New psychology study shows fear of failure is motivating employees at the expense of well-being
A new psychology study of more than 1,000 employees has come to a concerning conclusion: fear of failure, particularly the guilt of disappointing a respected leader, can be a powerful motivator. It pushes people to work harder, stretch further, and deliver results. But all this hustle is quietly eroding employee well-being.
Arthur Favier, CEO of Oppizi, has watched this “prevention-focused pathway” play out in real time, noting how it creates discomfort that drives short-term output yet fosters long-term unhappiness, burnout, and resentment.
Output increases. But that’s strain.
What makes it worse is that it’s all happening subtly. It doesn’t announce itself in dramatic resignations or public meltdowns. Instead, it shows up in quiet exhaustion, reduced creativity, and a narrowing of risk appetite.
Employees become prevention-focused: less about pursuing bold gains, more about avoiding mistakes.
For CEOs, this raises an uncomfortable question. If fear works, even temporarily, is it a bad thing to use it for faster results?
The crisis mindset: Productive yet punishing
In high-stakes fields, fear-driven performance is almost normalized.
Benson Varghese, criminal defense attorney at Versus Texas, sees a parallel between the study’s findings and processes in the legal industry. “One misstep can derail a case,” he said, so teams review evidence late into the night, rehearse cross-examinations, and stress-test arguments from every angle.
The dread of losing in uncertain legal terrain can sharpen performance in the short term. But it also leaves people “psychologically unhappier,” he noted, echoing the study’s conclusions.
Stephen Bardol, founder of Bardol Law Firm, sees a similar pattern with clients navigating divorce and custody disputes. “This dread-fueled drive shines in crises yet leaves people depleted,” he said, like people struggling to prove their worth in court while unraveling privately from the strain.
Echoing his views, Joanna Smykowski, licensed attorney at Custody X Change, gives the example of a parent fighting for custody, who may grind through paperwork, hearings, and negotiations fueled by the terror of losing time with a child.
But such crises are not meant to be permanent operating models.
When fear becomes the default management tool, people don’t just work hard; they live in a constant state of guardedness. Over time, that tension becomes corrosive. Decision-making worsens, innovation declines, and burnout starts taking over.
When creativity starts to shrink
Fear doesn’t just affect crisis-centered industries like law, but also creative firms.
In design-driven businesses, teams often internalize a founder’s aesthetic vision so deeply that there’s no room for personal ideas.
Shirlene Tsang, co-founder of OBJKTS Jewelry, recalls late nights refining prototypes not just to meet a deadline, but to avoid disappointing a standard everyone had quietly absorbed.
That’s the mechanism the study highlights: when employees buy into a mission, they don’t need micromanagement. They police themselves.
“It’s a crafty motivator,” Tsang said. “Compelling us to sidestep adversities by overworking.” But she’s candid about the cost: it can “quietly burden creativity and joy in the process.”
Replacing guilt with psychological safety
Creativity requires cognitive flexibility, experimentation, and the psychological space to fail. When teams operate in avoidance mode, they optimize for safety. They choose iterations over breakthroughs. They refine instead of reinventing.
For CEOs leading innovation-driven companies, this is where the numbers can mislead. Productivity may increase. Output may look polished. But risk-taking — the raw material of growth — begins to shrink.
The answer is not lowering standards but recalibrating how they’re communicated. Favier recommends a pivot to sustainable tactics rooted in realistic goal-setting and proactive encouragement.
That could look like:
- Clear, specific objectives instead of ever-escalating targets
- Regular progress check-ins that focus on learning, not blame
- Open feedback loops where raising concerns is rewarded, not punished
- Recognition of effort amid ambiguity, not just outcomes
The aim is to replace guilt with psychological safety — without diluting ambition.
Smykowski approaches it similarly in high-conflict custody cases. Breaking overwhelming battles into weekly preparation targets, she said, allows room for “honest stumbles without shame,” while spotlighting persistence over polished results.
For design-driven fields, Tsang recommends “anchoring inspiration in shared rituals, like daily sketches of small milestones or hands-on feedback sessions that celebrate tweaks over flawless first tries.”
The lesson for CEOs is nuanced. Fear can light a fire. It can push teams through product launches, funding rounds, and competitive threats. But unmanaged, it becomes a constant background hum that drains the very people responsible for long-term success.
The companies that win over the next decade won’t be those that eliminate pressure altogether. They’ll be the ones that understand its psychology — and know precisely when to turn the volume down.
