For some, modern society is ruled by the bullies and all kinds of people become victims. From the lowliest call centre to the Office of Britain's Deputy Prime Minister - criticised for the bullying of staff in an official report last year - bullying seems to be commonplace.
But as Patrick Barkham explores in a great piece in the Guardian, to others, bullying is just charisma in action.
By this thinking, leaders who offer masterful examples of motivational power are being emasculated by a burgeoning compensation culture and a readiness to believe that the slightest raised voice must belong to a sociopathic bully. Cosseted and mollycoddled, we are unwilling to accept one bad day at work or a ticking-off from the boss.
As the £800,000 damages award against Deutsche Bank earlier this week highlights, bullying is now too costly for employers (in the UK at least) to ignore. Yet, as Barkham memorably puts it, "eradicating bullying promises to be a task as neverending as the war on terror."