Last summer my daughter asked me how she could get people to stop dismissing her at the office, or pretending she wasn’t there when the “bros” got together.
I thought for a moment.
It doesn’t matter where rudeness, bullying or abusive behavior occurs. The impact is sadly the same. If we do not feel like a valuable contributor in our offices, respected in our romantic relationships or marriages, or acknowledged in our communities, the devaluation affects us physically and psychologically.
If the targeted people come from traumatized backgrounds, they will avoid conflict and make themselves even smaller. They will try to forget how scared, enraged or helpless they are. They’ll even come to believe that corporate bullying is normal. That abuse is normal. It is not.
However, in a corporate setting, you must be strategic in exposing bad behavior because of possible repercussions. The same could be said about domestic violence.
But in all of these situations, until you matter enough to yourself, you’re not going to matter to anybody else. Remember, if you are valued, respected or held in high esteem, you will not be viewed as an option to be used or discarded.
So if you are dismissed, abused, ignored, or demeaned, walk away.
My daughter did.
And I’ve never seen her happier.
