Walk Away to Win: A Playbook to Combat Workplace Bullying

25

Dopamine: Bullying Kills Careers

We all felt so humiliated, our work dismantled and delegitimized.

Working for an organization on a revenue moonshot can be both amazing and terrorizing. For Sawyer, it was, at its best, the most inspiring and innovative place to be, and at its worst, an environment where the misbehavior of promotion-crazed leaders ran rampant. The result was a climate of bravado, jockeying, and internal competition that, left unchecked, turned the environment toxic.

“Public humiliation was a sport at my company,” Sawyer, a steely-eyed, 21-year employee for a materials manufacturer, shared with me. “Actually, an everyday activity.”

Sawyer, in her late fifties, has an affect that is equal parts grit, grace, and goofball.

“I ...