Toxic Leadership
Toxic Leadership
Colonel George E. Reed, U.S. Army
N 2003, Secretary of the Army Thomas E. White asked the U.S. Army War College (AWC) to address how the Army could effectively assess leaders to detect those who might have “destructive leadership styles.”1 The most important first step in detecting and treating toxic leadership is to recognize the symptoms. The terms toxic leader, toxic manager, toxic culture, and toxic organization appear with increasing frequency in business, leadership, and management literature. Analyst Gillian Flynn provides a particularly descriptive definition of a toxic manager; he is the “manager who bullies, threatens, yells. The manager whose mood swings determine the climate of the office on any given workday. Who forces employees to whisper in sympathy in cubicles and hallways. The backbiting, belittling boss from hell. Call it what you want—poor interpersonal skills, unfortunate office practices—but some people, by sheer shameful force of their personalities make working for them rotten.”2 In Kathy Simmons’s “Executive Update Online,” Rob Rosner describes a toxic atmosphere: “It’s all about ends [but] nothing is said about means. It’s about when bosses only know how to use the stick and there is nary a carrot in sight. And finally, it’s in the pain that is in the faces of all the people who work there.”3 Writer Marcia Whicker describes toxic leaders as “maladjusted, malcontent, and often malevolent, even malicious. They succeed by tearing others down. They glory in turf protection, fighting and controlling rather than uplifting followers.”4 In 2003, 20 AWC students focused on the topic of command climate and leaders’ roles in shaping
MILITARY REVIEW July - August 2004
I
it. The students provided a well-considered description of toxic leaders: “Destructive leaders are focused on visible short-term mission accomplishment. They provide superiors with impressive, articulate presentations and enthusiastic responses to missions.
Colonel George E. Reed, U.S. Army
N 2003, Secretary of the Army Thomas E. White asked the U.S. Army War College (AWC) to address how the Army could effectively assess leaders to detect those who might have “destructive leadership styles.”1 The most important first step in detecting and treating toxic leadership is to recognize the symptoms. The terms toxic leader, toxic manager, toxic culture, and toxic organization appear with increasing frequency in business, leadership, and management literature. Analyst Gillian Flynn provides a particularly descriptive definition of a toxic manager; he is the “manager who bullies, threatens, yells. The manager whose mood swings determine the climate of the office on any given workday. Who forces employees to whisper in sympathy in cubicles and hallways. The backbiting, belittling boss from hell. Call it what you want—poor interpersonal skills, unfortunate office practices—but some people, by sheer shameful force of their personalities make working for them rotten.”2 In Kathy Simmons’s “Executive Update Online,” Rob Rosner describes a toxic atmosphere: “It’s all about ends [but] nothing is said about means. It’s about when bosses only know how to use the stick and there is nary a carrot in sight. And finally, it’s in the pain that is in the faces of all the people who work there.”3 Writer Marcia Whicker describes toxic leaders as “maladjusted, malcontent, and often malevolent, even malicious. They succeed by tearing others down. They glory in turf protection, fighting and controlling rather than uplifting followers.”4 In 2003, 20 AWC students focused on the topic of command climate and leaders’ roles in shaping
MILITARY REVIEW July - August 2004
I
it. The students provided a well-considered description of toxic leaders: “Destructive leaders are focused on visible short-term mission accomplishment. They provide superiors with impressive, articulate presentations and enthusiastic responses to missions.