A 'Tough Boss' Can Be Good. Here's How To Know When They're Really Just A Bully.

sorbetto via Getty Images Self-proclaimed "tough" bosses like Sen. Amy Klobuchar use it to defend their behavior in the office. If you say you are a tough boss, that’s one way for women to try and align themselves with the acceptability of being a boss that makes demands on people,” she said. “I’m a tough boss is a way of saying, ‘Don’t you dare call me a bitch or a mean girl.’” When toughness is an excuse for bullying But bullying does not have a gender, and it is important to recognize when any self-proclaimed or otherwise “tough boss” is really just an abusive one. Klobuchar had the highest staff turnover from 2001 to 2016, according to the congressional salary database LegiStorm, although Edmondson said turnover isn’t always a “clean measure”: “Did get an exciting new opportunity, and they were being sought after, or did they leave because they just couldn’t bear it anymore and felt like they weren’t learning anything?” Catherine Mattice-Zundel, president of the consulting firm Civility Partners, coaches executives on how to ditch their bullying management styles. Under a tough boss that humiliates you, Cavaiola said, “The work becomes soul-crushing because the person comes away feeling like they can’t do anything right.