Bully Bonding Jun 2026

Instead of targeting a victim, skilled leaders can redirect the group's bonding energy toward a legitimate shared challenge (e.g., a team competition, a collective charity project). The need for tribal bonding remains, but the target changes.

The bully may cycle between cruelty and occasional kindness. This "rollercoaster" creates a chemical dependency in the victim's brain, making the bond harder to break. bully bonding

Most insidious is the bonding among those who witness bullying but do nothing. By collectively choosing silence, they form a "conspiracy of normalcy." This bond is based on fear and shame—each person knows the others saw the cruelty, and their unspoken agreement to ignore it creates a strange, guilt-ridden intimacy. In corporate settings, this often cements a toxic culture more effectively than the bully's own actions. Instead of targeting a victim, skilled leaders can