Jamie Woolf

I knew that I had had a truly wretched boss the day I learned I needed surgery.

So I was 26 years old, and they were telling me this surgery might mean I can't have kids.

So I was devastated, but my strongest emotion was this surge of excitement because this meant five weeks away from a boss who had made my life miserable.

And just to be clear, I have two wonderful kids, and part of why I'm here today is they have had more than their fair of terrible bosses, and they're very early in their career.

So we, Dr. Bell and I, collect research on this.

So a recent Harris poll found that 71% of employees have had what they would call a toxic boss.

And over half of them have had nightmares about this boss.

And you know how that goes.

You're out with friends, you're thinking about your boss, you're home with your family, you're thinking about your boss.

And now...

You're lying awake at 3 a.m.

and you're thinking, I need to quit.

And that's an expensive problem for businesses, not just in the lost productivity and the turnover costs, but in all the brilliant creative ideas that never rise to the surface because people were too afraid to speak up.

So why is this so widespread?

Part of the problem is that when we rise to positions of power, we fall prey to what we call power blindness.

We lose sight of how it feels to be the one with less power.

And we lose sight of how our tone of voice or the quick dismissal of an idea can ruin someone's day.

And just by virtue of our title,

People stop telling us the truth.

They don't give us the tough feedback.