You Know You Are A Bully When…

My Mom once told me that she felt sorry for me and other Mothers in my generation because although we had far more toys that made the work easier, our most important priority, our families and in particular raising children, was far more complicated because everyone’s rules were different now.

Children in my era learned and were expected to follow the 10 commandments and although none of us are perfect, we strove to be.   When we didn’t play nicely in the sandbox, our parents loved us enough to tell us so, make us apologize and try hard not to do it again.

Lately I’ve had the unfortunate pleasure to see adults bullying other adults in business, and it makes me wonder how they could’ve been raised to maturity without learning how fundamentally wrong it is, in fact, not even recognize that they’re doing it, so when I ran across this article by Sharon Bar-David, a very talented public speaker, I thought I’d pass it along…

You Are a Bully If…

You may be a bully and not even know it. While some bullies actively target their victims in malicious, planned ways, most bullies have no clue that others view them as such! 

So, in the service of honest self-examination, I invite you to use the following questions to ascertain whether you may, unfortunately, be a bully. (Note: this is not a full, comprehensive list).

Do you ever…

1.    Withhold information from others that may affect their performance
2.    Ignore the opinions of others, especially in public
3.    Remind others repeatedly of their errors or mistakes
4.    Humiliate or ridicule other people’s work
5.    Engage in gossip and rumours
6.    Make insulting/offensive remarks about others
7.    Ignore, exclude or isolate others
8.    Persistent criticize other people’s work and effort
9.    Tease people or make sarcastic comments
10.   Demonstrate spontaneous anger (possibly raising your voice, even shouting)
11.   Claim other people’s work as yours
12.   Make practical jokes
 

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the questions, there’s a good chance that you are a bully. My suggestion: shape up ASAP! 

(PS for the effects of bullying on others and on the business, visit the Resources section on my website)