Rules, processes, policies, and procedures communicate just as much from leaders to followers as town hall speeches, e-mails, and LinkedIn posts. Every rule, procedure, and policy communicates a message about trust, power, risk, or accountability.

We're talking about dark patterns now more than ever, focusing on deceptive design and court cases. But one question remains oddly absent from the conversation: Where are the ethical organizational leaders?

Most of us would prefer to love our customers, but the feeling isn’t always mutual. Customers can be unruly. They can hate your brand, openly or privately. They can ignite social media firestorms with a single click on a smartphone. The risk only grows in complexity when employees can get burned out and lose faith in your brand. Understanding why is a solid step toward getting in front of the problems. Here are five recent peer-reviewed scholarly studies on the stormy side of