The Cost of Workplace Bullies and Tyrants

Workplace bullies and incompetent, tyrannical bosses cost companies millions in lost productivity, decreased morale, and turnover.  Robert Sutton has written two great books called The No A**hole Rule and Good Boss, Bad Boss.

Sutton describes in these books just how toxic environments can become when people spiral out of control and become tyrants who thrive on nothing but making others miserable.

A couple of the most telling quotes from these book are as follows;

"To qualify as a certified a--hole: a person needs to display a history of episodes that end with one "target" after another feeling belittled, put down, humiliated, disrespected, oppressed, de-energized, and generally worse about themselves." Robert Sutton

This next quote resonates with me - I've worked with people a few times in my career who match this description exactly!

"Two-faced backstabbers like my colleague, those who have enough skill and emotional control to save their dirty work for moments they can't get caught, are tougher to stop - even though they do as much damage as a raging maniac." Robert Sutton

Businesses need to be more keen on weeding out these type of people BEFORE they join an organization.  Once they are in, its hard to extricate them unless you can document, discipline, and then dismiss them.

"The difference between how a person treats the powerless vs the powerful is as a good a measure of human character as I know." Robert Sutton