Matt Paknis Leadership Development

We're getting closer! A breach of the non-disparagement clause occurs if Paknis made statements which “reasonably could be construed to be derogatory or disparaging to Toray,” Judge Smith said. https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/employer-s-suit-over-employee-s-book-7296172/ #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #dignityatworkact

 "Fear is a reaction; courage is a response.  When you react, you let other control you. When you respond, you are in control." - Bohdi Sanders "If you cannot control your emotions, you cannot control your money." - Warren Buffett #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct

"You don't lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership." - Dwight D. Eisenhower "Collaboration is being open to each other's ideas and benefiting from each other's perspectives in an open way." - Alan Menken #healthyworkplaces #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #DignityAtWorkAct Bullying is erroneously branded as “conflict” or a mere “difference in personality styles.” Both are true, but bullying is also a form of abuse and violence. #LeadersArentBullies

"A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave." - Mahatma Gandhi "The object of the superior (person) is truth." - Confucius #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct

"Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets." - Paul Tournier "Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships." - Stephen Covey Bullies destroy trust. #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct When a person behaves in a certain way, either positive or negative, it is because they are willing, able, and allowed. People change behaviors for two reasons: to experience pleasure, and to avoid pain. Bullies create environments where people keep secrets to avoid pain.

"If you are being bullied, it is not your fault. No one deserves to be bullied, ever." - Raini Rodriguez "I think bullying in general is for cowards." - Eddie Alvarez "You can't be against bullying without actually doing something about it." - Randi Weingarten #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct

"The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual." - Vince Lombardi "Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest." - Mark Twain #stepup #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct   #DignityAtWorkAct Organizations are prone to bullying when success metrics are myopic and not balanced with a commitment to healthy relationships or a strict adherence to ethical and legal processes.  Isolated focus on a single metric, like sales or revenue, can foster abuse. #LeadersArentBullies

"An attack upon our ability to tell stories is not just censorship - it is a crime against our nature as human beings." - Salman Rushdie "The people who are bullying you, they're insecure about who they are, and that's why they're bullying you. It never has to do with the person they're bullying." - Madelaine Petsch #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct

"Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph." - Haile Selassie #healthyworkplaces #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #DignityAtWorkAct Workplace bullies are given tacit approval when incompetent or unethical HR associates and managers conceal and tolerate abusive  environments.  Bullies exploit targets who have no protective advocates or little legal precedent or leverage. This will change. #LeadersArentBullies

"The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic." - John F. Kennedy "I do know one thing about me: I don't measure myself by others' expectations or let others define my worth." - Sonia Sotomayor #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct

Former employee can be sued over workplace bullying book By: Eric T. Berkman August 26, 2022 North Kingstown, RI’s Toray Plastics, which is suing a former employee over a book he wrote, ‘Successful Leaders Aren’t Bullies ' A U.S. District Court judge has found that a company could bring nondisparagement and defamation claims against a former employee who wrote a book on workplace bullying even though the book never referenced the employer by name. Defendant Matthew Paknis, a veteran management and leadership consultant who briefly worked in the HR department of Toray Plastics, authored a book entitled “Successful Leaders Aren’t Bullies.”    During a dispute following Paknis’ departure, Toray learned about the book, which had not yet gone to print, and had Paknis sign an agreement that he would make no derogatory oral or written statements about the global manufacturing company. Once the book was published, Toray sued Paknis, asserting that several current and for...

"Employers who recognize the importance of investing in their workforce have a more productive workforce, a more efficient workforce, a more loyal workforce, less turnover, and, in the private sector, more profitable." - Valerie Jarrett #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct Bullying organizations who do not rid themselves of abusive interpersonal practices risk losing their most important competitive asset—their talented employees. #workplaceculture

 "The worst cruelty that can be inflicted on a human being is isolation." - Sukarno "Exclusion is never the way forward on our shared paths to freedom and justice." - Desmond Tutu "Don't give up or give in in the face of patronising ridicule, amused disdain, or being ignored." - Meryl Streep #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. #leadersarentbullies #stepup #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #DignityAtWorkAct Those who take no action now to stop bullying and who fail to discipline bullying employees will (and, again, should) be liable for punitive damages for knowingly allowing malicious and oppressive tortious acts.

  "There cannot be greater rudeness than to interrupt another in the current of his discourse." - John Locke "Intimidation, harassment and violence have no place in a democracy." - Mo Ibrahim #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct

"The thing you have some control over is perspective. You don't have total control over your situation. You can choose how you view it." - Chris Pine "You cannot control what happens to you. You can control your attitude toward it.  With it, you can master change." - Brian Tracy #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct Be aware, bullies survive by casting a deceptive shadow to make subordinates feel trapped, at fault (#gaslighting) and unempowered, compliant rather than committed, risk averse vs. accountable.  Bring awareness to their ruse.

"Some people think that the truth can be hidden with a little cover-up and decoration. But as time goes by, what is true is revealed, and what is fake fades away." - Ismail Haniyeh "Things are not always as they seem; the first appearance deceives many." - Phaedrus #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct

"Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on." - Thurgood Marshall #leadersarentbullies #stepup #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #DignityAtWorkAct Employees, and school children, should not be expected to enforce  anti bullying policies. This is their  leader's job. However, easy processes and support can  help constituents identify, address, report, prevent, and transcend abusive behaviors.  “See something, say something!"

  "We're losing social skills, the human interaction skills, how to read a person's mood, to read their body language, how to be patient until the moment is right to make or press a point. Too much exclusive use of electronic information dehumanises what is a very, very important part of community life and living together." - Vincent Nichols #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct

"A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows." - Francis of Assisi "There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast." - Charles Dickens "Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you." - Walt Whitman #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct Bullying is more apt to be addressed and ceased once organizations practicing abusive and egregious behaviors are outed.  #Transparency is key to helping people learn about, and choose to affiliate with, good organizations. Evil prospers in the shadows.

Per today's Dilbert, common bullying tactics involve issuing unclear or changing goals / moving targets, so the bully can control, and keep, the target from meeting expectations. #leadersarentbullies

"Aggression unopposed becomes a contagious disease." - Jimmy Carter "When trauma involves intentional harm, such as in a crime or abuse, trust can totally collapse." - Dena Rosenbloom "The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse." - Edmund Burke "Perception is reality." - Lee Atwater #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct

 

"People have challenges. Family members get sick, people age, you don't always get the desired job or the promotion. There are  conflicts. Life is really about resiliency; one's ability to go through all of life's ups and downs while moving forward and positive." - Jennifer Hyman #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct #Resilient people acknowledge reality and the problem.  They find counsel to separate facts from cognitive distortions. They explore positive options and outcomes and then commit to a healthy plan. They rally support.  Are you practicing resiliency?

 "Unresolved trauma's devastating effects can affect habits and outlook on life, leading to addictions and poor decision-making. It can take a toll on family life and interpersonal relationships. It can trigger physical pain, symptoms, and disease. And it can lead to a range of self-destructive behaviors.  It does not, however, have to be a life sentence." - Peter A. Levine Early intervention, counseling, acknowledgement, processing, healthy role models, relationships, and activities help people resolve and transcend trauma. #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #DignityAtWorkAct

"Deceivers are the most dangerous members of society. They trifle with the best affections of our nature, and violate the most sacred obligations." - George Crabbe #leadersarentbullies #stepup #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #DignityAtWorkAct Bullies and bullying organizations leverage false appearances. They go to great lengths to appear competent or appealing, or they use intimidation and fear to control their followers.