Brene Brown's advice for managers with toxic traits

In organizations where fear hides behind power, staying aware and grounded might be your strongest advantage

- Somak Ghoshal [e-mail]

Halloween is upon us, but in case you fancy a quick scare any time of the year, simply log in to the “Indian Workforce” subreddit on social media platform Reddit. It’s open season for sociopaths—365 days, 24x7.

In the last week alone, I have scrolled through some chilling nuggets, such as a manager accusing an employee of playing the “woman card” because she had taken time off to look after her father who is ill with cancer; another employee complaining that their boss hounds them on the phone every time they get up from their desk while working 9+ hour shifts from home; and a techie, who went beyond his call of duty to correct mistakes made by a rookie colleague only to get fired by the startup he works at, while the colleague in question got a promotion.

In the topsy-turvy world of work—not just in India but around the world—such behaviours are far from uncommon. Theoretically, L&D and HR functions exist to address and eradicate these toxic traits. Yet, even as generations of leaders roll along, very little seems to change for the better. I have known bosses who were champion yellers, compulsive micromanagers, and couldn't speak a sentence without an expletive in my 20-year career. If I ran a poll on LinkedIn today, chances are I'm confident I will still find a new generation of workers talking about such types 20 years later.

Which begs the question: Why are so many people emotionally dysregulated in the workplace? And how come they get away with such glaring misdemeanours?

Recently, I have been reading writer, social worker and motivational speaker Brené Brown's new book