As we set goals for 2025, it’s worth remembering that part of the leader’s role is to minimize distress. And so much has been written about psychological safety that many leaders believe their role is to protect team members from any kind of stress.

But that’s not what Google discovered in its research. Rather, what they found was that their highest-performing teams were more conversational, not less stressed. Sure enough, the feeling of psychological safety, of being valued and included, is what drove that behavioral norm.

Martin Seligman is the founder of Positive Psychology, and he named two kinds of stress: Distress, which is associated with fear, anxiety, and self-doubt, and EU stress, which is associated with goal orientation and finding the courage to embrace a challenge.

Getting people fired up to reach for extraordinary results has been the hallmark of great leaders throughout history. So EU stress or positive stress is something to encourage. And here is our opportunity as we set goals for 2025