Dealing with an Aggressive Boss? Protect Your Career Growth Through Communication

Raise your hand if you have ever worked with or around a leader who is aggressive or a bully. Someone once shared with me that when their boss screamed at or tormented others, what he enjoyed most was watching people look down and avoid eye contact; he fed on seeing the other person grow weaker. On the contrary, he actually respected those who stood their ground with confidence and didn't take his irony or abusive remarks personally.

Personally, I prefer workplace environments where respect is the baseline. But what can you do when you have to deal with someone like that? Civility means treating people with respect and honoring their place; screaming at or mistreating others is never justified. When you have to battle with a boss like this, you have two options: quit or learn how to manage them.

Don't Let Someone Else's Behavior Block Your Goals

The real question here is: are you going to allow your professional growth or career goals to be overshadowed because you chose to run away from this type of person? You shouldn’t allow, even for a moment, someone else’s shortcomings to obstacle what you have set out to achieve professionally. Your character and resilience are built and forged by how you face these challenges.

During an interview with a prospect to discuss delivering some corporate training, we briefly touched upon the topic of "Civility." For me, as a consultant, it is vital to promote civility in business because how you carry yourself speaks volumes about your image. However, my contact inside the company suggested that the topic was sensitive. They explained that while fostering aggressiveness is wrong, leaders ultimately expect results and need employees not to take certain workplace behaviors personally. There is simply no time to stop and analyze if a harsh comment made someone feel bad.

The Business Impact of Workplace Communication and Civility

We will keep fighting to promote civility and empathy in business. What might be a minor, unimportant detail to a boss could be the exact reason an employee decides to quit. This gap is what drives high employee turnover, wastes time retraining new staff, and lowers productivity during the learning cycle.

This does not mean you are justifying a boss who is aggressive or has bad manners. It is about protecting your mindset: an effective internal communication strategy and a mature attitude will help you not take workplace friction personally. Set aside what brings you down, filter out the noise, and choose to keep only what brings you learning and professional success.