We have all met people who are so prickly and difficult that no one wants to handle them. But it has taken these contentious times to make this a common occurrence. Divisiveness makes normal ...

And two other tricky workplace dilemmas.

New research shows HR trusts only 35% of managers to handle difficult conversations alone, and why avoidance, burnout, and ...

This article follows the Direct Message methodology, designed to cut through the noise and reveal the deeper truths behind the stories we live. When I began studying how workplace culture impacts ...

Most of us have dealt with that person before, right? Someone we’d classify as “difficult.” Someone we don’t like to spend time with, or who makes us feel stressed. We all have at least one person in ...

Have you ever had an insubordinate, challenging employee? I know I have. Anyone who has ever been a manager has, or will, deal with such an individual. Whether it’s your first rodeo or your 100th, the ...

The turbulence started just as Erin opened her laptop. A founder-turned-podcast-host, she’d been traveling for weeks—sponsorship meetings, recordings, partner dinners. Now, somewhere over the Midwest, ...

Relationships can feel like both a blessing and the bane of your existence, a source of joy and a source of frustration or ...

Both in the office and in our personal lives, it is safe to assume that we will encounter difficult people. The key is to brace ourselves with easy-to-apply strategies so that we remain as calm and ...