Book overview
"Anyone who's had a bad job will find Regal's saga fascinating. [Surviving Bully Culture is] an appalling--and often hilarious--account of terrible behavior in an infernally high-pressure industry."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"You don't have to get beaten up to get beaten down."
For decades, Andrew Regal climbed the high-stakes ladder of television news, working at Court TV, MSNBC, CNBC, and ultimately serving as Global Head of Video at The Wall Street Journal. From the outside, it looked like success. On the inside, it was something else entirely.
During the most acute periods of his workplace trauma, Regal was left deflated, isolated, anxious, sleepless, ashamed and at times, contemplating suicide. The bullying he endured wasn't loud or obvious. It was subtle. Strategic. Legal. And devastating.
Yet Surviving Bully Culture is not a book of despair.
Readers will meet a narrator who is humorous, empathetic, resilient, and deeply human. A leader who was victimized not because he was weak but because he was loyal, productive, and cared deeply about his work. Ironically, these are the very qualities that so often make people targets.
Until now, workplace bullying has lived behind closed office doors, rarely named, poorly understood, and frequently dismissed as "tough management" or "personality conflict." Targets are left alone, questioning themselves, and too often forced out of jobs they loved.
This book changes that.
Surviving Bully Culture offers something many victims have never been given:
Language. Validation. And a path forward.
Blending lived experience with expert insight, Regal draws on conversations with:
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Management and leadership thought leaders
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Psychiatrists and psychologists
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Legal scholars and workplace experts
Together, they examine:
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Why bullying thrives at work
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Why it is still largely legal
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Who is most often targeted--and why
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How repeated, targeted behavior causes lasting harm
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What individuals and organizations can do now to stop it
This powerful coming-of-age journey takes readers through:
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The unforgettable characters Regal met
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The bold-faced names he encountered
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The women he loved
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The celebrated news stories he helped bring to life
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The mean-spirited bullies he survived
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And the personal failures he fought to overcome
Ultimately, Surviving Bully Culture is a rallying cry for change.
It challenges leaders to confront how power is abused.
It gives targets permission to stop blaming themselves.
And it invites all of us to imagine and build a future of work rooted in dignity, authenticity, and self-compassion.
If you have ever felt silenced, diminished, or pushed out at work, this book is for you.
