Matt Paknis Leadership Development

"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Leonardo da Vinci "The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people." - Martin Luther King, Jr. #stepup #BeTransparent #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #psychologicalsafetyatworkact When no one is held accountable for abusive behaviors at work, this non-response is the same as condoning bullying behavior in the workplace. #LeadersArentBullies #workplaceculture

"The Internet is an empowering force for people who are protesting against the abuse of power." - Rebecca MacKinnon "You cannot be a winner without maturity and consistency." - Marco Silva "A leader is someone who holds her- or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes." - Brene Brown "Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." - Helen Keller #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent

"Earn your success based on service to others, not at the expense of others." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr. #healthyworkplaces #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #betransparent In every batch of workers, a few bad eggs decide to bully. This small percentage of employees see work as an opportunity to compensate for their weaknesses. They attempt to build themselves up at the expense of, and by harming, others. #LeadersArentBullies

"The biggest part of leadership is that you lead by example with your performance first and foremost." - Jude Bellingham "Confidence... thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live." - Franklin D. Roosevelt #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent

"You can't allow tradition to get in the way of innovation. There's a need to respect the past, but it's a mistake to revere your past." - Bob Iger "Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable." - William Pollard #HealthyWorkplaces #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #BeTransparent #psychologicalsafetyatworkact An entrenched working culture, where behaviors and processes are touted as “the way we’ve always done it, because it works,” stymies innovation and enables and encourages cutthroat control and bullying. #LeadersArentBullies

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." - John Adams "There is always strength in numbers. The more individuals or organizations that you can rally to your cause, the better." - Mark Shields #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent

"A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy (and bullying) is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity." - Robert A. Heinlein "Take the time to vet and look carefully into those that you want help with in caring for your business." - Loren Weisman #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent Bully-victim relationship symptoms can be used to determine the causes (i.e. incompetent managers) and discover how to curb respective negative behaviors. The most thorough process to stop bullying of any kind is to identify its root cause and then eliminate or reduce this cause.

"Trauma fractures comprehension as a pebble shatters a windshield. The wound at the site of impact spreads across the field of vision, obscuring reality and challenging belief." - Jane Leavy "Healing yourself is connected with healing others." - Yoko Ono #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent

 "The general whose only thought is to protect their country is the jewel of the kingdom." - Sun Tzu "Government's first duty is to protect the people." - Ronald Reagan "Power is no blessing in itself, except when it is used to protect the innocent." - Jonathan Swift #stepup #leadersarentbullies #BeTransparent #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #psychologicalsafetyatworkact With so many avenues to bully, policing bullies and protecting targets is more difficult than ever. Bullies prey over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets.

"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 "The object of the superior (person) is truth." - Confucius #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent

"To lead isn't hitting people over the head. That's assault, not leadership." - Dwight D. Eisenhower "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." - Isaac Asimov "Those inclined toward violence are also inclined to empathy, to cooperation, to self-control." - Steven Pinker #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent Bullying is erroneously branded as “conflict” or a mere “difference in personality styles.” Both are true, but bullying is also a form of violence

"You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you." - Brian Tracy "Only you can control your future." - Dr. Seuss #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent

"True compassion means not only feeling another's pain but also being moved to help relieve it." - Daniel Goleman "It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience." - Julius Caesar #stepup #BeTransparent #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct 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.

...yet only 13% of those aware do anything to address the abuse. "People who care, act, and refuse to give up may not change THE world, but they can change many individual worlds." - Samantha Power "In boxing, they say it's the punch you don't see coming that knocks you out. In the wider world, the reality we ignore or deny is the one that weakens our most impassioned efforts toward improvement." - Katherine Dunn #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent

"If an (organization) is successful, we imagine it's probably also ethical, conscientious and deserving of its good fortune. This obscures the fact that many people get ahead by doing less than moral actions, which they cleverly disguise from view." - Robert Greene #joepasandusky #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent Bullying flourishes in organizations where apparent success metrics such as sales revenue, production cost, safety, innovation, “wins,” and graduation rates are used to disguise unethical and illegal activity.

"I do a lot of curiosity buying; I buy it if I like the album cover, I buy it if I like the name of the band, anything that sparks my imagination." - Bruce Springsteen “Relationships are the only thing that matters in business and in life.” – Jerry Weintraub #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent

"Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences." - Robert Louis Stevenson "I think the first duty of society is justice." - Alexander Hamilton #healthyworkplaces #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent Most bullies know they won’t be punished, and incompetent or unethical HR  associates and managers conceal and tolerate bullying environments, realizing targets have had little legal precedent or leverage to protect themselves.  This is about to change. #LeadersArentBullies

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." Vince Lombardi (Happy Birthday Coach Lombardi!) #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent

"Victory at all costs, victory (over) all terror (bullying), victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival." - Winston Churchill "Prejudices grow firm in hearts with soil never loosened or fertilized by education." - Charlotte Bronte #leadersarentbullies #healthyworkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent Eradicating bullying is not just a “nice thing to do,” it’s a “must do.” Trust me. The survival of organizations in the twenty-first century depends on it.

"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depths." - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross "Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight." - Marcus Aurelius #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent  

"If you believe, as I do, that your employees truly are your most valuable asset, you will do whatever you can to help them do their jobs as well as possible." - Harvey Mackay #healthyworkplaces #stepup #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #betransparent Bullying organizations who do not rid themselves of abusive interpersonal practices risk losing their most important competitive asset—their talented employees. #LeadersArentBullies #workplaceculture

"The world is not fair, and often fools, cowards, liars and the selfish hide in high places." - Bryant H. McGill "Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke." - Benjamin Disraeli "You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor." - Aristotle #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent  

  "Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out. It's your country, your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on." - Thurgood Marshall "Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, not the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, not the tormented." - Elie Wiesel #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent Those who take no action to stop bullying and who fail to discipline bullying employees should (and soon will) be liable for punitive damages for knowingly allowing malicious and oppressive tortious acts.

" If you have an opportunity to help others or incite change, it feels like a moral obligation to do so." - Elizabeth Chambers "Freedom of speech should be wide open as long as it doesn't incite violence." - Mike Leach #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent  

"The oppressed must demand freedom." - Martin Luther King, Jr. "Autonomy: to direct our own lives. Mastery: to get better at something important. Purpose: to serve something larger than ourselves. These are the new building blocks of business operations." - Daniel H. Pink #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces   #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent Bullies endure by making subordinates feel trapped, at fault ( #gaslighting ) and unempowered, compliant rather than committed. Be aware of this. #LeadersArentBullies

"People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die." - Plato "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King, Jr. "It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself." - Eleanor Roosevelt #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent

"Confidence thrives on honesty, on honor, on sacredness of obligation, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live." - FDR "There is no health without mental health. It is too important to be left to the professionals alone." - Vikram Patel #leadersarentbullies #HealthyWorkplaces #leaderselevatethoughtandconduct #stepup #psychologicalsafetyatworkact #BeTransparent Employees, and especially children, need avenues and encouragement to report abuse and bullying, easy and trusted systems to facilitate the “see something, say something” reporting process, and laws, like physical safety standards at OSHA and the FDA, to safeguard mental health.