ENGLAND must play their next home match in a UEFA competition behind closed doors following disorder at the Euro 2020 final at Wembley, European football's governing body ruled on Monday (18).
The showpiece game between England and Italy on July 11 was marred by chaotic scenes as ticketless fans forced their way through security cordons to gain entry to the stadium.
In addition to the one-match sanction, UEFA has imposed a ban for a second game, which is suspended for two years.
The English Football Association (FA) has also been fined 100,000 euros ($116,000) over various issues including "lack of order and discipline inside and around the stadium" and the "throwing of objects".
A statement from the FA said: "Although we are disappointed with the verdict, we acknowledge the outcome of this UEFA decision.
"We condemn the terrible behaviour of the individuals who caused the disgraceful scenes in and around Wembley Stadium at the Euro 2020 final, and we deeply regret that some of them were able to enter the stadium."
The ban will apply to England's first home game of the 2022/23 Nations League rather than next month's World Cup qualifier against Albania as that fixture is governed by world governing body FIFA.
In July the FA commissioned an independent investigation into the security failings that allowed ticketless fans to force their way into the stadium.
Capacity for the final was capped at 67,500 due to coronavirus restrictions, but an estimated 200,000 people gathered near the stadium in the hours before England's first major tournament final for 55 years.
"We are determined that this can never be repeated, so we have commissioned an independent review, led by Baroness Casey, to report on the circumstances involved," the FA statement added.
"We continue to work with the relevant authorities in support of their efforts to take action against those responsible and hold them to account."
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin played down fears that the disorder would affect a UK and Ireland bid to host the 2030 World Cup in an interview with The Times last month, and said he saw Wembley as a key venue for UEFA in hosting club competition finals in the future.
There were further disturbances at Wembley last week when a crowd of 1,000 Hungarian fans clashed with police during a World Cup qualifier.
Samaira and Kiaan Kapur allege key bank accounts tied to the Sunjay Kapur estate have been emptied.
Delhi High Court raised concerns over a widow’s plea to submit the asset list in a sealed cover.
The fight centres on a will the children say they never knew about and now call “bogus.”
Assets are estimated at about £2.52 billion (₹30,000 crore); the children were reportedly paid about £159.6 million (₹1,900 crore) before filing.
The inheritance dispute over industrialist Sunjay Kapur’s estate took a sharp turn in Delhi High Court as Karisma Kapoor’s children told judges they believe the estate’s bank accounts have been “wiped clean.” Counsel for Samaira and Kiaan Kapur told the court there is “nothing left” in key accounts, pushing the bench to question a request by the widow, Priya Sachdev, to keep the full asset list confidential. The stakes are high: the estate is valued at roughly £2.52 billion (₹30,000 crore).
Samaira and Kiaan Kapur claim banks wiped clean in Sunjay Kapur inheritance row Instagram/therealsamairakapoor/Getty Images
Children allege bank accounts wiped clean
Samaira and Kiaan’s lawyer said audited records and bank statements suggested funds had been moved out of accounts linked to the estate. That blunt allegation: “banks have been wiped off, there is nothing left” became the headline moment of the hearing and set the tone for the children’s broader claim that they have been blocked from verifying assets they may legally inherit as Class I heirs.
Priya Sachdev’s legal team asked the court to accept a detailed inventory of assets in a sealed cover, arguing privacy and security concerns. Justice Jyoti Singh voiced obvious scepticism, asking how the children could properly contest a will or challenge transfers if they were bound by confidentiality. The bench described unconditional secrecy as “problematic” for defending legal rights while seeking a way to balance privacy with transparency.
Samaira and Kiaan Kapur claim banks wiped clean in Sunjay Kapur inheritance row Instagram/therealsamairakapoor/Getty Images
Will authenticity to face forensic scrutiny
At the heart of the case is a will the children say they never saw until weeks after Sunjay Kapur’s death. They have labelled that document “bogus” and asked the court to subject any contested papers to forensic verification. The litigation will now move beyond headline accusations to technical probes: handwriting analysis, document provenance checks and a forensic examination of financial flows tied to the estate.
Priya Sachdev’s counsel countered the children’s narrative by saying Samaira and Kiaan were paid a substantial sum, reported in court as about £159.6 million (₹1,900 crore), shortly before the legal action began. That payment, the widow’s lawyers argue, undermines suggestions the children were left bereft. The siblings maintain the payout does not resolve the larger questions about the will’s legitimacy or the current status of remaining assets.
Randhir Kapoor had strongly opposed Karisma’s marriage to businessman Sunjay Kapur Getty Images
What happens next
The court tried a middle path at the hearing: it directed the list of assets be filed in a sealed cover but ordered copies shared with all parties involved, preserving some confidentiality while ensuring the children can scrutinise the claims. The next steps include forensic examination of the contested will and a detailed review of financial transactions. For now, judges urged an end to public blame-trading but stopped short of an outright gag order. This family legal drama, marked by allegations of emptied accounts, claims of a “bogus” will and a multi-billion-pound estate, appears set for a prolonged, technical and highly scrutinised legal battle.
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Taylor Swift stuns in dazzling jewels on The Life Of A Showgirl album cover
The singer’s twelfth studio album is set for release on 3 October.
Its cover art features Swift adorned in lavish jewels, including a standout pink sapphire ring.
Swift described the project as capturing the "behind the scenes" drama of her Eras Tour.
A collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter features on the title track.
Taylor Swift has fully embraced the spectacle with her upcoming record, The Life Of A Showgirl. The album, announced during a much-discussed appearance on the New Heights podcast, promises to peel back the curtain on the glamour and grind of her recent tour. Framed as a deeply personal project, it aims to glamourise the intense reality of life on the road. The stunning cover art, shot by Mert and Marcus, immediately sets the tone for this lavish new era.
Taylor Swift stuns in dazzling jewels on The Life Of A Showgirl album cover Instagram/taylorswift
What is the theme behind The Life Of A Showgirl?
Truthfully, it’s less about a character and more about a state of being. Swift has explained that the songs were written during the European leg of the Eras Tour, a period she describes as both physically exhausting and creatively electric. The idea was to capture what happens when the stadium lights go down: the drama, the joy, the sheer over-the-top nature of it all. She wanted to bottle that feeling of living in a whirlwind, hence the showgirl metaphor.
It’s about the performance, sure, but also the person underneath the feathers and sequins. The choice of a vibrant orange as a central colour for the album’s aesthetic apparently reflects the "exuberant and vibrant" energy she was experiencing.
How much did the jewellery on the album cover cost?
Alright, let’s talk about the bling because it’s impossible to ignore. The focus has landed heavily on a particular ring Swift wears in one of the promotional images. That’s a 35-carat pink sapphire set in rose gold with a carat of diamonds, courtesy of the fine jewellery brand Kallati. The price tag? A cool £20,290 (approx. ₹2,411,832).
But that’s just one piece. On the main cover, she’s reportedly wearing a Zydo Italy diamond bracelet with a total carat weight of over 19. The earrings in another shot are from the same maker, coming in at over 18 carats. It’s a long way from cowboy boots and sundresses, that’s for sure, and the overall effect is pure, unapologetic decadence.
This is the big question, isn’t it? The showgirl theme suggests something theatrical, maybe even a swing towards big band or jazz-infused pop. The production credits offer a solid clue: she’s back with Max Martin and Shellback, the powerhouse duo behind massive hits from 1989 and Reputation.
Swift herself called the creative process a collaborative effort where everyone was bringing their best ideas, adding pressure because she cares about the record so much. The only confirmed feature is Sabrina Carpenter on the title track, The Life Of A Showgirl. With twelve tracks announced (and rumours of a secret thirteenth), the sound will likely be as grand and multifaceted as the concept itself.
THE punitive 50 per cent tariffs plus annual $100,000 (£74,100) H-1B visa charges for IT workers from India imposed by US president Donald Trump offer an opportunity for the country to find new markets, an influential minister from India said at a business summit in London last week.
Nara Lokesh is minister for information technology in Andhra Pradesh and the son of the south Indian state’s chief minister, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party helped give Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a governing majority in the Indian parliament.
Lokesh conceded the tariffs imposed by Trump had confronted India with a “crisis” and added, “I believe the crisis is an opportunity”.
Trump last week ordered a new annual $100,000 fee for H-1B skilled worker visas, widely sought after by Indian professionals in the US tech industry.
The US awards 85,000 H-1B visas per year on a lottery system, with India accounting for around three-quarters of the recipients.
Lokesh, 42, who pursued higher education in the US, said: “It’s an opportunity for India to shine beyond a singular market. That’s been our approach as far as the Free Trade Agreement (with the UK) and the tariff landscape are concerned. We can do better. In the long term, we have to diversify. New markets are opening up.” It is predicted that 2047, a century after India became independent, the per capita income in Andhra (with a population of 53 million) will shoot up to $42,000 (£31,109).
Lokesh, who comes across as a man in a hurry, invited investors from the UK, especially from the diaspora: “We are a start-up state. We are hungry, we have the passion. We are not in the business of signing MOUs. We deliver on speed of doing business.” In 15 months since the current state government had taken office, he said, “we landed close to $120 billion (£88.8bn) investment”.
The 42-year-old got his bachelor’s degree from the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, his MBA from Stanford and worked for the World Bank for two years.
He made the comments at an investor road show jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Indian High Commission in London last Tuesday (16).
Shehla Hasan, the CII’s chief representative in the UK, told the gathering at the Institute of Directors, “Nara Lokesh has been instrumental in driving technology initiatives that foster inclusive growth, boost digital infrastructure and position Andhra Pradesh as a hub for cutting edge technological development.”
Lokesh – he was in conversation with Harshul Asnani, president, Europe, of Tech Mahindra – said: “I’ll give you a few examples – one is how we got ArcelorMittal (jointly with Nippon Steel) to build one of India’s largest steel plants in the south of Visakhapatnam.
John Renard, president EMEA, Cyient; Sujit Ghosh; Nara Lokesh; Harshul Asnani; Nidhi Mani Tripathi, minister (economic), High Commission of India to the UK; and Shehla Hasan at the London event
“It all started with one zoom call with Aditya Mittal (Lakshmi Mittal’s son and CEO of ArcelorMittal). He said he had three specific asks from the state, and all I said was, ‘Give me 12 hours, I need to confirm it with my chief minister.’ We got it confirmed. This conversation started in June last year. We are going to break ground in November for the steel plant. We got it done.”
What Lokesh says is important because Andhra is recognised as being one of India’s most progressive states and his father has a reputation for getting things done.
As chief minister, previously, of undivided Andhra Pradesh, Naidu was recognised for transforming the state’s infrastructure and attracting global IT firms to open offices in Hyderabad – putting it in direct competition with Bengaluru, regarded as the Silicon Valley of India.
Under Lokesh – who also holds the portfolio for electronics and communications, real time governance and human resources development – Andhra is taking its road show to other investment centres such as Singapore and Dubai.
Andhra Pradesh was formed in 1953 (by separating the Telugu speaking areas from the old Madras presidency), and in 2014, 10 districts of Andhra Pradesh were combined to establish the new state of Telangana.
If more Indian states follow the example of Andhra and diversify investment away from the US, Trump’s tariffs may quickly prove to be an act of great self-harm.
India and the US will most probably repair their relationship, but young Indian politicians such as Lokesh show how there is now a greater determination not to become over-dependent on America.
Hasan invited potential investors to attend the CII’s partnership summit with the Andhra government on November 14-15 in Vishakhapatnam.
She also released a CII report, Indian Roots British Soil: Charting Indian Industry’s Footprint in the United Kingdom.
India’s outgoing deputy high commissioner, Sujit Ghosh, made it clear that what was good for Andhra was also good for India and for Britain: “India, one of the world’s top producers of science, tech, engineering and mathematics talent, generates approximately 2.5 million graduates annually, far ahead of most developing countries and, of course, almost all developed countries. AI skill penetration is among the highest in India and second only to United States.
“In India’s journey, a very important part has been played and will continue to be played by Andhra Pradesh, one of the major centres of economic growth and innovation in India. Andhra was one of the first states to opt for large scale economic reforms and digital growth.”
Abhishikth Kishore
The Andhra government, led by Chandra Babu Naidu, “has set for itself an ambitious target to achieve 15 per cent growth rate, up from the present 10.50 per cent by 2047. “This is a state which clearly means business. Andhra Pradesh has registered a strong economic growth in the first quarter of 2025-26, surpassing the national average and reinforcing its position as one of India’s fastest growing states. Major areas of interest for Andhra Pradesh are advanced manufacturing, financial services, including FinTech, education, pharma, healthcare and tech – and data centres and clean energy.”
Lokesh left it to one of his senior civil servants, Abhishikth Kishore, a member of the Indian Administrative Service, to provide a more detailed picture of Andhra Pradesh’s ambitious investment plans.
He said that in 2047, when India “is looking at a $32 trillion (£23tr) economy, our state wants to be a $2.4tr (£1.4tr) economy, and the per capita income we are targeting is $42,000 (£31000)”.
Kishore is the state’s commissioner of industries and also managing director of the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation.
He described how the state attracts investors by getting rid of red tape.
“We started talking to LG Electronics in June last year,” he said. “This year we have done the groundbreaking. It is not easy to deal with South Koreans. Even my wife doesn’t call me as often as their site manager. This is an ultra-mega investment upwards of $600m (£444m). Andhra Pradesh already produces 50 per cent of air conditioners for the entire country. Once this plant is operational, Andhra Pradesh will be producing 70 per cent of all air conditioners, both industrial and home appliances.”
The state had three industrial corridors – Chennai- Visakhapatnam, ChennaiBengaluru and Bengaluru-Hyderabad – plus three economic corridors centred on Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Amaravati (where a greenfield capital was under construction). There would be a green hydrogen hub.
It will also establish the world’s first quantum valley, where quantum computers would be able to perform complex calculations far beyond the capabilities of even the most powerful traditional supercomputers.
The state, with the third largest coastline in India, had six operating ports and four greenfield ports under construction. It was setting up a 300-acre drone city in Kurnool, only three hours from Hyderabad. There would be 175 Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) parks – one for every assembly constituency.
“The icing on the cake is all our 700 government services are on WhatsApp, be it a land application or a fire clearance for a factory,” said Kishore.
Lokesh makes sure things get done by keeping tabs on projects.
The minister concurred: “As Abhishikth has just shared, I think I am on close to 12-13 WhatsApp groups.”
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Visitors view gowns and displays at the Marie Antoinette Style exhibition at the V&A
For Eastern Eye visitors to the sumptuous new Marie Antoinette Style exhibition at the V&A, the whole show has to be seen in the context of India’s relations with France and especially that between Tipu Sultan, ruler of Mysore, and the young fashion queen.
Marie Antoinette, the Princess Diana of her day, loved to wear the muslin and printed cotton gowns sent from India.
In return, she sent Tipu delicate Sèvres porcelain, plus busts of herself and her husband, King Louis XVI.
Tipu’s plan was to form an alliance with the French in his fight against the British. The alliance never materialised, although Tipu did send ambassadors to France.
A portrait of Tipu Sultan
Tipu and Marie Antoinette’s exchange of gifts was immortalised in paintings and sketches.
The exhibition’s curator, Sarah Grant, told Eastern Eye of Marie Antoinette’s connection with Tipu: “Tipu Sultan sent his ambassadors to the court of France on an official visit. They presented gifts to Marie Antoinette – Indian muslins and beautiful gowns. And she presented gifts which they took back. But one of the busts (of herself) was looted by British soldiers in the 19th century and brought to England. So it had this extraordinary history. There was this interesting exchange of style and fashion between India and France.
A painting of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI receiving Tipu Sultan’s ambassadors in 1788
“All this is well documented. There are paintings of the ambassadors arriving at court in Versailles. There was an exhibition, Visitors to Versailles, which looked at diplomatic visits from India and China. But it seems Tipu Sultan and Marie Antoinette had a particular connection.
“India had developed the technology for printed and dyed cotton, something in which they were leaders in the world. France tried to steal that knowledge and technology, and sent spies to observe the processes. There was a ban on importing Indian printed cottons into France. So many people were wearing them that officials feared importing would damage France’s native industries. But cotton cloth was still being imported from India. They were printing it in France and selling it.”
She agreed “100 per cent” with the V&A’s director, Tristram Hunt, who described Marie Antoinette as “the most fashionable queen in history across 230 years of design, dress and film”.
Hunt added: “The exhibition combines her infamy with her influence. Balancing the sumptuous 18th century gowns on show are contemporary fashion pieces in the final room, including couture works by designers such as Moschino, Dior, Chanel and Vivienne Westwood, and, of course, the wonderful costumes designed for Sofia Coppola’s brilliant Oscar winning Marie Antoinette.”
Grant said: “Part of it is she was very fashionable. She loved fashion. Obviously, most monarchs, most queens, most emperors, most empresses, dress in finery. But she was particularly interested in new fashions, new styles. The pace of fashion accelerated under her.
The Sutherland Diamonds
“She’s not just stylish. She’s not just wearing what everyone else is wearing. She is creating new fashions and inspiring other people. Certainly, people in the Anglo-Saxon world, in North America and in Britain, were following very closely what Marie Antoinette was wearing in France. She dies young, and we never see her age.”
Tipu, who was born on December 1, 1751, was the Sultan of Mysore from 1782 until he was killed in battle defending his stronghold of Srirangapatnam on May 4, 1799. He was defeated in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War by a combined force of the British East India Company troops supported by the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad.
Marie Antoinette born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna von Habsburg-Lothringen, archduchess of Austria, in Vienna on November 2, 1755, the daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I. She married Louis Auguste, Dauphin of France, in May 1770 at the age of 14, becoming the Dauphine of France.
On May 10, 1774, her husband ascended the throne as King Louis XVI, and she became queen. She was the last queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the First Republic. Her husband was sent to the guillotine on January 21, 1793, in Paris, during the French Revolution. She was similarly executed on October 16, 1793.
A portrait of Marie Antoinette by François Hubert Drouais (1773)
Marie Antoinette was accused of saying, “Let them eat cake”, when informed the poor couldn’t afford bread. She said no such thing. But the quote has stuck and her alleged heartlessness used to justify her execution.
The exhibition has a sketch of the executioner waving her head. There is also the chemise she wore in her death cell. It very much resembles an Indian kurta. There is also a plaster cast of her severed head.
The exhibition displays a muslin dress from 1785-90, similar to the one Marie Antoinette had worn.
Antoinette had worn. “This is one of only two muslin chemise dresses from Marie Antoinette’s time that survives, a style that the queen helped to popularise,” says a note. “In her memoirs, Madame Campan described the queen and her friends in the summer of 1778 dressed in ‘muslin gowns, with large straw hats and muslin veils, a costume universally adopted by women at that time’. The queen also wore a muslin gown given to her by Tipu Sultan in 1788.”
There is another “Robe à la francaise”, from 1775-80: “In the late 1770s, Marie Antoinette and her circle embraced gowns made of cotton and linen as lighter and fresher alternatives to silk. This gown’s pink silk lining, visible through the fine white muslin, creates a blush effect, which was a specific contemporary trend. France’s East India Company imported many cotton fabrics from India, such as this figured and embroidered muslin.”
The exhibition has a reference to diamonds, probably sourced from India.
The “Diamond Necklace Affair” is explained: “In 1784 and 1785, a necklace became the centre of a theft that captivated the French public. With diamonds totalling 2,842 carats, it was the most expensive necklace ever made in France. Louis XV commissioned it for his mistress, Madame du Barry, but died before it was completed. The necklace was offered to Marie Antoinette who refused it, but a con artist, Jeanne de la Motte, tricked a courtier, the Cardinal de Rohan, into paying for part of it, supposedly on behalf of the queen. La Motte then absconded with the diamonds. Although Marie Antoinette was entirely innocent, the fallout dealt a fatal blow to her already ailing reputation.”
A muslin gown worn by the French queen
There is a display of the “Sutherland Diamonds”, with the setting from 1780-90: “The stolen necklace from the ‘Diamond Necklace Affair’ was broken up and brought to England. These diamonds almost certainly come from that sale. Probably mined in Golconda, India, the stones are of the finest clarity and brilliance. The central diamond alone weighs about 15 carats. They were worn by successive Duchesses of Sutherland to the coronations of Queen Victoria and George VI.”
The steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal could consider dropping in to see the exhibition, since some of the 250 objects on display come from Chateau de Versailles, the main royal residence (although Marie Antoinette also had a private residence, Petit Trianon, in the palace grounds). When Mittal’s daughter, Vanisha Mittal, married Amit Bhatia in 2004 in a £30m wedding, there was a glittering feast for 1,000 guests at the Palace in Versailles hired for the occasion.
Marie Antoinette Style is at the V&A until March 22, 2026.
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Satya Nadella put empathy at the core of Microsoft’s revival, transforming the company into one of the world’s most admired corporations
PSYCHOLOGICAL safety is a term that may ring a bell for most people and even if it did, few understand what it means – yet embracing the concept in workplaces brings benefits and leads to improved outcomes.
A week-long initiative by Pearn Kandola – which works with organisations on diversity, equity and inclusion – aims to raise awareness and bust misconceptions about the concept.
Binna Kandola OBE, co-founder of Pearn Kandola, said there is an opportunity to not just introduce the idea, “but to make us look afresh at diversity and inclusion, as identity, background and inclusion are central to psychological safety”.
In an interview with Eastern Eye ahead of the five online webinars (22-26), Kandola explained how one of the biggest misunderstandings links psychological safety to comfort.
“People think, ‘if I don’t feel comfortable in the workplace or if I’m being challenged, then it must be unsafe’.”
Dismissing the idea of conforming, keeping one’s head down, or not speaking up, he said, “Actually, psychological safety is neither of those things. We need to be respectful and we need to show people we value them.
“There are constraints around this, but within that, there’s no reason why you and I shouldn’t disagree on something, and there isn’t any reason why we shouldn’t disagree quite passionately about something, as long as it doesn’t get personal.”
He added, “If you look at the examples of psychological safety in organisations, you find that people do raise concerns. They can talk about mistakes, about errors and as long as it doesn’t overstep the mark and become personal, it is a good thing to be doing.”
Some of the themes being addressed during Psychological Safety Week are why adopting it matters, how companies bring about innovation and change and why empowering workers to challenge, question and disagree can lead to higher levels of trust and stronger teams.
Kandola is writing a book (due in November) and has cited case studies of organisations which didn’t provide psychological safety and therefore suffered (negative) consequences.
However, he said there are others “who were in a bad position, who adopted a more open, transparent way of working, and it led to greater success.
“Of the latter kind, look at the chief executive of Microsoft – Satya Nadella.
“He wasn’t expected to get the role. Bill Gates saw him, and thought, ‘I like what he’s doing, the way he thinks and recommended him. “Nadella went through the selection process and he got the job. “But when he took over, Microsoft was actually on a downward trend. Nadella cowrote a book called Hit Refresh (The quest to rediscover Microsoft’s soul and imagine a better future for everyone) where he explained how he had to get senior leaders to understand who they were.
“At the core of his strategy was empathy, to be more empathetic towards one another, towards customers, partners.
“When the industry is competitive, to try and see things from the other person’s point of use… empathy was at the heart of his transformation. Of course, they’re now hailed as one of the greatest examples of transforming a major corporation.”
In contrast, Kandola points to US aviation major, Boeing, which went from being one of the most revered companies in the world during the 1980s, to one of the most distrusted about 40 years later.
“That’s quite something to be able to do that that quickly, and they suffered enormously,” he said.
Another example is that of health teams, Kandola said, noting that those which report the greatest number of errors also have the best patient outcomes.
“It seems like an ironic practice, but the fact of the matter is teams that report fewer incidents are having just as many incidents. They’re just not reporting them, so they don’t give themselves the opportunity to learn.
“If you have the confidence and said, ‘Look, there’s a mistake. It happened. What do we learn from that?’ Things start to improve. But if I make a mistake and I’m not telling you that, we don’t find out about it. It could get worse. You cover it up, but also you miss the opportunity to learn from it, to improve our practice.” Some of the barriers to adopting psychological safety may be hierarchy, or existing cultural norms.
Kandola said it’s a natural human reaction to “want to fit in, blend in with others”. “So if I see something going on, or there’s a course of action people are all agreeing on, and I’m thinking, I’m not sure that’s the right way to be going. That pressure to conform means I will be less likely to speak up,” he said.
However, he also pointed out that in “countries across Asia, for example, which are very respectful of leaders and because of the position they hold, there are very successful economies and very successful organisations.
So hierarchy in itself isn’t necessarily a barrier, but it can be.
“I think the approach the leader adopts is more important.”
Kandola said there’s interest in psychological safety, but the understanding isn’t there. “So I’m hoping the webinars will increase their understanding, but also offer opportunities to see how to cycle through the daily challenges, be able to start apply some of the things that we’re talking about.