Statement 8 August 2022

Last week (4th August 2022) I was the victim of a targeted social media pile-on.

This was combined with some family-related hospital visits and resultant anxiety that the instigator was aware of before posting a mistaken suggestion that I had plagiarised their work in a sketch that I included in my newsletter many months ago.

This sketch is not, by any definition of the word, plagiarism. There are four key points I feel compelled to make:

• The two models (my sketch, and their academic paper) are materially different. 

• I’ve been using and evolving this model for many years now. The first iteration was around 2018. The paper that I am accused of plagiarising came out in 2021.

• I don’t claim ownership or any rights over the model. It’s simply a sketch that came out of my head, and into the world. Everyone is free to use it and change it as you please. I don’t intend to retain copyright over it. My goal is to help everyone make work psychologically safer, not to gatekeep ideas.

• If you google “psychological safety pyramid”, many other people have had the same idea as well. It is not unique. It is also possible for different people to come up with similar ideas at similar times. In academia, this is called “simultaneous discovery”.

You are also perfectly entitled to not believe a single word I say. In which case I will only point out that I have nothing to gain from plagiarising someone’s work on psychological safety. Sharing other people’s work, with due reference and attribution, is literally what I do, week after week, in my newsletter. I’m passionate about proper attribution and recognition.

As a result of the accusation, I’ve received cruel and hurtful comments, messages, posts about me, and even threats. This has hurt me and my loved ones deeply and added a huge amount of stress and anxiety to a period of our lives that should be joyful and calm.

Previous to this incident, I have shared this person’s research widely, recommended their work, amplified their voice, and provided them with a platform, where we had a wonderful conversation together. I’m only sorry I couldn’t do more. 

I will continue to do what I can to amplify the voices of people who are less heard in this field, but I will not let my positive intent be taken advantage of, and I do not tolerate online abuse. 

I will not name the person who instigated this, as the last thing I want is any harm to come to them. I simply hope that they refrain from further attacks, find peace, and have a happy and fulfilling life. If they’re reading this, please know that I care about you. I’m sure that this level of harm was not your intent.

I also want to sincerely thank all the wonderful people who reached out to me when they saw what was happening, and provided words of support, care and love. You know who you are and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

This is my only and final statement on the issue. I will not engage, discuss or debate this any further. 

Final note: any abusive messages have been (and any more that I, or my family, receive will be) forwarded to the sender’s employer and if necessary, the police.