When Cancel Culture Comes for Business: Leadership, Psychological Safety, and the Hidden Toll on Veterans

georgialeearts
Jul 31
4 min read

Written by Georgia Lee Arts

July 28, 2025

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." – Martin Luther King Jr.

Transitioning from military service into civilian life is often described as a battlefield. Veterans fight for employment, healthcare, and belonging, navigating systems that claim to serve them but often fall short. But what happens when the very community meant to uplift veterans becomes a source of harm?

One often-overlooked threat is cancel culture in veteran and business networks, an insidious form of community-driven exclusion that erodes trust, psychological safety, and innovation.

Cancel Culture as Community Violence

Research defines cancel culture as "collective attempts to ostracize or silence individuals or organizations deemed unacceptable by a community or social group" (Ng, 2020). While often associated with social media, it seeps into local ecosystems, business, nonprofits, and professional networks.

For veterans, already vulnerable during transition, the stakes are even higher. Studies in organizational psychology link cancel culture to:

Fear-driven conformity that suppresses creativity (Harvard Business Review, 2021)
Psychological distress and trauma reenactment (Furedi, 2020)
Breakdowns in trust and collaboration critical for business growth (Edmondson, 2019)

My Lived Experience: A Decade in the Trenches

When I left the military, I assumed I’d be “patched up,” supported, and guided into a new career path. Instead, I encountered silence from key agencies and leaders.

Years later, after launching my business, I faced a second blow: my brand, book themes, and intellectual property were co-opted by local players, even as I was excluded from the very events and networks they used to promote my own work under different names.

When I sought resolution, I was met not with dialogue but with public shaming, smear campaigns, and exclusion. Rather than fostering conflict resolution, a hallmark of leadership, my experience reflected a psychological pattern of reenactment: unhealed wounds in professional communities replayed as economic and social harm.

The Psychology Behind Cancel Culture

Cancel culture thrives in environments lacking psychological safety, a term coined by Harvard’s Amy Edmondson to describe workplaces where individuals feel safe to speak up without fear of reprisal.

Trauma Reenactment: Veterans, particularly those with military or service-related trauma, may unconsciously replicate familiar patterns of control or betrayal in civilian environments (Herman, 1992).
Envy and Scarcity Mindset: Research shows that perceived competition can trigger exclusionary behaviors, especially in smaller, close-knit networks (Exline & Zell, 2020).
Groupthink Dynamics: In veteran or business communities where leaders dominate social narratives, dissenting voices are quickly silenced to preserve cohesion—even at the cost of truth or progress (Janis, 1982).

The Hidden Cost: Innovation and Economic Growth

Cancel culture doesn’t just harm individuals, it undermines economic development. Veteran-owned businesses contribute over $984 billion annually to the U.S. economy (SBA Office of Advocacy, 2022). Yet when talented entrepreneurs are silenced or pushed out of networks:

Mentorship pipelines fracture.
Original ideas are stolen or suppressed.
Talent is denied and suppressed.
Collaboration stalls under fear and politics.

What I learned in the private sector, where my leadership was welcomed, is that innovation thrives in environments of psychological safety and ethics. Ironically, it’s often veteran spaces that lag behind in adopting these best practices.

The Leadership Solution: Replace Fear With Resolve

Cancel culture reflects leadership failure. It replaces conflict resolution with ostracism and trades integrity for control. The antidote?

Model Psychological Safety: Leaders must create environments where diverse voices, including veterans, are safe to disagree or innovate.
Implement Conflict Resolution Training: Replace "cancellation" with restorative dialogue processes.
Build Identity-Safe Spaces: Particularly for women veterans and marginalized voices, where they are seen beyond tokenism.
Prioritize Ethics Over Ego: Stop rewarding gatekeeping and political games in professional ecosystems.

As Howard Thurman wrote: "Keep fresh before me the moments of my high resolve…that I may not forget that to which my life is committed."

This is why I am a business mentor - to create bridges where cancel culture builds walls, to mentor leaders who choose integrity over image, and to equip veterans and professionals alike with the tools to navigate these fractured landscapes.

The Call to Rise

If you’ve been silenced, sidelined, or sabotaged, you are not alone. Transition is hard enough without systemic barriers and fear-driven cultures.

But we rise, not by feeding into the toxicity, but by shedding light on it, innovating beyond it, and becoming the leaders we wish we’d had.

It’s time to replace cancel culture with courageous culture.

White Paper: Moral & Structural Barriers - Women Veterans vs. Men in Business Support

References

Ng, E. (2020). No Grand Pronouncements Here…: Reflections on Cancel Culture and Digital Media Participation. Television & New Media.
Edmondson, A. (2019). The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth.
Herman, J. (1992). Trauma and Recovery.
Exline, J.J. & Zell, A.L. (2020). Envy and social exclusion: Psychological underpinnings of cancel culture. Journal of Social Psychology.
Janis, I.L. (1982). Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes.

About the Author

Georgia Lee Arts is the founder of Elysian Dream®, a veteran-owned company redefining the future of occupational wellness. She is the creator of an innovative, evidence-based, coaching framework designed to guide individuals through life and career transitions, supporting inner transformation for outer expression and professional alignment.

Her method is now being launched as a certified coach training program, ideal for HR professionals, corporate trainers, leaders at all levels, executives, educators, career coaches, consultants, creatives, solopreneurs, and organizations supporting veteran transitions. With broad applicability, the framework supports personal development and strategic identity growth across industries, life stages, and continents.

With over 34 years of cross-industry experience in leadership, training, human resources, and coaching, Georgia brings deep insight into how identity shapes success and well-being. She is the author of Dream Journey: Breaking the Dream Barriers™ – A Guide to Bridging Identity Gaps in Life and Career, a transformative resource that empowers individuals to align who they are with what they do. Through her work, Georgia helps leaders, veterans, and changemakers evolve into their highest expression - personally and professionally.

Contact: To learn more, collaborate, or inquire about certification and speaking engagements, email georgia.elysiandream@gmail.com