To stimulate creativity, innovation, and learning, work and education have to be rehumanized. Scarcity interferes with our desire to rehumanize institutions. In her years of research, Brown has never seen a shame-free school or organization. Brown asks Kevin Surace, then the CEO of Serious Materials and an expert on disruptive innovation what the most significant barrier to creativity and innovation was. He responds the fear of being ridiculed, laughed at, or belittled. Learning and creativity are inherently vulnerable, unknown, and risky. Shame enters into many office and education cultures. Key signs are gossip, blaming, name-calling, harassment, and favoritism. In some contexts, shame is a management tool and people in leadership positions use rewards systems or punishment to belittle, shame and humiliate people. This results in “creativity scars” (174-5) where people become afraid to try again. Over half of students reported feeling scarred in creative exploration, while 54% of American workers reported being bullied at work. Brown documents several examples of people experiencing shame in the workplace and how that prevented wholeheartedness. Shaming people results in fear, anxiety, and lower productivity. It stops innovation.

When shame is the dominant culture, people begin to disengage to protect themselves.