Workplace silence is costing careers and profits

Molly Tschang argues that unspoken concerns at work can stall advancement, hide risk, and weaken team performance. Her new framework aims to help employees and leaders speak up more effectively as engagement remains low worldwide.

Why it matters: - Workplace silence can delay promotions, mask performance problems, and leave teams making decisions without shared facts. - Low engagement has a large economic cost. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2026 report found that only 20% of employees worldwide are engaged and estimated low engagement costs the global economy about $10 trillion in lost productivity, or roughly 9% of global GDP. - Career stagnation can be long-lasting. A 2026 analysis by the Burning Glass Institute and New York University’s School of Professional Studies found that about one in four white-collar workers went at least five years without a meaningful promotion or raise.

What happened: - Molly Tschang published a message arguing that workplace failures often start with the things people do not say. - Tschang tied that argument to her book, Say It Skillfully: Speak Up. Make Your Words Matter. Win Together., which she co-authored with executive coach Marshall Goldsmith. - The release promotes Tschang’s Me-You-We Framework as a practical way to handle difficult conversations at work.

The details: - Gallup reported a consistent link between engagement and productivity, profitability, and sales. - The Burning Glass Institute and NYU study covered 1.3 million professionals. - Workers whose careers stalled averaged 30% wage growth in their first decade, compared with 71% for professionals who kept advancing. - Tschang said avoided conversations can become more expensive over time because performance issues grow, resentment builds, risks go unaddressed, and teams act without needed information. - A Catalyst study cited in Tschang’s book found that 76% of employees with highly empathetic leaders were engaged, compared with 32% of employees with less empathetic leaders. - MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory found that balanced participation, active listening, and concise exchanges can be more predictive of team success than individual intelligence or talent. - The Me-You-We Framework starts with ME: lead yourself first, define the result, and choose how to show up. - The YOU step focuses on understanding another person’s reality before correcting or accusing. - The WE step aims to create a shared reality, surface quieter voices, and establish common understanding for better decisions. - Tschang also recommends avoiding responses that begin with “no,” “but,” or “however,” framing feedback as growth, acknowledging courage, admitting mistakes without excuses, and preventing dominant voices from crowding out essential perspectives. - Tschang founded Abella Consulting and Say It Skillfully. - Tschang said she has advised senior leadership teams on communication, culture, and change, and has guided executives through more than 80 mergers and acquisitions at Cisco and U.S. Filter. - Tschang now works with organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies. - Tschang’s book and online course are meant to give teams a shared language and repeatable approach for difficult conversations, stronger relationships, and better performance. - The release also promoted a free audiobook download for The Me-You-We Framework audiobook.

Between the lines: - The message is as much about business performance as communication style. The release frames speaking up as a measurable management issue, not just a soft skill. - The emphasis on shared reality suggests the deeper problem is not only conflict, but misalignment that remains hidden until it becomes costly. - The research cited points to a broader theme: engagement, empathy, and conversation quality can shape output as much as formal strategy.

What's next: - Tschang is positioning the Me-You-We Framework, her book, and her online course as tools for leaders and employees who need a repeatable way to handle hard conversations. - The release suggests organizations may use the framework to address performance, culture, and change more directly. - The free audiobook offer appears intended to expand access to the framework and attract new readers and users.

The bottom line: - In Tschang’s view, silence is not neutral. It is a hidden cost that can slow careers, weaken teams, and hurt results.