I have a friend who got ensnarled in a toxic work environment. The poison was created by a narcissistic colleague who mistreated teammates, lied, made up stories that damaged people, and pretty much manipulated anything that would further his own cause. 

After a long ordeal, upper management had finally had enough and made a power play that forced the bully to leave. 

Now out in the marketplace and fearing people would make his assholery known on social media, he changed his name on all of his online networks. 

This is a common ploy. Companies do it all the time. Names get changed to try and cover up past indiscretions and clean the slate. 

But there’s a rub. Changing names while not changing behavior is just a shell game. It’s just moving the deck chairs hoping no one notices that the deck chairs are still broken and ugly. 

If you want to move beyond bad history, you must change the future. You must publicly recognize the faults of the past and make a definitive about-face moving forward.  Name changing is just a facade. Behavior change is reality. 

The best move is to never get to this point. Be kind. Keep promises. And seek forgiveness when you take a wrong turn. 

Whether it’s an individual or an organization, never getting to the name-change position isn’t that difficult. Just consider others as much as you consider yourself. 

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