Dear Entrepreneur, You’re A Bully And I Don’t Like You!
“bully – seek to harm, intimidate, or coerce (someone perceived as vulnerable)” Google dictionary
The month of October is dedicated to many things, including National Bullying Prevention Month. And, as we've just entered the month, we chose to highlight Entrepreneurs, not anyone in particular, but all Entrepreneurs.
A lot of Entrepreneurs are real big, bad bullies and this is evident in how they conduct their businesses.
Entrepreneurial bullying is much more prevalent than we’d like to admit. We hide the truth, and more often, when an attitude becomes so natural, it’s almost habit-forming, it can seem not only ‘normal’, but ‘right’.
Are you a bully business person?
We live in a culture where we try to hold Entrepreneurs in high esteem because I guess they seem to be the ones with the money and the businesses which we need, so we accept all they give and we go about our ways deeming them as virtuous individuals even if we disagree and argue with them. Well…that’s only temporary…for some of us at least. But truthfully, some Entrepreneurs are no doubt the oppressors of the already oppressively difficult economic conditions. Entrepreneurial bullying is a much more common behaviour than we might like to let on. Have you seen some of the horror stories in the popular Facebook group, "Bad Service Trinidad and Tobago?" I guarantee you, you'll be mortified! And it's just not public service businesses they call out...oh no...small businesses too. And rightly so, they should be called out. Check it out here:-
https://www.facebook.com/badservicetrinidadandtobago
We’ve become hyper-focused on ‘bully behaviour’ in our schools and it is indeed a sad state of affairs that this unethical and erratic behaviour has trickled through not just in leadership zones, but also the Entrepreneurial realms, giving rise to the “Bully Entrepreneur” with a platform – a “Bully Business” for abusive (bully) leadership, which is harmful and deviant for a sustainable Entrepreneurial culture. The successful Entrepreneur gets into business with the moral impetus to make a difference – in the world, in their community, in their own lives, and in the lives of others.
While much authority is needed in business to show who's the boss, the ‘”bully path” towards Entrepreneurship, to get things done, can indeed hurt, rather than heal, an already aggrieved economy, vis-a-vis, the buying population. If we can change our attitudes, change our ways, we can certainly change our culture. We really do need to change the way we do business in T and T!
