1. Why is the workplace so political?
2. Why and how did some people actually become leaders?
3. Why and how do bad leaders persist in their positions?
4. Why is so little transparency found among bad leaders?
5. Why aren’t there better methods to assess the performance and attitudes of others?
6. Why is the workplace so continuously unsettled?
7. How can good lessons transform me and my work experience?
8. How can I compensate for my lack of (proper) experience?

These questions and the feelings and perceptions behind them are quite normal and to be expected. They reflect real issues, naturally occurring as service time and experience increase. They are ubiquitous and reflect some unfortunate realities of the workplace. Furthermore, nearly everyone in the organization who is paying attention and is committed to meeting their personal aspirations and organizational objective asks these questions and strongly desires answers to each of them.

These questions must be placed within the greater context of whatever else may or may not be happening in or out of the workplace. Most times, students and clients leave discussions understanding that they must maintain both emotional and financial balance and directional momentum. It is usually not advisable to attempt a wholesale career or personal makeover prematurely in order to reconcile their current job or positional realities. You cannot always slay all the workplace dragons, but wounding a few and reducing the impact of the dragon’s breath will often suffice. “Dragon’s breath” is my term to describe the negative influences and organizational culture created by bad leaders. Many early career employees don’t have the longevity that builds the emotional strength to withstand the significance of dragon’s breath. These employees identify with the eight questions, particularly if they haven’t yet earned scars from experience and persistence, or they haven’t yet come to grips with the huge difference between working with good leaders and working with bad ones. The chasm is immense.

I confess that I feel protective and even a bit paternalistic when I learn that some of my students and clients have felt the dragon’s breath and have been messed with by bad leaders. To some degree, I’d like to prevent it from happening. However, I know that stretching, becoming alert to the realities of the workplace, and developing the good lessons perspective is essential to long-term personal and vocational gain.