The James Comey Guide for Bullied Employees and Whistleblowers

As an expert in workplace dynamics, I was struck by how today’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing with former FBI Director James Comey was really an issue aboutworkplace wrongdoing and a bully boss. While a few of the senators asked pointed questions about the Russian investigation and, perhaps in the effort of obfuscation, Hillary Clinton, the questions centered on why Comey was fired.  Comey’s answers really made me sit up and take notice—they were a master class in what to do when dealing with a bully or the need to become a whistleblower.

1. Trust Your Instincts

When Donald Trump sent the attorney general and the vice president out of the Oval Office in order to talk privately to Comey, red flags popped up in Comey’s head. Additional concerns were raised when Trump changed the reason he had fired the FBI director. This is where the skills of emotional intelligence are vital—understanding the mood and tenor of a situation will let you know when to be on your guard.

2. Keep a Paper Trail

Given the red flags and his solo meeting with Trump, Comey felt compelled to keep a detailed account of every interaction they had. This was unnecessary under presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, who only spoke to Comey on rare occasions and never improperly. Because he kept a paper trail, investigators can now use the documents to get to the truth.

3. Try Not to Be Alone with the Bully Boss

It‘s important to have witnesses when malfeasance happens. Comey knew that Trump’s request to have a meeting alone was highly improper and went to great lengths to keep it from happening again. This is also why he celebrated the idea that there might be tapes.

4. Go to Independent Investigators Outside Your Company

Comey gave the detailed memos he wrote to Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller III for his investigation for a good reason. According to the New York Times: “I woke up in the middle of the night on Monday night, ‘cause it didn’t dawn on me originally that there might be corroboration for our conversation; there might be a tape,” Mr. Comey said, referring to May 15. “And my judgment was I needed to get that out in the public square so I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter. Didn’t do it myself for a variety of reasons but I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel. So I asked a close friend of mine to do it.”

For more information about dealing with bully bosses and protecting yourself if you need to become a whistleblower, please read my book, From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire.

Photo credit: CNN

Issues at Uber Debunks Study that Social Responsibility is Bad for Business

It’s time for Uber to move out of the line of fire or risk losing the company. There’s a reason that I used that phrase in the title of my book, From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire. Too often when companies install a culture of bullying and personal harassment they need to get rid of the bullies at the top in order to survive. 

Uber has given me no end of issues to write about recently and today isn’t any exception; the New York Times reports that 20 employees have been fired following a sexual harassment investigation. The outside law firm Perkins Coie was hired to look into 215 allegations of harassment, discrimination and bullying and found reason to take action in 58 cases. According to the Times, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is also looking into workplace culture as part of a larger investigation.

When you add these firings to the massive exodus of top executives, including the company president, the heads of finance and product, the East Coast general manager and high-level engineers, Uber begins to look like a car wreck. This news follows shocking revelations about sexual harassment revealed by a former female engineer and the suicide of an African-American engineer.

Uber’s troubles directly contradicts studies such as the one conducted by Florida Atlantic University College of Business that report corporate social responsibility as bad for shareholders. Consistent malfeasance and bullying in the workplace doesn’t seem to be doing much to bolster Uber. Isn’t it time to set aside the teachings of Milton Friedman and Harvard Business School that only shareholders count and start building psychologically healthy, safe, fair and productive workplaces?

Illustration credit: MMM

Employers Ignore Smoldering Workplace Issues at Their Own Peril

We’ve been riding a wave of senseless attacks recently, but the latest workplace shooting near Orlando, FL had indicators that had they been heeded, might have prevented tragedy.

Yesterday a former employee of Fiamma Inc. killed himself and five former colleagues. I’ve written extensively about the smoldering powder keg that is the emotionally compromised employee in my book, From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire. Employees who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder due to bullying at work can be emotionally fragile and dangerous to themselves and/or others if they don’t have an opportunity to receive mental health care and address workplace issues. There certainly were indicators that something was wrong with this individual given that he was arrested in 2014 for workplace violence, even though no charges were filed.  Former colleagues reported other incidents of violence as well, which led to his being fired.

Whether the shooter was motivated by unresolved issues of workplace bullying or had other problems, it was the responsibility of the company to help him find help in order to protect all of its employees. No amount of cost saving or shareholder appeasing should come before the very lives of those who make the company run.

Photo credit: BIGSTOCK

Is the Pressure for Profits Making Airlines Unsafe?

The endless quest for short-term results continues to create toxic workplace cultures. In just the latest in a seemingly endless string of bad news about airlines, United Airline is about to be slapped with a massive fine from the Federal Aviation Administration for flying a Boeing 787 without inspecting a repair. In fact, the plane flew 23 domestic and international flights before making sure the fuel pressure switch replacement was working properly. According to the New York Times, two of those flights were after the FAA notified United that it still needed to complete the inspection.  

This sort of employee behavior is often due to pressure to impress shareholders. I fear that United may be expecting employees to make short cuts to reduce costs. This situation requires a full independent investigation to protect the safety of the passengers. After the April overbooking fiasco where a Kentucky doctor was dragged off an overbooked plane and injured, can United really afford to do any less?

Andrew Faas is the author of From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire.

Illustration credit: Signe Wilkinson, Philadelphia Daily News

On a Train in Portland Three Heroes Rise

The best of our nation stood against the worst on a homebound commuter train in Portland, Oregon on Friday, May 26. By now I’m sure you’ve heard the story of white terrorist Jeremy Christian stabbing three men who came to the aid of two girls he was intimidating.

According to CNN, Destinee Magnum, an African-American teenager, was riding the train with a friend who was wearing a hijab when Christian became abusive and started screaming at them.  When a fellow passenger tried to calm him down, he grew more abusive and the girls tried to move to the back of the train. That’s when Ricky John Best, a military veteran, and Taliesin Myrdin Namkai-Meche, a recent college graduate, stepped in and told the assailant that he wasn’t allowed to intimidate the girls. In a minute, Portland State University student Micah Fletcher also stood up for the girls. According to eyewitness accounts, Christian pulled a knife from his pocket and started stabbing the three men in the throat. Best tried to stop him, was attacked and died immediately.

In the resulting melee, passengers fled the train, but some stayed to help. Namkai-Meche told a woman who used her shirt for a bandage and held his hand, “Tell everyone on this train that I love them.” He died when he arrived at the hospital.

Fletcher survived the attack and was released from the hospital after surgery. The Muslim-American community raised nearly a half-million dollars for his hospital bills, as well as for the families of Best and Namkai-Meche. Fletcher expressed his gratitude, but said in a video that it was far more important to make sure the two girls were taken care of. “We need to remember that this is about those little girls.  …They are the real victims here. Their lives will never be the same.”

As Nicholas Kristof wrote in the New York Times, what unites these three men who showed remarkable leadership was decency.  I applaud Kristof’s suggestion about Best, “He fell on the battlefield of American values. He deserves the chance to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.”

This is what it means to be a witness, protector, defender, activist, resister and revolutionist. It’s taking a stand against allowing the abnormal to become normal. Fletcher, who is a gifted poet, put it best in a Facebook post after his surgery:

"I am alive,

I spat in the eye of hate and lived.

This is what we must do for one another

We must live for one another

We must fight for one Mother

We must die in the name of freedom if we have to.

Luckily it's not my turn today."

How could anyone not be inspired to stand alongside them?

Photo credit: WTVR

Don Quixote, Hero of the Resistance, and the Danger of Not Tilting at Windmills

Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno defined quixotic pessimism as the refusal to let the odds of success determine the value of the fight, according to Mariana Alessandri’s opinion piece that ran on Memorial Day in the New York Times. This is a truth we should consider anew as the injustices and dangers of the Trump administration continues to add up. As Alessandri points out, the worthiest causes of all are often the lost ones.

The word “quixotic,” you might recall, is derived from the Miguel de Cervantes romantic hero, Don Quixote de la Mancha. Don Quixote had a fondness for tilting at windmills, believing them to be giants ravishing the countryside. His loyal squire, Sancho Panza, was constantly trying to talk the noble knight out of his obsession. But it was Panza, not Quixote, who was the lost one. Panza had no interest in trying—his defeat in life was absolute.

Instead, we must use our quixotic pessimism as a shield and charge onward against those windmill-sized dangers. Alessandri writes, “Cultivating moral courage amounts to learning to shift our attention away from those who confuse criticism for action toward our own judgment of what is worthwhile, based on thinking a whole lot about what kind of world we would like to live in and the kinds of people we’d like to be. It is worth noting that Quixote went mad from reading books, and this is precisely the type of crazy that Unamuno supports. We may not be able to improve the world, but we can at least refuse to cooperate with a corrupt one.”

I would charge all revolutionists and resisters to embrace quixotic pessimism. As Mohandes K. Ghandi said, “…it is possible for a single individual to defy the whole might of an unjust empire to save his honor, his religion, his soul and lay the foundation for the empire’s fall or its regeneration.” We just have to keep attacking those windmills.

Andrew Faas is the author of From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire

Photo credit: BIGSTOCK

The New Economic Reality: Smoke and Mirrors as a Substitute for Substance

We are losing sight of the difference between presentation and reality, what we say we do and what we actually do. The ascendance of the Trumps has given rise to a society where branding trumps substance. There’s no better example than Ivanka Trump, who is touted as a savvy, Wharton-educated businesswoman, but who is in reality an heiress employed by her billionaire father. Her icy beauty is part of her brand dedicated to having it all—a loving family, a flourishing career and magazine-cover good looks. The truth is that she, like her father, are living off the proceeds of an inheritance while contributing precious little of lasting value to the greater world.

This sort of style over substance is everywhere in our culture right now.  As Carina Chocano discusses in the New York Times Magazine’s First Words column, “We are now expected to favor the story over reality, to accept that saying a thing makes it so.” For example, the Wells Fargo debacle had its roots in projecting a new image in banking that placed “storytelling” over promotion. This “story” resulted in employees being pressured to create millions of fake customer accounts in order to collect additional fees. No wonder this era is being described as a kleptocracy. This is far beyond false advertising—we are in a scam economy where advertising is used to cover up abusing customers and employees.

There is grave danger in letting this go unremarked. The scam economy is generating a groundswell of discontent and anger and an appetite for dystopian fiction that mirrors our own despair. People do not trust the establishment, the elite, or the capitalist system that props up this undeserved privilege. It’s time for business to take a stand and for companies to do an independent audit to reconcile that what they pontificate, promote and advertise conforms to reality. It’s fine to build your dreams in the clouds but no nation will last long built of smoke and mirrors.

Andrew Faas is the author of From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire

Where are the Waldos?

Do you remember the children’s puzzle books, Where’s Waldo? by British illustrator Martin Handford?You would have to find the skinny guy in the red-striped shirt and glasses in a thickly populated illustration.  The Board of Directors at Uber are starting to remind me of this popular series. No matter how hard they look they can’t seem to find someone to take responsibility for what goes on in the company.

I’ve written quite a lot about Uber this year, from the shocking revelations of sexual harassment made by a former employee, to the assurances of board member Arianna Huffington that the company had no systemic problems, to the heartrending suicide of one of their engineers, Uber has been dominating the business news. Now they’re again grabbing headlines, this time for pocketing millions of dollars of drivers’ commissions due to a “miscalculation.” The company has been basing its percentage on a driver’s entire fare, rather than what the driver makes after taxes. Uber spokeswoman Rachel Holt has issued a statement according to the New York Times that “We are committed to paying every driver every penny they are owed — plus interest — as quickly as possible,” but I have to wonder how a company of this size could make not only this mistake, but expect drivers to pay the taxes on fares instead of passing that cost on to the customer.

Where is the board’s oversight in this? Either they’re ignorant of what is going on here and therefore negligent, or they’re complicit. The solution is simple. Rather than trying to find a chief operating officer to babysit CEO Travis Kalanick, they’d be better off replacing him. The buck, like their fares, has to stop somewhere.

 Andrew Faas is the author of From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire

Illustration credit: Where's Wally at Wemberley?

Roger Ailes Built an Empire by Bullying Monica Lewinsky

Long before women on Fox News came forward to reveal the systemic sexism and sexual harassment encouraged, and inflicted, by Chairman Roger Ailes, there was Monica Lewinsky. If you remember her as the coed temptress who inspired the hanky-panky of a horndog president, there’s a reason for that. It was a narrative Ailes created to drive ratings.

Ailes recognized Bill Clinton’s lies about his involvement with Lewinsky as a ripe opportunity to exploit the situation to bring new viewers to Fox News. He cared little about the truth and even less about the individuals involved. What he did care about was a ratings bonanza and he relentlessly pushed the story creating the beginning of the disinformation age—what Stephen Colbert would later call, “truthiness.” Ailes bullied Lewinsky in prime time and got rich off her misery.

It’s no surprise then that Lewinsky just wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times titled, “Roger Ailes Dream was My Nightmare.” She reiterated what I’ve been discussing for weeks—that Ailes created a culture at Fox News that was so toxic that women had nowhere to go to report abuse. No surprise when you realize that his network’s success was created by disparaging a woman. I say “Brava!” to Lewinsky for having the courage to give the most appropriate eulogy to a bully.

Hopefully, there are some lessons on bullying for the rest of us from this debacle. We must learn not to vilify women for their proximity to powerful men assuming that they, and not the man, must be to blame. That goes equally for interns and former first ladies. Imagine if we had held Ailes accountable for what he did to Lewinsky? We might have prevented the very atmosphere that castigated Hillary Clinton and promoted the rise of Donald Trump. We can only hope history will forgive us.  

Photo credit: Huffington Post

Compassion and Power Can Coexist in Successful Leaders

Can power be a source of compassion? We’re so used to seeing bad behavior from people in power we’ve forgotten that real leaders also serve their subordinates. This is one of the reasons the Faas Foundation is partnering with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence on the Emotion Revolution in the Workplace study—to help leaders use the tools of emotional intelligence to create psychologically healthy, safe and fair workplaces.

An insightful article in the New York Times, “When Power Makes Leaders More Sensitive,” by Matthew Hutson explores how leaders might avoid power’s often corrupting influence and instead become more sensitive to the needs of their employees.  According to recent studies, the key seems to be seeing power not as permission to do whatever you want, but rather as responsibility to take care of others.

There are ways to influence those in power to adopt the latter view, including reflecting on the use of power, being held accountable for the use of power, observing the generosity of other leaders, and having a feeling of belonging to the group. All of these factors take into account emotional intelligence, which can help leaders be kinder, more socially skilled and make more ethical decisions.

While I too often have to call out wrongdoers, power can also be a source of service and compassion. Former President Barack Obama comes to mind. And there is the work of TDIndustries in Dallas as well as the Conscious Capitalism movement. They prove that productivity and profitability aren’t in direct conflict taking care of your stakeholders.  They prove that business can be humane—and still flourish.

Andrew Faas is the author of From Bully to Bull’s-Eye: Move Your Organization Out of the Line of Fire.

Illustration credit: BIGSTOCK