This is the 10th anniversary of Wall Street’s financial meltdown. In my book, ‘From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire’, I indicate that the collapse could have been avoided had people in the know come forward.
This also marks the 10th anniversary of my involvement with into the whole arena of bullying in the workplace and the incivility and injustice that has resulted. Unfortunately, in terms of people feeling comfortable about exposing wrongdoing, we have regressed because in each and every one of the stories we hear every day, most have been longstanding open secrets, which suggests that although people internally talk about wrongdoings, the fear of either speaking to those in power and/or exposing injustice is still very much there.
To avoid the next catastrophe, organizational leaders need to change their cultures so that they hear what they need to hear to avoid the risk of getting exposed.