In this episode of the Proteus Leader Show, host Erika Andersen interviews Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, Olympic gold‑medalist and CEO of the U.S. Center for Safe Sport. The conversation frames safety—physical, psychological, and emotional—as the foundational layer of Maslow’s hierarchy and a prerequisite for personal fulfillment and organizational excellence. Benita shares her upbringing in a supportive, extended‑family environment, illustrating how safety enabled her athletic success. She then describes the detrimental effects when safety is absent: low self‑esteem, imposter syndrome, risk aversion, and reduced creativity. Drawing on a recent cultural audit at SafeSport, she explains how rapid leadership turnover, exponential organizational growth, and static funding have eroded psychological safety, leading to insecurity among staff. Benita outlines concrete actions leaders can take to build safe workplaces: consistent and accountable leadership, clear vision and strategy, stakeholder listening (internal and external), unified leadership philosophy, training, wellness and Employee Assistance Programs, and transparent feedback mechanisms. The discussion also touches on the surge in reports of abuse within Olympic and Paralympic sport—interpreted as a sign of increased trust and willingness to speak up—while highlighting the challenge of matching resources to demand. The episode closes with calls to action for listeners, parents, coaches, and organizations to engage with SafeSport and for leaders to adopt safety‑focused practices.
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Welcome to the Proteus Leader Show, a podcast for forward-looking leaders driving transformation in their organizations, within their teams, or for themselves. Your host today is a senior leader at Proteus International, a firm that partners with companies around the world to make true transformation easier through change consulting, leadership development, and executive coaching. If you're looking for fresh perspectives and practical insights, can take back to work today, you're in the right place. Enjoy the episode.
Studies show that workplaces with high psychological safety have up to 50% better productivity and 76% higher engagement while reducing turnover by 27%. Why is feeling safe so important in today's organizations? Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Proteus Leaders Show. My guest today is Bonita Fitzgerald Mosley, Olympic gold medalist and the new CEO of the U.S. Center for Safe Sport. Bonita was previously the CEO of Multiplying Good and of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and has spent her career inspiring meaningful change and driving lasting results. Bonita and I are going to be talking about why safety on all levels— physical, emotional, psychological— is essential in modern organizations and how to create a safe environment that supports its members to succeed. So welcome to the show, Bonita.
Thank you, Erika. So good to see you.
Oh, I'm so happy to have you here. I have had the joy and honor of collaborating with you in a lot of different contexts over the past 2 decades. And so I'm so thrilled to have the chance to talk with you about such a critically important topic, I think, especially now.
Especially now.
Especially now. Let's jump in. So first question, these are big questions. Why is safety on every level such a necessary foundation for excellence?
I wasn't a psychology major, but having been a leader for many years now, I've been introduced to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The base of the pyramid is all your physiological needs, food and shelter and health. And all that kind of stuff. But right above that on that pyramid is safety and security. It's so important for people to feel safe and supported in their life pursuits so that then they can focus on their career and family and love relationships and friendships. It is the baseline for individuals to be able to have a fulfilling and meaningful and successful life. For me personally, I grew up in a family where my father was a guidance counselor, my mother was a teacher and administrator, and they were both loving parents. But I had not only them, but my mother was the youngest of 11 siblings, my dad was one of 8, so I had a total of 17 aunts and uncles around me, dozens of cousins on both sides.
This loving family.
And then my parents didn't live near necessarily their siblings, but we saw them all the time. But they had developed friendships with people in our community so that I looked at like surrogate mothers and fathers, and their children were like cousins to me as well. And so I always felt safe. I always felt supported and loved. When I achieved anything, it was like the whole village achieved it, right?
Yeah.
Before we had social media, the phones would light up and people would come and celebrate. And gosh, when I won my gold medal and the people that came out when I got to run the Olympic torch down Bonita Fitzgerald Drive in my community. So I just felt this genuine love and care everywhere I went in my community, in my school, in my family, in my extended family and friendships. Yeah.
Yeah.
And so for me, the success I feel like I've enjoyed in my life personally has also been because at the very basic, need that was fulfilled for me. That safety. Yeah.
What a wonderful example of just that web of safety that allowed you to not worry, to just do your best and achieve your best.
Yeah. And even as an athlete, I may have experienced tangentially people having some challenges around safety with coaches and officials, et cetera. But for me personally, all my coaches just They had the utmost respect for me and I for them. And I never felt any way unsafe with anybody that coached me.
Oh, that's so fortunate. So then let's go to the dark side. In your experience, what happens when people don't feel safe in sports, at work, or in any environment? What happens in a person when what you're describing isn't there?
Yeah. So I think when that basic need is not met, I think the first place that you feel it personally is this feeling of low self-esteem, this insecurity, this inability in many ways to take risks, to take chances, to dream big, to go after the things that you're dreaming. People talk about imposter syndrome a lot. People talk about low self-esteem means friction and trouble. My husband told me that years ago, and it sticks with me, that oftentimes we encounter bosses or colleagues or friends who, who lash out at people who are not nurturing and supportive and providing that safe environment for other people because they in turn are not feeling safe and supported. And so I think it comes out in all kinds of different ways, but I think the first place it starts is that self-esteem and self-confidence, or the lack thereof.
That makes all the sense in the world. So this wonderful environment you grew up in that you're describing where you just felt supported Supported and free and safe. So if somebody doesn't have that, it would make sense that what they would start to feel is self-protective.
Yes.
If the environment isn't taking care of me, I'm gonna have to take care of myself. And everything you're saying about taking risks and dreaming big, you can't do that if you're the one who's in charge of making sure that you're okay.
Yeah. And honestly, we did a cultural audit in our organization recently, and this idea of psychological safety came to the fore in understanding some of the challenges that have developed because we've had 3 CEOs in less than a year. I'm the 3rd. And so with the change in leadership and changes of direction, it creates some insecurity among the team and feeling an inability to really be fully themselves and take those risks that we want employees to take.
Yeah.
As far as pushing the envelope to move the organization forward, we need your ideas, we need your innovation, we need you to push the envelope. And that takes a certain amount of risk to do that when the leadership is changing and shifting and the focus and priorities are changing and shifting.
And in that situation where sometimes that can't be avoided, and also in situations where even if people are around for a long time, they're not creating that kind of safe environment that you're talking about. And just exactly what you said, It turns out that one of the first things that goes away when people don't feel psychologically safe is their ability to be creative and innovative. That is all about taking risks. And if you don't know what's going to happen if you step out of your comfort zone, you're not going to step out of your comfort zone.
Or in some cases, if your hand has been popped a couple of times, you've been shut down, or your ideas were not embraced. And so that tells you, okay, don't go there, stay small. Don't rock the boat.
Exactly. So then this leads perfectly into my third question, which is, we always say we're going to be practical in these podcasts. From your point of view, all this experience, and now, you know, being the CEO of SafeSport, what can leaders do starting right now to create an environment of physical, psychological, emotional safety in their organizations and in their part of an organization?
Yeah, so I think it takes a lot. I do think that having that consistency in the leadership, people that you can count on to lead, having a clear vision and strategy for the organization that everybody can rally behind and focus on, understanding how what I do on a daily basis contributes to the overall success of the organization. So I'm understanding this too. Again, coming into this organization brand new, trying to peel back the onion of what's transpired recently, and particularly over the past year as these leadership shifts have happened. What's the collateral damage as a result of that? And then rebuilding. And we've hired Proteus, not a commercial, but we have to help us do some stakeholder listening.
Yeah.
And that data both the internal stakeholder engagement as well as external, will help us lay the groundwork for this new vision and strategy for the organization that we'll build upon and execute the second half of the year and for the next year or 2 after that. And I think that gives people a solid foundation.
Yeah.
And then on top of that, SafeSport has grown exponentially fast. It was created by a statute in 2017, so by federal law. And so it's been 9 years since we've been in existence and went from a couple of employees to now 150 employees, went from a couple of hundred reports of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse in Olympic and Paralympic sports. So we oversee the 13 million participants in those sports and organizations, from 200 reports to last year, 9,000 reports. That's less than 1,000 a month, right? 9,000 in 2025. We are averaging now over 1,000 a month in 2026. So on track to potentially have 12,000 reports by the end of this year. So you can see this rapid growth that's happening.
Yes.
And so understanding that we as an organization are just changing and maturing so much. And so hiring people, new people, elevating people into roles, but without necessarily having all the requisite management training and leadership training. And so now I think for organizations ensuring young like we are, or more mature, that as you hire and promote people, ensuring that you have a common philosophy around leadership and management, that you—
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Train people against that. You hold people accountable for how they behave, not just how well they execute their jobs, but how well they treat their employees, how well they interact with their colleagues and even their managers, right? Because that's important. And then another thing I would say is just having a corporate wellness program that really undergirds the ability for people to Give all they've got in the workplace, but to have the resources in case they encounter an area where they're not feeling so safe. They have an outlet, one, to express that. Is there some kind of either anonymous or direct feedback loop for employees to express that they're having some challenges so it gets to management and they can handle it? And then there's the ability to create these programs so that people can take advantage of them when they're not feeling so great.
Yeah.
You have all kinds of EAP programs and Making sure people feel good and ability to take the time off, whether it's sick leave or wellness time or PTO. So I think creating those environments in an organization is really important.
I also wanted to pick up on one thing you said, because I think it's really important. You talk about how the incidence of reports of this kind of psychological or emotional or physical abuse are rising. And I assume that doesn't mean that it's happening more often. It means that people are more willing to say that—
To say something. Yeah, I think so.
And I think that's a big part. Now that you guys have been around for a little while, people are starting to trust and feel safe that, okay, if I report this, something positive will happen. I think that's an important thing too, just creating an environment where people can say difficult things.
Yes. And so that's happening certainly in SafeSport. I do hope, in fact, that it's not more prevalent, but that they're feeling— there's more awareness.
Yeah.
And more permission to speak up when you see something, say something, and then obviously when you experience something yourself. And we're definitely seeing an increase, and I would imagine that will continue.
Yeah.
The challenge for us is to ensure that we have the appropriate resources to be able to continue satisfying the demand.
Yeah.
As it's growing exponentially, our funding unfortunately hasn't. grown exponentially. It's remained static. And part of my job is to uncover additional resources and funding for the organization where we may not have either had to do it before or didn't necessarily focus on that particular area.
That's important to know too. Oh, thank you for sharing that. Oh, Bonita, whenever we have any conversation, I always feel like, can we just keep talking for 3 hours? We can't. We always promise we'll keep it short and sweet. So I'm thrilled you're doing this wonderful work. I know we're just scratching the surface. So listeners, you can find out more about Benita and about the Center for Safe Sport at uscenterforsafesport.org.
And I know that many of your listeners probably are parents of young people participating in sport, maybe even within the Olympic movement. And so you have participated or your child has. Or if you're a coach taking SafeSport training, we thank you for your participation. And if you don't know about it and you are involved in some way, ensure that you get online, learn about it, and hold your organizations, teams, leagues accountable to being a part of this movement.
Oh, that's great. Thank you. And also, listeners, to find out how Proteus supports leaders to create safer, better organizations, you can just go to proteus.com. International.com and click on what we do. So thank you so much, Bonita.
Thanks, Erika.
And thank you everyone for listening. And until next time, here's to creating the life you truly want.
Thanks for listening to the Proteus Leader Show. We hope you're leaving with ideas you can put to use on your team, in your organization, or in your own career. To learn more about how we support true transformation through change consulting, leadership development, and executive coaching, visit us at Proteus-International.com. Until next time.
