The Spy’s Edge: Why Fear Sharpens, But Also Shatters

Written By Andrew Lopianowski

“Fear is a tool. But left unchecked, it becomes the architect of decay.” 

— Adapted from Sun Tzu, Batman, and every burned-out executive you know 

Spy agencies have a secret most companies overlook: anxiety can make you razor sharp, but only for a moment. Elite intelligence services often select for anxiety-prone individuals because hyper-vigilance and comfort with ambiguity make for excellent field agents (see this discussion with former CIA officer Andrew Bustamante, who explains that "anxious people are naturally more attentive, naturally more suspicious, naturally more observant, [and] naturally have a stronger recollection...anxiety is a superpower in the world of espionage"). But here’s what isn't often discussed: those same agencies invest just as much in helping agents come down from that hypervigilance. Why? Because sustained fear is corrosive. It frays trust, impairs judgment, and erodes the collaboration long-term missions depend on. 

What applies to field agents applies just as urgently to your workforce. 

Neuroscience: Fear Sharpens, Then Shuts Down 

Modern neuroscience helps us understand how the temporary cognitive and behavioral gains from fear result in ever worsening outcomes on account of the physiological impacts of fear. In high-stakes environments, the brain defaults to threat mode. The amygdala activates, preparing the body for fight, flight, or freeze. Blood flow shifts away from the prefrontal cortex, the seat of creativity, empathy, and long-range planning. Fear focuses the mind, but it narrows it too. It’s the cognitive equivalent of tunnel vision. Useful if you’re diffusing a bomb. Devastating if you’re trying to lead a team, spark innovation, or adapt to emerging AI disruptions. 

As neuroscientist Antonio Damasio put it: “We are not thinking machines that feel; we are feeling machines that think.” Fear short-circuits both the feeling and the thinking. 

And the data is clear: chronic workplace stress and fear-based leadership are linked to higher turnover, lower engagement, and increased error rates. According to research from the American Psychological Association, nearly 60% of employees who experience persistent fear or anxiety at work report lower productivity and difficulty collaborating. The cost isn’t just emotional; it’s financial and strategic. 

Evolution: Survival Trained Us for Vigilance, Not Innovation 

Anthropologically, our brains weren’t designed for innovation; they were designed for survival. In small tribal units, vigilance was a life-saving trait. But over time, survival required a deeper skill: cooperation. What separated early humans from other predators wasn’t sharper claws. It was shared storytelling, mutual learning, and the ability to signal trust under pressure. 

That gain persists: the most successful organizations are those that build shared mental models under stress. And that can’t happen in a fear-based culture. 

This is why, in moments of uncertainty — whether it’s a sudden market shift, a new competitor, or the introduction of generative AI — organizations that default to fear-based responses (clamping down, micromanaging, punishing mistakes) actually undermine their own adaptability. Instead, the organizations that foster trust, openness, and a sense of shared purpose are the ones that learn fastest and adapt best (Edmonson, 1999). 

Organizational Learning: Fear Blocks, Safety Unlocks 

Harvard Business School Prof. Amy Edmondson, who coined the term “psychological safety,” found that the best-performing teams weren’t those with the fewest mistakes; they were the ones who felt safe enough to speak up about those mistakes. Fearful cultures don't take the time or make the space to reflect on what worked, what didn't, and what would need to be done differently. Reflection, though, is how individuals and groups learn. 

Put differently, Generative AI cannot compensate (and likely for some time to come) for what your people are too afraid to say aloud. AI can process data, but it cannot surface the unspoken, the nuanced, the tacit knowledge that only emerges when people trust each other enough to share. 

McKinsey’s 2024 report on workforce resilience and adaptability found that the combination of adaptability and psychological safety resulted in 3.3x increase in innovative behavior and 2.9x increase in engagement compared with organizations lacking these conditions. Their 2023 explainer also highlights psychological safety as “one of the strongest predictors of team performance, productivity, quality, safety, creativity, and innovation.” 

The Spy Agency Playbook: Debrief, Reflect, Restore 

Spy agencies know that peak performance under pressure must be balanced by recovery and sense-making. Agents are debriefed, de-stressed, and reintegrated into purpose-driven teams. When’s the last time your team debriefed emotionally, not just operationally? Are your people moving from fire to fire, never metabolizing the collective strain? 

Most of the narratives I hear from organizations about their successes focus on the heroic efforts told in ways that seem to match some Hollywood production. And while the success was definitely earned, the narrative around the success generally offers neither how to recognize the circumstances nor how to adapt the process are learned. So the organization doesn’t learn how to recognize and respond, but rather that we reward for outcomes here and everything else is immaterial.  

Imagine if, instead, we normalized regular “after-action reviews” not just for projects, but for emotional and psychological experiences. What if teams had structured time to process, to learn, and to reconnect with purpose? Research shows that teams who do this not only recover faster from setbacks, but also build deeper trust and resilience over time.  

Some Things to Think About 

  • Fear is a performance drug with a hangover. It might win the sprint, but it wrecks the marathon. Fear taxes knowledge-sharing. If insight is your organization’s gold, fear is the 70% tax that bleeds it dry. 

  • Build Brave Spaces. Psychological safety isn’t about coddling; it’s about performance. Create forums where people can speak the unspoken, no matter how it may be perceived. 

  • Debrief, reflect, restore. Spy agencies do it. Special forces do it. You should too. Resilience is built in recovery, not just readiness. 

  • Curiosity beats compliance. The organizations that replace fear with curiosity will harness AI and find new ways to outcompete.  

  • Purpose is your compass. When people understand and connect with the “why” behind the work, they’re more likely to act with integrity, creativity, and courage—even in uncertainty. 

Build the Brave Organization 

The companies that will lead in the AI era are not the ones with the fastest models or flashiest tools. Nor are they the ones with the strictest discipline around office presence or execution. They’re the ones where knowledge flows freely, learning is communal, and people feel safe enough to be honest, especially when it’s inconvenient. 

The future belongs to organizations that can metabolize uncertainty—not by suppressing fear, but by channeling it into dialogue, learning, and shared purpose. 

 

Is your team performing out of purpose, or out of fear? And what price are you paying for the difference? 

 

Works Referenced.  

 

Want to be part of the (r)evolution?  

I am putting the finishing touches on the first draft of a book with a friend and colleague Andrew Lopianowski on the concept, which we are calling HumanCorps. If you’d like to learn more about the book, or perhaps have some amazing stories of people who are putting these efforts in motion to be the change we need, please drop me a line.    

Andrew Lopianowski https://www.humancorps.co.uk
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