Tag: Abrasive Executives
Can Bullies Change?
by Jen Sellers
Is there a leader in your organization whom people are afraid of? Or who demoralizes and demotivates? Perhaps you’ve heard comments like these:
My boss is nice one minute and yelling obscenities the next.
He’s a control freak – everything has to be his way or you’re snubbed.
She gets mad when everyone isn’t willing to be superhuman and work like she does.
He constantly reams people out publicly in emails.
Often, abrasive behavior is allowed to continue indefinitely. Why? Because these leaders are generally highly valued for their business acumen or technical abilities and feared for their tendency to run rough-shod over people.
Bullying leaders know what they’re doing and don’t care, and even if they did they can’t change. Right? No! Based on the research and my own experience with leaders who exhibit abrasive behaviors, it is worthwhile for organizations to intervene.