When people hear the word bullying, they imagine schoolyards, not boardrooms.
They picture teenagers, not executives.
And they definitely don’t imagine CEOs, executive, managers, or directors using their authority to control, intimidate, or dehumanize people.

But corporate bullying is real.

And the worst part?

Most companies don’t even have the vocabulary to admit it.

In school, bullying is a violation.
In the corporate world, it’s often labelled as:

• “Performance Management”
• “Assertive Leadership”
• “Driving Accountability”
• “Managing Culture”
• “Standard Disciplinary Action”
• “Personality Clash”

We give it polished names, so we don’t have to face the ugliness.

Corporate bullying isn’t always shouting or insults.
Sometimes the cleanest hands do the most damage.

It looks like:

• Denying leave as punishment
• Excluding someone from meetings where decisions about their work are made
• Deliberately withholding information needed to succeed
• Giving impossible deadlines to “prove a point”
• Disciplining someone publicly to create fear
• Moving goalposts so targets are never achievable
• Building a file of “mistakes” with the intention of dismissal
• Punishing questioning instead of incompetence
• Labelling disagreement as insubordination

In my opinion, this isn’t leadership. It’s bullying with a suit and a job title.

Not just the stereotypical “toxic boss.”
Bullying happens across the hierarchy:

• Executives
  Who weaponize fear to protect their reputation and position.
• Managers
  Who use authority to control people instead of developing them.
• Supervisors
  Who confuse dominance with respect.
• Employees
  Who bully laterally, sabotage peers, or create cliques that destroy morale.
• HR Departments
  That defend the company brand instead of defending the truth.
• The Entire Culture
  Becomes the bully, because silence becomes normal.

We like to pretend that leadership training, mission statements, and performance reviews mean something.

But the truth is this:

A company’s leadership style is not defined by the values on the wall.
It’s defined by the behaviour that is tolerated.

A code of conduct means nothing if the most powerful people are exempt.
A disciplinary code means nothing if fear becomes a management tool.
A corporate value means nothing if nobody is allowed to question it.

One of the clearest signs of a fragile leadership culture is when executives refuse to conduct company culture surveys or employee climate surveys.

They always have a reason:

• “It’s not the right time.”
• “Morale is fine, people are just emotional.”
• “We already know what the issues are.”
• “We don’t want negativity to derail operations.”
• “Our focus should be on performance, not feelings.”

But the truth is simpler and harder to swallow:

Leaders who avoid climate surveys aren’t protecting the company; they’re protecting their ego.

Because surveys aren’t mirrors.
They are diagnostic tools.

And some leaders would rather stay sick than read the diagnosis.

A real executive wants the truth, especially when it hurts.
A scared executive wants comfort, especially when it’s a lie.

Avoiding a culture survey is a message in itself

• We don’t want to know.
• We don’t want to be accountable.
• We don’t want to fix what we might be responsible for.

If employees feel unsafe telling the truth, you don’t have a culture:
You have a risk.

And if leadership fears the results, then the survey isn’t the problem:
Leadership is.

Corporate bullying thrives in environments where:

• Power is protected, not shared
• Accountability only flows downward
• Fear is cheaper than competent leadership
• Psychological safety is seen as “weakness”
• Talent is replaceable
• HR exists to protect liability, not people
• Boards and Executives prioritise stability over truth

In those companies, the message is simple:

“We want results. We don’t care how.”

And the people who can’t breathe under that pressure are labelled:

• Emotional
• Difficult
• Not Resilient
• Not a Cultural Fit

Instead of: Human Beings.

Corporate bullying doesn’t just hurt people emotionally.
It hurts the organisation financially.

It creates:

• Higher Staff Turnover
• Lower Performance
• Learned Helplessness
• Artificial Obedience
• Distrust in Leadership
• Unionisation as a Survival Mechanism
• A Talent Pipeline that Never Matures
• Revenge Cultures where Nobody Admits Mistakes

People don’t give their best when they’re afraid.
They give the minimum necessary to stay safe.

Fear may create compliance.
It never creates excellence.

Leadership is not permission to dominate.
Leadership is permission to serve with authority.

A real leader:

• Confronts performance issues without humiliation
• Creates clarity instead of chaos
• Protects standards without weaponising them
• Holds power without needing to intimidate
• Is decisive without being destructive
• Corrects behaviour without erasing dignity
• Can discipline someone without humiliating them

If you can’t correct someone without crushing them,
you’re not leading, you’re controlling.

If your success depends on people being scared of you,
you don’t have authority, you have hostages.

Many executives don’t see bullying because:

• Nobody tells the truth upwards
• Results look good on paper
• Staff are replaceable in the short term
• Ego protects the leader from reflection
• HR filters complaints before they reach the top

But ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.
It just ensures it will grow.

If you are a CEO, COO, MD, Director, Executive — ask yourself:

Is my silence protecting the company, or protecting the bully?

Because those are not the same thing.

Corporate bullying will only stop when leaders:

• Stop celebrating fear-based management
• Make psychological safety a KPI
• Train managers in emotional intelligence, not intimidation
• Redefine accountability as clarity, not punishment
• Protect the truth, not the hierarchy
• Remember that leadership is not a performance, it’s a responsibility

Accountability is not bullying.
Correction is not bullying.
High standards are not bullying.

But humiliation is.
Punishment disguised as coaching is.
Weaponizing policy to scare people is.

I don’t believe every difficult manager is a bully.I don’t believe every fired employee is a victim.I don’t believe leadership is easy or perfect.

But I do believe this:

If people have to recover from your leadership, then it wasn’t leadership.
It was harm with a title.

Corporate bullying is real.
It’s time we stop pretending it’s “just management.”

And if this topic makes you uncomfortable,
maybe that’s where your leadership journey begins.

Please note:
This is not a definitive account.
It’s the beginning of a conversation I hope you will join.