Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit

In Chapter 17, Brown introduces Aiko Bethea’s “Anchored, Aligned, and Accountable” framework as a practical approach to creating transformative spaces—both in workplaces and personal relationships. Bethea, an attorney, executive coach, and faculty member at the Hudson Institute of Coaching, developed this three-part model after years of executive coaching and consulting work across organizations of varying sizes. Brown positions this framework as a departure from the language of “safe spaces” and “brave spaces,” which have dominated leadership and culture development conversations in recent years (328).

The core premise of Bethea’s framework rests on a critical observation: Sustainable cultural transformation cannot emerge from compliance-driven mandates or external controls alone. Instead, transformation requires individuals to engage with interpersonal friction and self-interrogation. To be “anchored” means identifying one’s core values and clarifying who one aspires to become, separate from external pressures or expectations. To be “aligned” involves ensuring that one’s actions and impact reflect those core values, creating coherence between internal intentions and external effects. To be “accountable” requires honest self-examination about whether one is living up to one’s own aspirational standards and willingness to adjust when falling short.

Bethea challenges the notion that psychological safety operates uniformly across all people. She highlights that vulnerability carries different stakes depending on one’s position, identity, and circumstances: A woman requesting help on a tech team faces different dynamics than a male colleague, just as a CEO admitting a mistake experiences different consequences than a junior employee.