When the Bucket Is Full, and One Crab Pulls the Other Down
-
Ramya Harman
- January 22, 2026
There is a story often told about crabs placed together in a bucket. When one crab tries to climb out,
the others instinctively pull it back down. Not because they benefit from it, but because that is how
the system works inside the bucket. No crab escapes, not because escape is impossible, but because
progress is punished.
This story feels uncomfortably familiar in professional spaces.
In workplaces across industries, you see it play out quietly. Someone shows promise. Someone
begins to grow. Someone edges closer to opportunity. And instead of support, what follows is
resistance, subtle, strategic, often invisible. This is what is commonly referred to as crab mentality at
work.
It doesn’t always look aggressive. Most of the time, it’s disguised as concern, feedback, or “just being
realistic.” But its impact is deeply corrosive.
A Story from the Office Floor
Ravi joined the company with competence and curiosity. He wasn’t loud or overly ambitious. He did
his work well, asked questions, and slowly earned trust. When an opportunity opened up , a
leadership role in a new project, his name came up naturally.
That’s when things shifted.
Suddenly, the same colleagues who once supported him began questioning his readiness. Comments
surfaced casually. “He’s good, but maybe not leadership material.” “Let’s see how he performs
under pressure.” “He still has a lot to learn.”
None of these statements was outright false. But together, they created doubt.
What Ravi didn’t realise immediately was that his growth had disrupted an unspoken balance. His
progress made others uncomfortable, not because he was unqualified, but because it forced
comparison.
This is how workplace toxicity often begins. Not with hatred, but with insecurity.
The Many Faces of Crab Mentality at Work
Crab mentality at work doesn’t always look like sabotage. More often, it shows up as silence. Lack of
credit. Withholding information. Passive resistance. A failure to advocate.
Almost There
Choosing Better
Sometimes it appears as over-criticism disguised as “high standards.” Sometimes it’s exclusion from
conversations that matter. Other times, it’s subtle discouragement , planting seeds of self-doubt so
growth slows naturally.
Sometimes, the real competition at work isn’t the market — it’s the people standing right
beside you.
What makes it dangerous is its invisibility. Because it rarely breaks rules. It just bends culture.
Why Professional Jealousy Thrives
Professional jealousy is rarely about the other person. It is about unresolved fear.
Fear of being left behind.
Fear of losing relevance.
Fear that someone else’s success exposes one’s stagnation.
In unhealthy work cultures, growth is treated as a limited resource. If one person rises, someone
else must fall. This mindset turns collaboration into competition and colleagues into threats.
The irony is that this mentality rarely protects anyone. It traps everyone in the same bucket.
The Cost of Pulling Others Down
For the person being pulled down, the impact is deeply personal. Confidence erodes. Motivation
weakens. Self-doubt creeps in. The question shifts from “Can I do this?” to “Should I even try?”
For the people pulling, the damage is quieter but equally real. Growth becomes impossible when
energy is spent monitoring others instead of improving oneself.
The Moment of Awareness
Ravi eventually noticed the pattern. Not because someone explained it, but because the atmosphere
changed. Conversations felt guarded. Support felt conditional. Growth felt lonely.
What saved him was not confrontation, but clarity.
He stopped seeking validation from people threatened by his progress. He focused on work, built
allies outside the immediate circle, and chose not to internalise resistance as truth.
Not everyone makes it past this point
Choosing a Different Professional Identity
Escaping the crab mentality at work requires both personal and cultural shifts.
Individually, it means refusing to play the same game. Choosing growth over comparison.
Collaboration over control. Awareness over resentment.
It means recognizing that someone else’s success does not diminish your own. In fact, in healthy
environments, it strengthens the ecosystem.
Organizationally, it requires leadership that rewards collaboration, transparency, and shared wins. It
requires cultures where growth is celebrated, not policed.
The Role of Leadership
Leaders play a critical role in either reinforcing or dismantling crab mentality.
When leaders reward politics over performance, silence over honesty, and loyalty over integrity,
they create buckets where no one escapes. When leaders recognise contribution, address toxic
behaviour, and protect psychological safety, they create ladders instead.
Leadership is not just about driving results. It is about shaping behaviour.
A Better Way Forward
The workplace does not have to be a bucket.
It can be a space where growth multiplies rather than threatens, where progress is shared, not
stolen. Where people rise because others lift, not because they pull.
This shift does not happen overnight. It begins with awareness. By naming the behaviour. By
choosing not to participate in systems that thrive on insecurity.
Crab mentality survives in silence.
Growth survives in intention.
The next time you see someone climbing, ask yourself a simple question:
Are you pulling, or are you holding the ladder steady?
In the end, workplaces don’t fail because people grow.
They fail because people are afraid to let anyone grow beyond them.
