Say your male GCD doesn’t like you because he can’t be crude or crass (or homophobic) around you, and you don’t really think of bro-y ideas like he likes. Now he’s cutting you out of good briefs and clearly trying to make you uncomfortable at work. Is there any coming back from this dynamic/narrative?

My old boss!! I can tell by his LinkedIn comments that he is a trump supporter. So happy I left.

Clarification: uncomfortable by correcting you/disagreeing with you all the time and acting actively annoyed with you (rolling eyes, trying to get away from you as quickly as possible after meetings).

Don’t go to HR. That will be the beginning of the end, unfortunately.

You need to confront this with him. There’s nothing to lose. Making him feel aware of and shameful about his behaviour might be the only way to stop this; so how to do it? It requires a bit of courage and intentionality.
- ask for a 1:1
- tell him that you feel, see and receive his cues (like eye rolling and excluding you) and you are interpreting them as frustration with your contributions
- tell him you want to learn, contribute positively. Invite him to level with you on why he thinks you’re not cutting it and that you want to receive the feedback from him in the spirit of making the work better
Also tell him the public non verbal responses (eye rolling etc), are, you think, designed to make you appear undermined. Tell him you’re coping with that just fine (thereby signalling he’s not impacting you if that’s his goal) but that you do have concerns about the impact it has on the rest of the team - they find it uncomfortable- and lead him to wonder if that reflects badly on him not you
- tell him you can live with being wrong. That you want to learn. But if there are fundamental disagreements on creative, you will make a case for your pov bc that’s your job and you’re doing it with the best outcomes in mind. If he chooses not to listen to your voice, that’s his prerogative- and he can and should make the case for why not - but ask him to do it constructively rather than using non verbal cues that make the whole team uncomfortable and less likely to share their thoughts and ideas.

The ultimate goal here is for the convo to leave him feeling that his own style of “leadership” is being questioned by the whole team. That is something he might take seriously enough to change. Good luck and if you try this or some version of it - let us know how it went!

You might want to consult with an employment attorney about what your move should be. They can advise you better than randos on fishbowl if what he’s doing is illegal, how you should document it, what language you should use with him and with HR if you want to complain about it

Does anyone else feel this? Especially women. Would be easier if you could get a couple of complaints against him and make the company worried about harassment claims.

You say your partner doesn’t think you have a case but you should do your own research. This isn’t going to court, it’s much more nuanced than that.

What state are you in?

If his behavior is tied to a protected trait (including gender, race, age) and it creates a hostile or intimidating environment or negatively affects your job advancement, it’s considered harassment under most employment laws.

If it’s not tied to one of those traits, it might not legally be harassment, but it could still be workplace bullying, abuse of power, or toxic management, which are serious HR issues even if not illegal.

He wants to sleep with you