Some of us respond well to carrots and even better to sticks. Yet, there is a fine line between stick and bully.

It’s easy to tell the two apart, if you remember your horse and buggy days. The purpose of the stick is to get you somewhere else.

And bullying? Well, let’s first define it. Bullying is repeated nasty attempts by one person to get power over another. Bullying thrives on an imbalance of power, however engineered.

Surprise, surprise. The typical organization is designed as a hierarchy of imbalanced power. Add relentless pressure to perform and we have a perfect bully factory.

You see, the purpose of corporate bullying is not to get somewhere, as is the way of the stick. Its purpose is to make someone in a position of power feel better about being so inadequate at wielding that power.

What does corporate bullying get you? Your best people out the door.

Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.