Toxic Leaders – The Toxic Trinity that Takes Leaders Down
Bill Clinton said, “It’s the economy, stupid.” In organizations, “It’s the leadership, stupid.”
The problem with organizations is toxic leadership.
Look around. If you don’t like what you see, look in the mirror. Maybe you can’t improve the entire organization, but you certainly can improve your team.
The sooner leaders own the dark side of organizational life, the sooner the lights come on. Finger pointing and excuse-making cause organizations to remain dark.
Toxic leadership – the toxic trinity:
#1. Blind leaders can’t see their own incompetence.
There is no hope for those who feel capable when they’re incompetent, until they change their opinion.
Those who are incompetent have little insight into their incompetence. (Dunning-Kruger Effect)
You’re incompetent when you believe your job is more difficult than everyone else’s.
The more competent you feel, the less you know. Those who know the most know they have the most to learn.
Tips for blind leaders:
- Believe and act on the feedback you receive.
- Learn something and share what you’re learning with others.
- Ask questions. Spend a morning just asking questions.
#2. Insecure leaders feel threatened by the success of others.
You feel threatened if:
- Bravado, anger, or certainty are tools for shutting people down.
- You take credit for other people’s work.
- You minimize the success of others.
- Defensiveness is your default response to bad news or problems.
- You hold your head down when you walk the halls.
Tips for insecure leaders:
- Spend a morning praising and thanking.
- List your top 5 weaknesses.
- Develop a new skill with someone on your team.
#3. Squeaky wheel leaders obsess over problems.
Obsessing over problems makes you the problem.
Success is about seizing opportunities, not solving problems. (Inspired by Peter Drucker)
Tip: Monitor the ratio of positive to negative topics in your conversations. The 80/20 rule applies.
What’s on your list of toxic leader traits or behaviors?
Bonus material:
Why Incompetent People Think They’re Amazing (Ted-Ed 5:07)
8 Traits of Toxic Leadership to Avoid (Psychology Today)
Avoid over-confidence Bias with these 7 Actionable Steps (toggl)
Why Lousy Leaders Succeed (Leadership Freak)
Good evening,
Leadership and management are human and certainly have their fair share of flaws. The average subordinate does not have the courage to challenge their team leads, supervisors, managers or senior staff. If an employee did have the nerve to approach leadership and management would all parties involved remain neutral? Or would leadership and management wear their ego on their sleeves? From my personal experience in the workplace leadership and management will usually stick together.
In the past when I had an issue with leadership and management I went above certain individuals heads to receive assistance with an issue. To be perfectly honest, the majority of my experiences in the workplace have been very unpleasant to say the least. People in leadership and management positions went out of their way to make people feel miserable.
Thanks ZK. You’re right. Upper management often circles the wagons and becomes defensive when someone points out a concern.
It’s sad, but true. Leaders make life miserable for others. The good news is when leaders improve, organizational life improves.
Ah, dunno Dan …
At any particular time, each/all of us suffers from this trinity effect … the difference – in terms of leadership’s “productivity” – seems to be threefold in itself:
1. Being aware/self-aware (woke?) of our personal bias, and distrusting it;
2. Deliberately choosing a worldview that “it’s not about me,” it’s about us; humility, in other words … putting our personal biases truly aside.
3. Exploring openly (with others, and truly listening) the hidden essence of the complex troubles in which we find ourselves
(the very antithesis of the KISS principle … the actual resolution of the complexity into simple essence, not starting with it, or just “keeping it simple,” as we are wont to do).
Hmmm … that roughly parallels your trinity on the positive side:
1. Don’t take it personally;
2. Make it a universal existential concern; and
3. Don’t obsess on the details, obsess on the essence hidden by them – therein lies the Way forward.
Anything else is leader/manager “busy work,” more counterproductive than effective.
IMHO; been there y’all.
I would add the pushover leader. This type of leader may not be toxic, but can create a toxic environment or a toxic team they lead. Being the yes man can allow for innovation, but also allows for unproductive time implementing ineffective actions or strategies. This type of leader can quickly become every one’s friend, but overtime the team members can start to realize their efforts won’t be valued as much.
I would like to add that number four of insecure leaders is spot on from what I’ve seen in my past experience. I have never equated it to an insecure leader, but now that I’ve read your list I completely understand what that looks like. These types of leaders can pass this behavior onto staff and create an uneasiness in every phase of their position. Your suggestion of taking a gratitude walk, I feel, is a great behavior to develop. It certainly forces a negative person to look for the positives and realize its not all bad.
This resonates so much.
One aspect to also consider is that leaders are complex individuals who can have faults but also be extremely charming. It is tough for subordinates to speak up if there is a history of manipulation, retribution, and that others won’t believe them due to friendships among leadership.
Bill Clinton did not coin “It’s the economy stupid”, it was James Carville. Get your facts straight.
Thanks Michael. I think Bill Clinton said, “It’s the economy stupid,” many times. I wasn’t making a statement about the person who coined the expression. I’m glad you dropped in.