I understand that you're advocating for helping people develop a thick skin. Where I take objection is when you start talking about abuse. There's enough other kinds of adversity out there to be resilient against.

> My experience in the professional world is that its full of assertive, aggressive individuals men and women included.

It's possible to be assertive and aggressive without being abusive.

> There are only so many slots at the top

Not everyone wants to get to the "top".

> Is it a disservice to create these mushy teeball environments

They certainly sound better than environments full of mental/emotional abuse. Why can't we create abuse-free environments in the real world, too?