About the Researcher
Principal Investigator
Karen Ellis, MSEd
Karen Ellis is an independent researcher and the founder of Glass Ceiling Ventures LLC. Her work focuses on the strategic responses of high-performing women who experience workplace bullying, with particular attention to how execution visibility is associated with career, health, and professional outcomes.Ā
Karen holds a Master of Science in Education with a concentration in Educational Administration. Her professional background spans education, economic development, organizational leadership, and workforce development, including having served on the following advisory boards:
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Saint Louis University Urban Planning & Development
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Saint Louis University Center for Supply Chain Excellence
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Healthcare Businesswomenā€™s Association
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Midwest Cyber Center (CyberUp)
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Alumni Advisor, Sigma Kappa Sorority
Her current research, the Tall Poppy Theoryā„¢, was developed through a two-year mixed-methods study of 76 women across six countries and multiple professional sectors. The study has been accepted for presentation at the IAWBH 2026 Conference in Canberra, Australia, following peer review.
Why This Research
The Question That Started Everything
This research began with a question that the existing literature could not answer.
The field of workplace bullying research has done critical work in documenting the prevalence of bullying, its psychological toll, and the organizational conditions that enable it. Prevention frameworks, bystander intervention models, and legislative efforts have all made important progress.
But when a high-performing woman is being targeted right now, and the systems that are supposed to protect her have failed, the field has remarkably little to offer her. She is usually told to report it, go through formal channels, and trust the process. In this research, when those steps made her identifiable to the organization before she was positioned, they were associated with faster career damage, not protection. The variable that tracked harm was visibility, not the decision to act."
Ā I started this research because I believed there had to be a better answer. The women I have spoken with have confirmed that there is. They found it on their own, through instinct, through strategic thinking, and through hard-won wisdom that no one had ever studied systematically.
This study is my attempt to capture that wisdom, test it rigorously, and make it available to every woman who needs it.
This research was built to help women like you. So is the assessment.
The Workplace Targeting Assessment measures the impact of targeting across 6 critical areas of your life. 18 questions. Five minutes. Built from the data these women provided.
START THE 5-MINUTE ASSESSMENT