Key points

People don’t just want to fit in, they want to feel felt for who they are.

Relational leadership means holding the paradox that accountability and belonging can coexist.

We all can build belonging through repair, appreciation, buffers, and consistency.

When employees feel they belong, they don’t just strengthen culture, they grow it.

In How to Train Your Dragon —the 2010 animated film and the surprisingly good 2025 live-action remake—a young Viking named Hiccup lives in a village that equates worth with how well you can slay dragons.

But Hiccup is awkward, curious, and terrible at fighting—everything his father and classmates wish he would change. Yet when he starts to outwit the dragons, those who once mocked him begin to welcome him. He begins to fit in, but he still d

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