The Bully-Free Workplace: Stop Jerks, Weasels, and Snakes From Killing Your Organization

What's in a Label?

You obviously picked up this book for a reason, and it's likely that one or more jerks, weasels, or snakes works for or with you. It would almost be laughable—that is, if the consequences of their negativity were not so destructive to those they hurt.

What shall we call these perpetrators of organizational chaos? Here are some synonyms for bullies: aggressors, mobbers, offenders, backstabbers, saboteurs, harassers, nitpickers, control freaks, obsessive critics, terrorists, tyrants, perpetrators, and abusers.

Regardless of the names by which we refer to them, these individuals exhibit conduct far beyond acceptable workplace behavior. They act in non-normative, readily identifiable manners that stand out in extremely negative ways.

The reason you've identified a problem is because you've been able to put a label on the jerk where you work. When you say weasel, there is consensus about who fits the description. To call someone a snake speaks to the person's deviousness and backstabbing maneuvers.

Throughout this book, we will rely on the simplest of all labels—the bully. It is one we have all lived with since childhood. We shall call all perpetrators, across a wide spectrum of potential negative deeds, bullies. To us, it is no more negative to call someone a bully than it is to brand them using any of the synonyms already suggested. We use the term bully as shorthand, not to demonize. To nearly everyone, bullying means that something wrong or unacceptable was done—and ...