"We need to talk." A Slack message lands, and your brain has already written the worst-case ending: this is it, I'm getting fired.

That jump from four neutral words to full-blown panic takes milliseconds, and it quietly erodes trust on teams every single day. In this talk we'll show you how to recode that reflex using a method we picked up working alongside the Google community: API (Assume Positive Intent).

We'll unpack why Assume Positive Intent is the cheapest tool you have for raising your team's psychological safety, what it looks like in practice (and what it isn't; this is not naive optimism), and how to start using it before the next ambiguous message spikes your blood pressure.

Along the way, you might accidentally learn something useful about your amygdala, why staying angry is actually a decision and not the default, and (most importantly) how to break the loop.

Fair warning: side effects may include catching yourself smiling at the people around you.