Precision Tools to Excel At Work.
Your livelihood is critically important to your wellbeing and success. We know this. Your future and quality of life rely on workplace culture. Sometimes workplace dynamics slow your growth and cause unnecessary stress. Behaviors like sidelining, credit theft, and more can derail longstanding career goals.
There’s no single blueprint to navigate workplace dysfunction. Your situation and career path is unique and expressly yours alone. When office dynamics distract, undermine, or throw you off, support that sustains your professionalism and keeps you on track is critical. The most important thing to remember is you are not alone, even if your workplace culture is isolating.
Start with The Compass, our no-cost diagnostic to orient you in your workplace dynamic, whether you’re an ally, target, or manager.
It’s a quick, confidential quiz that will instantly provide you with an analysis and links to relevant resources and guides. All resources provide practical, actionable guidance to managers, allies, and targets to navigate negative workplaces. You can start today.
The Vault is your personal resource to respond to the specific behaviors you are experiencing in the workplace. It is where you can access all scripts and email templates in the exact moment you need them, on your commute, in team meetings, during 1:1s, or at your desk. All scripts and templates are specific to your particular experience.
The Vault includes the full Toxic Behavior Taxonomy, a template to record specific events and ensures details are complete in case you need to report the behavior. Your entries will be logged and securely stored in your encrypted Vault for as long as you need them.
All resources, including the diagnostic, are founded on best practices from a vast array of top-tier resources, including Harvard Business Review, Wharton School of Business, Brené Brown, national and global workplace surveys, as well as best practices and guidance from peer reviewed psychology and neuroscience research.
The Compass
Orient yourself. An interactive quiz to assess your particular experience whether you are a manager, target, or ally. The Compass provides an instant analysis and direction with relevant resources specific to your situation.
Toxic Behavior Taxonomy
Find the most prevalent toxic workplace behaviors here, from subtle undermining to outright bullying. Psychology research notes that naming the behavior is the first step to changing it. Our taxonomy identifies, defines, and provides proven responses to create functional collaborative work environments.
Mainstream News Exposes Unchecked Toxic Workplace Dysfunction Globally.
These are not fringe incidents. They are widely reported cases from courts, commissions, and independent inquiries that show what happens when toxic workplace dynamics are left unaddressed. Each entry names the behavior pattern, the institutional tell, and what the record says about protecting yourself and your organization.
Browse the full record →CCSU president under investigation after workplace complaint
Central Connecticut State University President Zulma R. Toro is under investigation by the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Office of Compliance after a complaint alleged a workplace culture marked by fear, oppressive control, intimidation, humiliation, and bullying. The complaint describes 14 alleged code-of-conduct violations involving employees and leadership staff. It also alleges that people who questioned or disagreed with Toro faced targeting, and that similar concerns had been raised over several years. The allegations have not been proven, and the investigation is ongoing.
When employees across different roles describe similar conduct over time, the pattern warrants independent review. If the people responsible for receiving concerns also fear retaliation, a formal reporting channel may exist without providing a safe route to accountability.
The Toxic Behavior Taxonomy
Five Families, and the behaviors through which they show up.
The Five Families and the behaviors through which they exhibit themselves are defined and dissected in our resources, which come with scripts, responses, and actions to keep you on track for your career goals. Naming the behavior is the first step; the taxonomy gives you the name, the pattern, and the words to use next. The specific behaviors you are encountering can be added to The Vault so you can quickly access professional responses in difficult moments.
Most reported by HR
The Aggression Family
These behaviors assert dominance through direct or disguised force: overt or plausibly deniable.
Most reported by targets
The Distortion Family
These behaviors undermine your trust in your own perception. They are the most commonly reported and the hardest to prove.
Power through access and visibility
The Control Family
Power operates through what you're denied, not what you're confronted with.
Evading accountability
The Avoidance Family
Accountability gets evaded, and the cost is redirected onto you.
Swarming: most damaging
The Orbit Family
This is the most complex family. Swarming/Mobbing is the most damaging and most underreported of all 17 behaviors.
A sample of the behaviors
- Passive Aggression , Hostility is delivered indirectly, through tone, delay, omission or 'jokes,' so the aggressor can deny intent.
- The Kiss of Death Compliment , This is praise that contains a sting, framing competence as surprising or achievement as fortunate.
- Acting Out When Threatened , This is escalating behavior from someone who feels professionally threatened by your presence or promotion.
Simple access options
Free, always
- The Compass diagnostic, start to finish
- All behaviors in the taxonomy, including defining characteristics, and just a few of the specific signs to watch for
$15/mo for The Vault, $99/yr for everything
- The full Toxic Behavior Taxonomy across all behavior families
- Every paper-trail template + private Vault
- Monthly includes meeting scripts and practical support for as long as you need it; cancel anytime. Yearly adds every guide, including Leaving Well.
Wildest One, $199 once, forever
- The library, every script, every template
- The AI Codex: Data-Driven Strategies to Lead AI Integration, The Structural Tell, Leaving Well
- Standalone resources total $276, excluding The Vault; every future upgrade included