To get ideas about what everyone can do to celebrate Freedom Week, go here.

For individuals bullied at work, learn the predictable stages of the workplace bullying experience.

Our books – for bullied targets and their families, and for employers wanting to tackle, not ignore, workplace bullying.

Simply put, bullied targets are extraordinary. They are technically more skilled than their perpetrators and better liked as human beings. And even when in the depths of despair about their own situation, they often declare their concern for their bully’s inability to navigate positive relationships because of some hidden personality deficit. Targets are the ones with empathy.

They have years of stellar performance, on objective measures. They love their jobs (way past time when they should admit their jobs changed when the bullying took over). Because they were self-assured before the bullying, they were generous to others about work, family issues, and life concerns. They are compassionate.

WBI online surveys of targets reliably find an independent streak in them. They are self-starters, not requiring micromanaging.

Those three habits — independence, skill and emotional intelligence — combine to pose a threat to the insecure wanna-be bully. Independence is called “being uppity” or “acting entitled.” Skill and emotional control trigger envy in the person without either.

Targets’ extraordinariness also is built on their principled, ethical selves. In toxic work environments that lack accountability for perpetrators, moral people are sacrificed lest they shine too brightly in comparison to the corrupt actors within the organization.

Finally, targets don’t go to work to play organizational politics. They tend to stick to the work as a source of their pride. Bullies don’t work; they manipulate, dominate, intimidate & humiliate. They steal credit for work done by others while making it impossible for targets to get work done because of all the meddling and abusive tactics. Targets are “team players.” Bullies destroy teams by rendering them unsafe, pitting worker against worker.

In brief, targets are the salt of the earth people. I’ve had the privilege of meeting over 15,000 in our over a quarter century history with WBI. I choose targets over bullies every time.