Toxic bosses: why do companies protect managers who make working life hell?

The useful part

Bullying, manipulation and intimidation can destroy lives, yet abusive authoritarians continue to rise to the top. When Andrea finally resigned, her colleagues told her the truth they had always known about her boss. One offered the sentence I have been unable to forget: "You've been an emotional stab vest for us.

How it works

• How do they get away with it – and can they be brought to heel?
• Others admitted they had watched what happened to her and said nothing.
• You protected us." Andrea was a senior legal executive with decades of credibility when she began reporting to a powerful new colleague.

Details worth keeping

Expectations shifted without warning and feedback contradicted itself. He spoke over her in public and undermined her in private.