I recently spoke with a friend about a traumatic work experience. An executive had suddenly produced a long list of things they had “done wrong” and made a series of demands to their supervisor. This had blindsided my friend, and most of the list was inaccurate or misrepresented.

When they mentioned the executive was known as a “shark”, dots started connecting. There’s a simpler word for these people: Bullies.

How does an executive bully operate in the workplace?

• Lurching between effusive praise, silence, and vicious criticism.
• Delivering overwhelming lists of feedback with inaccurate items mixed in — the point is the volume, not validity.
• Omitting details from criticism (like dates or names) so it cannot be refuted.
• Talking over others and monopolizing live discussions.
• Dictating changes that directly undermine team performance, like cutting tooling budgets.
• Surprising stakeholders and partners with poorly communicated decisions.
• Dispersing “company decisions” via surrogates (not appropriate stakeholders) to sidestep controls.
• Connecting any of the above to budget or time constraints as a bargaining tactic.

You might only see a few of those (if you’re lucky). I’ve had my own run-in with this style of “leadership” that involved all of them, and my advice is simple: Focus on protecting yourself (and your team, if you’re a lead or manager). The bully only wants to maintain their facade of success and you are the rocks that need crushing to get there.

What can you do?

1. Document everything. Keep copies of relevant messages and refuse to go into meetings with them alone.
2. Talk to outside peers. It’s important to have a sounding board to support you. Don’t go it alone.
3. Report the problem (if you feel you’ll be taken seriously) to your manager and HR. They may not take action immediately, but it may help document the problem over time. You won’t be the last victim.
4. Plan for your exit (voluntary or otherwise). Resisting a bully brings swift retribution, so you need a backup plan fast.

Hiring a bully into an executive leadership role is an epic failure. Executive teams are typically slow to admit that degree of failure and will prioritize saving face over individual victims. Prepare to be questioned, gaslit, and otherwise dismissed.

I hope you never have such an experience, but if you do, recognizing the signs early and reframing the problem this way will spare you a tremendous amount of anguish.

Previously: least evil, two leaders, startup power