The Bully in the Workplace

As entrepreneurs, we have to be aware of what’s going on in our organization. As we caught up in the day to day of running the business, it’s easy to sometimes miss cues of bullying in the workplace. I had not been following this story, but the article Did Depression or an Alleged Bully Boss Prompt Editor's Suicide? by Ray Sanchez certainly tells this story in vivid detail. Most of us, as we grow our companies, don’t have the luxury of a full-time HR staff, so we have to be particularly aware of what’s going on around us and do all that we can to stop bullying in our workplace. Unfortunately, I’ve seen too many cases where the entrepreneurial owner is the bully. If that’s the case, it’s up to the Board’s or top executives of the venture to rein the offending boss in. This is one of those things that just can’t be a part of the entrepreneurial experience.