This all began because of a blog post I wrote about a terrible experience I had in a previous job. (You can read it here)
Within 72 hours, it had been shared thousands of times on Twitter and I received over 250 stories of abuse from people who previously thought they were alone in facing this cruel and debilitating experience.
I must admit I was shocked at how much of a nerve it seemed to hit - and while I wanted to do something about it - I didn’t know what I could do.
And then I got an email from someone I used to work with …
Rather than tell me they had gone through a similar situation at work - or their thoughts on the post - they asked if my post was about them.
After I told them that if they feel guilt, then maybe they needed to take a look at how they conducted themselves because at no point had I mentioned any names or places in my post … I realised there was a way I could try and help stop this situation happening to others.
Which leads to this …
What if the managers subjecting their people to this abuse don’t realise they’re doing it?
Now I appreciate that might be a convenient excuse, but what if it’s true?
Well what I want to do is fill this blog with anonymous stories of systematic corporate abuse.
Doesn’t matter what industry it happened in or what level you were/are when this abuse occurred - I want to fill it with [anonymous] stories of corporate abuse so any manager who comes here and thinks a story is about their specific actions will be forced to look at their attitude and behaviours and - for their sake - change them.
But what if no one comes?
Well, while that would be a shame, not all would be lost.
You see one thing I have learnt from this journey is how many people thought they were alone in this experience.
I understand why … because one of the ways the abusers get away with it is by making the victim feel so worthless, that they believe it is all their fault and reporting it ultimiately means they’re advertising their own inadequacies.
So by letting them see other people have - and are - going through similar situations, it removes the stigma of guilt and failure. It removes the power the management abusers have over you ... enabling you to see you are not alone. It lets you start valuing yourself again and hopefully gives you the power to act rather than be slowly destroyed.
And this is important because being told you’re wrong by management who genuinely want you to win on your terms is very different to being told you’re wrong by people who do it simply to protect or further themselves at the expense of your self belief.
Or said another way, one is about growth, the other is abuse, pure and simple.