
The Bully Everyone Has Learned to Live With
The most dangerous workplace bully isn’t the one who occasionally has an outburst in front of everyone. It’s the one everyone has quietly learned to accommodate. Tolerated workplace bullying damages the person targeted and costs organizations talent, trust, and credibility. As an executive coach, I’m trained to stay neutral during a coaching session. My job is to help clients think clearly, not tell them what to do. But every so often, a highly accomplished woman sits across from me describing treatment that makes neutrality feel impossible: screaming, public humiliation, stolen credit, profanity, her competence questioned in front of peers. And then