This article continues to be among my most-read articles on LinkedIn, so I wanted to republish it on the blog since I know it’s a popular topic. Together we can rise up against mean girls. I wrote this in April 2019 and little did I know that in two short months, the worst mean girl acts would be done to me personally that spilled over into my professional life. It propelled me to start the Women Who Wow initiative to support women.

Women can be really hard on each other in the workplace doing things such as backstabbing, gossiping, purposely excluding someone from a meeting, taking credit for someone’s work or helping to push someone out of a job. Maybe you’ve experienced some of these behaviors by another woman at work. I’m really sorry if that’s the case, but please know that you aren’t alone.

I call this the dark side of working with women.

Those close to me know that I have wanted to write an article on how to recognize a mean girl at work and develop strategies to effectively manage her and succeed in spite of her undermining behavior for a long time. (As an aside, I’ve also dealt with a few “mean guys” too, but that’s for a different article.)

I come into contact with mean girls from time to time – both personally and professionally just like we all do – and I carry with me the memories of working with some very toxic females, which have helped me develop a thicker skin, and learn how to navigate them. These are important skills to have throughout your career because you will inevitably run up against mean girls from time to time.

Before I delve deeper into this topic, I want to make it very clear that are plenty of amazing, supportive women in the workforce, and I’ve been very lucky to work with a number of them. They aren’t threatened by other women, and instead they go above and beyond to help others succeed. They are true role models. This article isn’t about them.

I could have written an entire series of articles about the supportive women who have mentored me throughout my career. This article is about those women in the workplace who do not have your best interests at heart, and how to protect yourself against them. It’s important to remember that while you cannot can’t change someone else, you can change your own behavior, and this article will teach you how to do just that.