You are a lifelong learner and high achiever. You’ve read a lot of leadership books but are having trouble applying the principles you’ve learned to your specific industry. 

You have subscriptions to top industry or management publications, but are starting to feel frustrated because they don’t give you practical skills to manage toxicity at work.

You are a marginalized person–or someone of multiply marginalized identities (female, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, fat, disabled, current or former sex worker). You were told one (or more) of the following things when encountering toxic behavior at work: 

“Ignore it and it will go away.” 🤡
(It didn’t…they were wrong. You were right.)

“You’re just thinking negatively.” 🤡
(When this person’s behavior negatively impacted morale, leading to turnover or lower  revenue, you called it out, and this made more privileged people uncomfortable.)

“This is just how it is in the industry.” 🤡
(No, it’s not, you’ve found evidence that people don’t have to suffer and have talked to much happier colleagues.)