Strong Leadership Masked As Bullying

Let’s face it, being a leader is hard. It comes with pressures of performance that can easily lead to stress and negative outputs on others – often that negativity spills in the direction of those we are leading. In its worst cases, strong leaders begin to mimic the schoolyard bully. Yet, unlike the bullying we think of from school days, corporate bullying can be subtle, relentless, and highly damaging. It usually involves a person in power targeting an employee or group. The worst part? It’s pervasive.

Is it just me or is there an influx of meanies out there? Hear me out. I understand kindness is not a guarantee. Everyone is entitled to bad days. We are all working through different levels of challenge and trauma. But do we all have to be so mean? In the age of online trolls, online arguing, misinformation and disinformation, it’s becoming common to bear witness to bullying. But bullying is not only happening online – it often passes for good leadership in corporate spaces.

According to Harvard Business Review, 30 percent of U.S. workers – 48.6 million Americans – are bullied in the workplace. Internationally the reports are much higher at 46 percent in India – that’s nearly half of the workforce impacted by the toxicity of corporate bullying behaviors.

What Does Bullying at Work Look Like?

Years ago, I reported to a leader whose favorite word was no. No, we can’t do that. No, that’s not approved. No, I won’t help with that project. No, you’re not good at that. No, I can’t trust you with that client. At the time, I did not see it as bullying. She was simply a hard manager to work under. But a wiser, older me realizes corporate bullying comes in many forms, and it’s not always obvious. Here are a few examples:

1. Verbal abuse: Insults, yelling and publicly humiliating employees. A manager who constantly belittles or shames someone is crossing the line, often when that line is unclear.
2. Unreasonable workloads: Giving someone an impossible amount of work or insane deadlines is bullying, too.
3. Exclusion: Leaving someone out of important meetings or office events is another tactic. It’s a way to isolate them, making them feel and be perceived as an outsider.
4. Undermining: This can be as sneaky as sabotaging someone’s work or discrediting their ideas. It’s all about limiting their success.
5. Abuse of power: Supervisors who overtly or covertly use their authority to unfairly criticize employees are bullies in disguise. They may weaponize performance reviews or job threats.

The Cost Of Corporate Bullying

The effects of corporate bullying are significant. For individuals, it leads to emotional stress, anxiety and a loss of self-worth. Most employees will not stay working for a corporate bully. Ever hear that people quit managers, not just organizations? Research shows that 71 percent of bullying targets leave their job to escape the toxic environment. Physical health also takes a hit as victims of workplace bullying are more likely to experience insomnia, headaches, and depression.

The damage doesn’t stop there. A toxic work environment affects everyone. Morale drops and productivity goes with it. According to the same data from Harvard Business Review, 20 percent of U.S. companies have high turnover rates due to toxic leadership or bullying, costing businesses millions in recruitment and lost productivity. Plus, companies that tolerate bullying risk hurting their reputation, making it harder to hire and retain talent.

Have We Become Desensitized To Corporate Bullying?

Even though corporate bullying is harmful, many workplaces ignore it. Why? Part of the problem is that we have become numb to it. Like harmful trolls and negative conversation online, high-pressure environments often present bullying behaviors as “normal” or just part of the job. And culture. Like I did with my difficult, demanding boss – bullying leaders might be labeled “tough,” or exclusion may be shrugged off as “office politics.”

Over time, people start to accept this behavior as the cost of doing business. Subtle bullying—like undermining or passive-aggressive comments—often goes unnoticed or even rewarded. In competitive industries, where results are queen, bullying is tolerated because it's seen as a necessary evil to meet goals, often translating to superior leadership.

Breaking The Cycle

To stop corporate bullying, we need a culture shift. Companies must prioritize creating safe, inclusive work environments. It’s about more than just having policies on paper—leaders need to recognize and address bullying in all its forms, even the subtle ones.

Organizations that create clear pathways for addressing issues of bullying show workers that their well-being is just as important as the bottom line.

Corporate bullying doesn’t have to be part of the job. It’s time to call it what it is—abuse—and demand better, more inclusive workplaces where everyone knows they are respected for the work they do. Only then can we create environments where people and the organizations they occupy can truly thrive.

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Photo by Dmitry Vechorko on Unsplash