We have all met people who are so prickly and difficult that no one wants to handle them. But it has taken these contentious times to make this a common occurrence. Divisiveness makes normal ...

This article follows the Direct Message methodology, designed to cut through the noise and reveal the deeper truths behind the stories we live. When I began studying how workplace culture impacts ...

Most of us have dealt with that person before, right? Someone we’d classify as “difficult.” Someone we don’t like to spend time with, or who makes us feel stressed. We all have at least one person in ...

We all have people with whom we struggle, problematic people who seem to drain us of our energies, rub us the wrong way, poke, provoke, frustrate or trigger us. What’s really happening when we find ...

Difficult people come in many forms, from constant complainers to those who always seem to create tension. The challenge is handling them without losing your own energy. These approaches help you ...

Everyone has had at least one difficult or toxic person in his or her life. Most of us use the classic modalities to deal with them: flight, fight or freeze. When Gary, for example, makes another jab ...