Trust. Connection. Transformation. One small creative risk at a time.

“Delightful and profound, Safe Danger may be one of the most useful management books you will read this year. With its engaging stories and practical creative activities, Ben Swire offers a timeless guide to living a fuller and more innovative life while becoming a better leader.”

—Amy C. Edmondson

Novartis Professor of Leadership, Harvard Business School; author of Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well, and the researcher whose work brought the term “psychological safety” into everyday life.

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Praise for Ben Swire’s Safe Danger

  • "Ben opens the door for teams to come alive, wake up and make an impact."

    Seth Godin
    Author of This Is Strategy and
    This Is Marketing

  • "A research-backed roadmap to building more effective teams."

    Laurie Santos
    Professor of Psychology at Yale, and host of The Happiness Lab podcast

  • "A timeless guide to living a fuller and more innovative life."

    Amy Edmondson
    Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership, Harvard Business School; author of Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well, and the person whose work brought the term “psychological safety” into everyday life.

  • "A blueprint for building cultures where connection and creativity become the norm."

    Tim Brown
    Author of Change by Design and
    Chair of IDEO

  • "Doesn’t just explain the value of risk — it makes you feel it."

    Jad Abumrad
    Creator of Radiolab, More Perfect, and Dolly Parton’s America

  • "Swire is a brilliant guide to the invisible forces that shape our relationships, our creativity, our very sense of belonging."

    Jordan Harbinger
    Host of The Jordan Harbinger Show

About the Book

We all crave inspiring experiences, meaningful work, and deeper relationships. But getting there requires risk—of vulnerability, discomfort, even failure. So we stay safe… and stuck.

Safe Danger offers a different path. Drawing from psychology, design, and real-world facilitation, Ben Swire introduces a set of playful, low-stakes activities that unlock the human qualities we need most at work and home: trust, curiosity, joy, and connection.

Whether you need to inspire your team, reignite your creativity, or just get more out of your time on earth, Safe Danger offers the tools and insights you’ve been missing.

About the Author

Ben Swire is one of today’s most innovative thought leaders on company culture and workplace belonging.

An award-winning designer, writer, and former Design Lead at the iconic innovation firm, IDEO, Ben co-founded Make Believe Works, a team-building company that uses creative activities to accelerate connection, deepen trust, and fuel collaboration.

His methods have helped organizations from Fortune 500 companies to public school districts build healthy and productive workplace cultures, one playful risk at a time.

Bring Safe Danger to Your Team

Keynotes

Ben helps organizations build the kind of culture people actually want to be part of—creative, connected, and psychologically safe. A former leader at IDEO and co-founder of Make Believe Works, Ben delivers keynotes that are as practical as they are playful, showing how to unlock trust, boost retention, and spark real engagement across teams.

Workshops

At Make Believe Works, we design playful workshops that use art, joy, and storytelling to spark the kind of experiential learning that actually sticks. From Salesforce to Google tto Spotify, teams turn to us to help them build the kind of meaningful connections that fuel collaboration, creativity, and long-term success.