a choice – conform or feel excluded. In the latter case retention will become a challenge, and the culture will become toxic. Productivity, safety, and quality will decline.
Businesses with hypothetical cats learn to embrace diversity. They are enriched by different worldviews, ways of thinking, and life experiences. Healthy communities are places in which we recognise and value our commonalities and are transformed by the interaction of our differences. When, as leaders, we create that kind of community, our businesses flourish with insight, innovation, and a heart felt commitment to deliver our service / product to high standards. They become places where people feel valued and experience true belonging.