Having personally been bullied by a senior female manager, I can attest that the activity is no laughing matter. Women managers do it very subtly through “social bullying” -something they learn, I think, as teenage girls.
‘’Virgins defence sounds plausible on the surface unless you have actually experienced social bullying. It includes a whole series of actions, each in itself apparently trivial, but in totality they produce a devastating result. I do not know if Virgin did any of the things I list below.
‘Examples of tactics:
- whispering campaigns about a persons personal life. (eg: rumors about alcohol use, domestic violence, sexual behaviour , etc)
- “accidental” (not) omission from invitation lists for work related social functions. ( wait till you see your boss take several of your subordinates to lunch without inviting you, etc)
- curtailment of your company representation role at industry seminars, meetings, etc.
- Gaslighting.
- deliberate sabotage of your operational role. (eg/; delays in accessing reports, budgets and other necessary documents)
- “accidental” omission from meeting invitations, distribution lists, etc., followed by blaming you for being “out of touch” with operations.
- unreasonable work related demands, such as impossible reporting deadlines.
…….Those are just a few “mean girl” tactics I and others, have experienced in another industry. They all sound trivial and plausibly deniable by the company if they are taken individually. However humans are very good at discerning patterns of behavior. Your subordinates will know you are marked for removal before you do.
‘’It’s not hard to end up with PTSD from this behaviour.