If you’ve been a faithful listener of the podcast for some time, you’ll know that I do a special episode each year during Thanksgiving week.

It started out as five unusual things to be thankful for that weren’t specific to me. Somewhere along the way, they became MY five things. The hope has always been that you will look at the circumstances of your life through a different lens after listening to my list.

Today’s topic is How to Work Around a Debilitating Boss. Notice that I didn’t call it a Toxic Boss. There’s a fair amount of overlap between what we might call toxic and debilitating. Rather than focus on whether your boss’s behavior is toxic or debilitating, let’s instead focus on bad boss behavior and what to do about it.

Through various groups I belong to and sites I visit regularly, there is a lot of talk about being in a “toxic work environment.” Today, I want to drill down on what actually constitutes a toxic work environment and what to do if you are in one. I also want to talk about what isn’t a toxic work environment and how to manage these situations.