Nobody likes a bully. But let’s not get too namby-pamby about this.

Well there’s only one thing to talk about this week, isn’t there? I don’t know about you, but this bullying stuff prompted some serious navel-gazing chez SD this week. Every time I saw someone in the office who’s previously felt the sharp end of my wrath, I actually felt a few pangs of guilt. Which is very unlike me. But although only an idiot would dispute the basic principle – that Bullying Is A Bad Thing – I just hope that all this stuff isn’t going to accelerate our decline into a nation of shrinking violets. As far as I’m concerned, instilling a bit of fear in your staff is no bad thing.

So I’ve given this some serious thought. Have I ever got angry in the office? Yes. Have I ever made someone cry? Yes. Have I ever been accused of treating someone unfairly? Yes. And when I asked myself why, I ended up coming up with lots of the same excuses that have been emanating from Downing Street this week: I’m passionate about my business; I’m very driven to succeed; I have very high standards, and so on. (As it happens I’m not convinced that Gordon, like most politicians, is passionate about anything other than self-promotion and self-preservation. But that’s a separate issue.)

In fact, I’d be amazed if any entrepreneur running their own business hasn’t done all this stuff. If you’re desperate to win all the time, you tend to be a bad loser. If you’re willing to tell people stuff they don’t want to hear – for example that they’ve done a bad job, or they don’t have a future in the company – they’re quite likely to get upset about it. And you need to do stuff like that if your business is going to be successful.

Now before anyone goes all moral majority on me, I just want to add two important caveats: you can’t make it personal, and you can’t lose your temper with people. That’s when you get into bullying territory. And more importantly, it means you’re not thinking rationally, which is usually why you make bad decisions.

But that aside, I think it’s good for your staff to be (at least a little bit) scared of you. It’s good for them to know that the stakes are high, that your standards are high, and that there’s a certain level of expectation. So I quite like giving the odd b*ll**king now and then. I think of it as my nuclear deterrent; people need to know you have it in your locker, and then you’ll probably have less need to use it. In my eyes, managing people is mostly about carrot, but there has to be at least the threat of stick.

One more thing. In my experience, under-performers almost always feel like they’re being persecuted. Equally, there will always be some sensitive souls who get offended at the slightest thing. And while it’s probably good that the bullying issue has been brought to a wider audience, I just hope it doesn’t mean these people start complaining that they’re being bullied every time their feelings are hurt. I’m afraid I haven’t got the patience for that, particularly at the moment.