Yes, this is another post on scapegoating at work. I don’t think we can talk about it enough, and I’ve been obsessed with the topic for the past 9 months. It’s a form of workplace abuse most people don’t recognise because bullying has become a catch-all term. You can read more about scapegoating at work here and here.
I’ve been a guest on Dr. Shami’s podcast several times, and it’s an honour to speak to her audience about the topics I’ve been covering on Substack over the past two years. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, and if this episode speaks to you, please consider leaving a review.
In this episode of Six Hats, I joined Dr. Shami to talk about scapegoating at work and why it operates as a systemic response rather than a simple interpersonal issue. We explored how scapegoating often begins when competence, questions, or honest feedback register as a threat to fragile authority, and how organisations respond by subtly relocating blame onto one individual to restore order. I walked through the predictable stages of the scapegoating cycle, from early idealisation and grooming to devaluation, narrative control, group alignment, and eventual erasure or exit. We also discussed why feedback in these environments becomes vague and impossible to resolve, why escalating concerns to HR frequently accelerates harm, and why high-performing and neurodivergent professionals are so often targeted. Using examples from healthcare and other high pressure systems, I focused on how to recognise the pattern early, protect yourself strategically, and decide when leaving is the most rational move.
Episode guide
00:00 – 04:00 | Why scapegoating matters
Why scapegoating shows up so often at work, how I came to focus on it, and why so many people recognise this pattern once it’s identified.
04:00 – 10:00 | What scapegoating looks like
How scapegoating unfolds in everyday workplace interactions, how it begins in response to perceived threat, and how competence, questions, or feedback can quietly set it in motion.
10:00 – 15:30 | The Scapegoating Playbook
An outline of the key stages, including early idealisation, devaluation, narrative shaping, group alignment, and erasure, and why most people recognise what’s happening only after they’re already inside it.
15:30 – 22:00 | Power, HR, and organisational protection
How authority is protected inside organisations, how hr functions within these dynamics, and why escalation frequently intensifies the process.
22:00 – 28:00 | What to do if you’re targeted
How to think strategically once you suspect scapegoating, why direct confrontation tends to escalate risk, and how to assess your options realistically.
28:00 – end | Healthcare and closing reflections
Why scapegoating is common in healthcare and other high-pressure systems, and how recognising the pattern restores agency.
I hope this conversation gives you insight into the unconscious behaviours governing systemic responses to perceived threat at work, and the parallels you can draw with other group dynamics.
Enjoy and thank you for listening!
Hack narcissism and support my work
I believe that a common threat to our individual and collective thriving is an addiction to power and control. This addiction fuels and is fuelled by greed - the desire to accumulate and control resources in social, information (and attention), economic, ecological, geographical and political systems.
While activists focus on fighting macro issues, I believe that activism also needs to focus on the micro issues - the narcissistic traits that pollute relationships between you and I, and between each other, without contributing to existing injustice. It’s not as exciting as fighting the Big Baddies yet hacking, resisting and overriding our tendencies to control others that also manifest as our macro issues is my full-time job.
I’m dedicated to helping people understand all the ways narcissistic traits infiltrate and taint our interpersonal, professional, organisational and political relationships, and provide strategies for narcissism hackers to fight back and find peace.
Here’s how you can help.
Order my books: The Little Book of Assertiveness and The Scapegoating Playbook at Work
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