I was reminded of The Chimp Paradox recently after watching the documentary about Sir Chris Hoy and his terminal prostate cancer diagnosis.
At the height of his cycling career, Hoy worked closely with Professor Steve Peters to manage pressure, fear and performance. When faced with the most serious challenge of his life, he reached out to the same person again. Not for tactics or reassurance, but to help him manage what was happening in his head.
That detail matters.
Sir Chris Hoy understands the importance of preparation better than most people. And yet, when confronted with uncertainty and fear, he recognised that logic alone would not be enough. I see the same pattern repeatedly when people are threatened.
🧠 The Brain Reacts Before Advice Arrives
When someone receives abuse, fixation or a threat, their emotional brain reacts instantly. This happens before advisers are consulted, before security assessments are written, and before anyone explains that the risk is low.
That emotional brain – what Steve Peters calls the Chimp – exists to keep us alive. It does not assess probability. It does not read reports. Once triggered, it scans constantly for danger and fills gaps with worst-case thinking.
This is why clients can still feel deeply unsafe even after being told the threat is not genuine or is being managed.
From the outside, their response may look excessive.
From the inside, it feels essential.
👉 This is the point at which safety and security quietly diverge.
🗣️ Why Reassurance Often Misses the Mark
In trust environments, reassurance is often the default response. Phrases such as “there’s nothing to worry about” or “this happens all the time” are meant to calm.
In reality, they often do the opposite.
When fear is active, the emotional brain hears these statements as dismissal. Saying “they don’t have the capability” without explaining why – or what would change that assessment – leaves a vacuum that fear quickly fills. Comments like “we’ve dealt with far worse” shift the focus away from the client and can leave them feeling isolated.
Even “trust us, it’s being handled” can increase anxiety if the person does not understand what “handled” actually means.
💡 Calm does not come from certainty. It comes from clarity.
🚨 When Security Makes People Feel Worse
There is another uncomfortable truth advisers should be aware of.
Escalating visible security without addressing psychology can make people feel less safe. More guards, tighter controls and constant briefings can reinforce the idea that danger must be serious — otherwise, why would all this be happening?
I have worked with clients who slept worse once protection increased. Not because the measures were wrong, but because nobody explained properly what they meant, what they did not mean, and what would cause them to change.
Without that understanding, fear fills the gap.
🧩 What Actually Helps
The advisers who manage this well tend to do a few simple things consistently:
✔️ They normalise the emotional response rather than questioning it.
Hearing “anyone in your position would feel like this” calms far more effectively than being told not to worry.
✔️ They explain their thinking, not just their conclusions.
Walking a client through why a threat is assessed as low, what indicators are being monitored, and what would change that view gives the rational brain something solid to hold.
✔️ They restore a sense of control.
Fear reduces when people know what they can influence and what will happen next if circumstances shift.
🔍 Understanding Both Sides of the Equation
This psychological lens also applies to adversaries.
Many individuals who cause fear are emotionally dysregulated themselves. They are driven by grievance, fixation and perceived injustice. Reaction and impact often reinforce their behaviour. Overreaction can unintentionally reward it.
Measured, structured responses reduce both actual risk and emotional harm.
🤝 Why This Matters in Trust Environments
Feeling unsafe does not mean someone is unsafe. But unmanaged fear becomes a risk in its own right.
It affects sleep, judgement, confidence and decision-making. For prominent individuals, this can quietly influence business decisions, family dynamics and well-being long before any physical harm is even contemplated.
Sir Chris Hoy understood that mastering fear was not about denying it, but about understanding how the brain behaves under pressure.
Good threat management does not just prevent harm. It helps people think clearly again. And when people think clearly, trust holds.
That is where real safety begins.
📘 If this perspective resonates, these themes are explored in greater depth in Personal Threat Management, where I look at how understanding behaviour – not just building defences – helps people feel genuinely safer
