actions that lead to often-needless agitation, done as an attention-grabbing measure or even unwittingly, as in “Jeff shouldn’t lead the reorganization, he’s already got a reputation for boat rocking”; boat rocking may nonetheless be tolerated in individuals whose other attributes are more valuable to an organization than their callousness is destructive; evokes the behavior of someone large enough to cause a small watercraft to roll and pitch uncomfortably, threatening to dump passengers and their belongings into the drink; similar to shake the trees, although this suggests more deliberate action while boat rocking has less salutary effects