The Surprising Benefits of Gossip
“Go ahead, gossip about your a**hole boss. And make it nasty.” Bob Sutton
Silence isn’t always healthy, but not all gossip is the same.
The benefits of gossip aren’t found in attacking bad leaders. They’re found in helping teams survive them.
Benefits of Gossip
Teams that gossiped about lousy leaders showed:
- Higher trust.
- Less aggression.
- Better performance.
- Lower turnover.
Gossip doesn’t make bad bosses better; it helps teams survive.¹
Why Gossip Helps
People gossip to make sense of confusing situations.
People aren’t always tearing someone down when they say, “Did that meeting feel wrong to you?” Sometimes they’re checking reality.
Healthy teams use conversation to answer questions like:
- “Did I misunderstand?”
- “Is this normal?”
- “How should we respond?”
Shared understanding reduces isolation.
The Risk
The benefits of gossip vanish when the goal is humiliation.
Teams that gossip without confronting problems eventually become part of the problem.
Better Than Gossip
The healthiest organizations make gossip less necessary.
Leaders reduce unhealthy gossip when they…
#1. Invite uncomfortable conversations.
People whisper when they don’t feel safe speaking openly.
#2. Listen without punishment.
Employees test leaders before they trust them.
#3. Correct problems quickly.
Silence from leaders gives gossip room to grow.
Today
When you hear gossip, don’t say, “Who started this?”
Ask, “What need is this conversation trying to meet?”
How can teams maximize the benefits of gossip?
Thrive with an Incompetent Boss – Leadership Freak
References
- Combat poison with “poison”: Leader-targeted negative team gossip mitigates the detrimental team consequences of abusive supervision climate (2025). (The study found that leader-targeted negative gossip buffered some of the harmful effects of abusive supervision on trust, aggression, team performance, and turnover.)
- Zeng, H., Zhao, L., & Li, J. (2022). Why does subordinates’ negative workplace gossip lead to supervisor undermining? A moderated mediation model. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 981539. (Shows that leaders who perceive themselves as targets of negative gossip experience greater emotional exhaustion, which predicts more supervisor undermining.)
Woodrow Wilson once defined gossip as sociologists on a mean and petty scale. It is often mean and petty, like Woodrow Wilson observed. But it can also be helpful, answering the question: “What did I miss in this interaction. Remember: sociology is the study of human relationships. Sometimes, a little gossip helps build and strengthen those relationships.