VENT’s Post

In my two years at VENT researching and educating about toxic leadership, I came across three distinct ways people respond to the topic, regardless of having experienced it or not: 👉 1. Completely dismissing validity of those experiences as genuinely impactful. Labelling people who are vocal about the issue as having a "victim mindset", "not taking responsibility for their own lives", "gaining a sense of purpose and belonging by being part of the victim-mindset community ". 👉 2. Recognizing that there is a systemic issue, the impact of which affects everyone and everything in the world - and looking for ways to be part of the solution, even in the smallest way. 👉 3. Creating a whole identity based on having experienced abuse in the workplace, and drowning all energetic and financial resources in getting recognized for own suffering, suffering of others and the levels of injustice endured without any accountability on the part of the abuser. 🏕 There is one camp that chants: "Stop talking about it. Leave it in the past. Take responsibility for yourself. Stop blaming everyone else for your failures. Whatever you went through, it surely wasn't THAT bad. I went through worse and I am doing great!". 🏕 There is another camp chanting: "Let's build solidarity and bring about lasting change for a better tomorrow. Let's make people feel seen and valued. Let's ensure justice is served and effective preventive measure are set in place." 🏕 There is yet another camp chanting: "Burn them at the stake! Don't let anyone forget the harm and humiliation. Shout it from the rooftops until justice is served, and then shout some more so history doesn't repeat itself." I've also seen people swap camps depending on who they are talking to, who they are talking about, where they are talking about it. The more people contribute to my research, the more my expertise grows, the less I see it actually matters, who belongs to which camp. The issue is as old as time, people's perceptions are by definition subjective and we invest way too much energy judging each other's beliefs and experiences. They only question, I think, each camp should be asking themselves is this: "Is the energy you're putting in worth the outcome?". ✅ I belong to the second camp, and after careful considerstion, my answer to the question is "yes". ❓ Which camp are you in, and what is your answer? 😃