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HBR Guide to Navigating the Toxic Workplace
Is your workplace toxic?
Toxic workplaces take many forms. Whether you're dealing with a narcissistic boss, a backstabbing colleague, endless microaggressions, or a culture of overwork and burnout, it can feel impossible to know what to do. Should you address the issue directly, play office politics, go to HR, or just keep your head down?
The HBR Guide to Navigating the Toxic Workplace will help you set boundaries and change what you can while maintaining your mental health and self-respect through some of the toughest interpersonal challenges you'll face at work.
You'll learn how
Recognize what's fixableHelp bring problems to lightKeep your performance upProtect your reputation and your careerPrevent a toxic culture from infecting your teamRebuild trust and psychological safetyMove on if you choose, without burning bridges
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
Toxic workplaces take many forms. Whether you're dealing with a narcissistic boss, a backstabbing colleague, endless microaggressions, or a culture of overwork and burnout, it can feel impossible to know what to do. Should you address the issue directly, play office politics, go to HR, or just keep your head down?
The HBR Guide to Navigating the Toxic Workplace will help you set boundaries and change what you can while maintaining your mental health and self-respect through some of the toughest interpersonal challenges you'll face at work.
You'll learn how
Recognize what's fixableHelp bring problems to lightKeep your performance upProtect your reputation and your careerPrevent a toxic culture from infecting your teamRebuild trust and psychological safetyMove on if you choose, without burning bridges
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
224 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 16, 2024
26 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 26, 2025
3.5 stars. Worth a quick read. Relevant chapters include how to deal with toxic boss, gaslighters and micromanagers, how to keep your company’s toxic culture from infecting your team, how to eliminate blame culture and dangers of “nice culture”.
Interesting snippets include a study which found that when employees report a negative event, it affected their mood 5x as much than if a positive event occured. Any unkind word or tone that escapes your lips undoes 5x the amount of good your kind words and actions may have done.
While humans are wired to blame, such a culture kills healthy accountable behaviour. As a manager, switch your mindset to “we’re all still learning” to create a psychologically safe space. Reposition and think “how did we contribute to the problem”, instead of blaming and causing everyone to be defensive. This will also prevent such problem to reoccurring and promotes trust through discussion, as opposed to fear and contempt.
Interesting snippets include a study which found that when employees report a negative event, it affected their mood 5x as much than if a positive event occured. Any unkind word or tone that escapes your lips undoes 5x the amount of good your kind words and actions may have done.
While humans are wired to blame, such a culture kills healthy accountable behaviour. As a manager, switch your mindset to “we’re all still learning” to create a psychologically safe space. Reposition and think “how did we contribute to the problem”, instead of blaming and causing everyone to be defensive. This will also prevent such problem to reoccurring and promotes trust through discussion, as opposed to fear and contempt.
November 5, 2025
How validating, albeit disturbing, to see one’s workplace reflected in page after page of this book—and yet HBR doesn’t even begin to address the daily physical violence (and the gaslighting surrounding it) endemic to said workplace.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews