If You Don’t Name The Poison, You’ll Swallow It

Every time I work with leaders, toxic leadership comes up.

So I’ve dug up a 20-page PDF by Colonel Denise F. Williams, “Toxic Leadership in the U.S. Army”.

Why?

Because military writing cuts like a knife.

It’s blunt, clear, and zero fluff.

That’s what I love, and what I teach.

This blog is a cheat sheet for me and a public memo for you.

If you work with humans, toxic leadership is your problem too.

See my posts on “assholes” and the “bad apple” effect. 

Same poison, different labels.

Alright, here’s what the military says. 

Word for word.

“Army leaders must set high standards, lead by example, do what is legally and morally right, and influence other people to do the same. They must establish and sustain a climate that ensures people are treated with dignity and respect and create an environment in which people are challenged and motivated to be all they can be. —U.S. Army Field Manual 22-100

Toxic leaders can be characterized as leaders who take part in destructive behaviors and show signs of dysfunctional personal characteristics. “To count as toxic, these behaviors and qualities of character must inflict some reasonably serious and enduring harm on their followers and their organizations. The intent to harm others or to enhance the self at the expense of others distinguishes seriously toxic leaders from the careless or unintentional toxic leaders.”

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Experts have identified a number of characteristics attributable to toxic leaders. The following compilation of traits provides a starting point for better understanding of toxic leadership. Although all of these characteristics are significant, they are listed from the least significant to the most severe. Many of these descriptions overlap, and while it may be difficult to determine a bona fide difference among some of them…In most cases of toxic leadership the leader will present not just one, but a combination of traits. Intuitively, the more of these traits the leader displays, the more toxic the leader is considered.

Many authors explain these unfavorable traits in terms of Psychologist Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Maslow categorized human needs into a five-level pyramid and suggested that people move upward as needs at a particular level are met. The levels start with basic physiological needs forming the base and then ascend through safety, love and belonging , esteem, and finally, self-actualization. Until needs and desires are met at any given level, the individual cannot progress to the next level. While “trustworthy leaders usually operate at level four or five,” destructive leaders are still concerned with meeting their safety needs at level two or possibly their love and belonging needs at level three. Their behavior indicates that they have not begun to address their esteem needs at level four. This results in many of the following negative personal characteristics.

INCOMPETENCE

Incompetence results from the lack of the required skill, capability, and aptitude that are required to complete the function. It may include a failure to understand the mission or task at hand, a continued failure to comprehend the problems and issues associated with the task and ultimately a failure to determine the best way to solve problems and overcome issues.

MALFUNCTIONING

Leaders who malfunction are focused on their own insecurities and are therefore unable to focus on the mission, organization, or followers.7 Most of their time, energy, and effort are spent on themselves, leaving little attention or interest for anything else. Not only does the leader malfunction, so does the organization.

MALADJUSTED

Leaders who are viewed as maladjusted are “insecure about their own accomplishments, often with good reason, having avoided the personal risk, discipline, and hard work needed to succeed in earlier circumstances.” They are maladjusted to their surroundings, their position, their organization, and certainly to their followers.

SENSE OF INADEQUACY

Similarly, “all toxic leaders have a deep-seated sense of inadequacy.” The sense of inadequacy may be based on either real or perceived “chinks in the armor,” but nonetheless, the self-doubt is ever present. In its most extreme form, this self-doubt can bring about a leader whose only feels competent when destroying others.

MALCONTENT

The malcontent leader is an extremely bitter leader, an unhappy person, a disgruntled soul who is angry about past failures and determined to make the world pay. This leader is not satisfied with anything-- self, others, circumstances, and displays this dissatisfaction through angry outbursts, rants and tirades.

IRRESPONSIBLE

Leaders who possess the characteristic of irresponsibility refuse to answer for their actions. They have “reckless disregard for the costs of their actions to others as well as to themselves.” They see no need to do what is right, because they see no penalty for doing what is wrong.

AMORAL

A step beyond irresponsible is amoral. Leaders who are amoral are often also irresponsible and see themselves as outside the particular moral code. Not only will they not take responsibility for their actions, but their amorality “makes it nigh impossible for them to discern right from wrong.”

COWARDICE

Cowardice in a leader is about much more than a simple lack of physical courage as on a battlefield. It is about the lack of resolve, determination, and steadfastness in times when tough decisions must be made. It is about being unable or unwilling to make the tough decisions. This type of leader does not recognize this weak point and is therefore not able to make a necessary change.

INSATIABLE AMBITION

While ardent ambition may qualify as a positive personal characteristic for a good leader, insatiable ambition does not. A leader who has an unquenchable desire for power, prestige, money, success and glory will obviously do whatever it takes to satisfy that desire at any cost. It may mean compromise of operation, organization, people or all of these. This leader will put ambition above all else.

EGOTISM

As with ambition, a healthy ego by itself may not be a particularly negative attribute. However, egotism in a leader is a dysfunctional trait that can destroy an organization. The leader’s exaggerated sense of self worth, constant focus on self, and inability to distinguish between the real self and the imagined self clouds self-perception and thus limits the capacity for self-renewal.

ARROGANCE

To take this idea of self worth a step further, leaders who are arrogant and overly certain of their own superiority to all others are not only consumed by their self worth, but also by the fact that they are convinced that they can do all things a cut above all others. Because of their self-perceived perfection, they cannot fathom making mistakes. This arrogance prevents them from “acknowledging their mistakes and instead leads to blaming others” for all that goes wrong. Nothing will ever be their fault, but they will not hesitate to find and lay blame wherever it is otherwise convenient.

SELFISH VALUES

Good leaders are those who genuinely care about the mission, organization and their subordinates, and put those entities before self. “Toxic leaders, by contrast, do not develop values that place organizational needs high.”This concept of selfish values encompasses more than merely lack of selflessness. It encompasses that notion that the values someone holds are focused excessively on self. For the most part, values are usually directed toward the good of others or the good of all. Toxic leaders maintain values that are purely “self-centered and self-promoting.”

AVARICE AND GREED

One of the self-centered values results in yet another dysfunctional characteristic: avarice and greed. Those in this category place an inordinately high value on the accumulation of wealth and financial gain. Avarice and greed will take a toll on the organization and the people in it.

LACK OF INTEGRITY

Lack of integrity on the part of a leader will result in a lack of trust on the part of followers. A lack of trust will cause a good business to lose money, a good government to lose credibility and a good military to lose lives. There is absolutely no room in leadership for a lack of integrity. It “marks the leader as cynical, corrupt, hypocritical, or untrustworthy” and is both deplorable and intolerable in any leadership situation.

DECEPTION

Toxic leaders know that lack of integrity, selfish values, insatiable ambition, irresponsibility and all the other character flaws they may possess are not acceptable in their roles as leaders, therefore they must embrace yet another flaw-- deception. They must attempt to deceive others about their character flaws and self-serving motives. Knowing they are supposed to care about the organization and its people, they will provide lip-service to a sense of concern, while their genuine loyalty is to themselves. They “hide their intentions most of the time, since their true intentions are socially, morally and organizationally unacceptable.” This constant deceit yields an absolute contradiction to the faith, confidence and trust necessary for good order within the organization.

MALEVOLENT

Leadership author Jean Lipman-Blumen describes toxic leadership as characterized by several “mals,” Three mals have already been mentioned: malfunction, maladjusted, and malcontent. The remaining three appear to be the most extreme of all the characteristics that are included here. Malevolence in leadership is the persistent, severe hatred for others that these leaders have in order to counter their own insecurities. They wish for the misfortune of others and then revel in it. They “secretly cheer when coworkers, superiors, and subordinates fail, even when the well-being of the entire organization is threatened.”

MALICIOUS

Maliciousness takes malevolence a step further. These leaders actually inflict the harm on others they feel such malice toward, often whether there is personal gain in it for them or not. “Rancor, malice, enmity, and spite are the trademark emotions” of these leaders, and they enjoy the insult of revenge on others.

MALFEASANCE

Finally, “haughty, arrogant, and insecure, toxic leaders sometimes cross the thin border between unethical or unprofessional behavior and illegal behavior.”This can result in malfeasance. Their perceived self-importance has them convinced that rules and laws do not apply to them. This can result in behaviors that are internally and externally devastating to an organization, especially in the public sector where public trust and confidence are greatly valued.

The worst case scenario occurs when a number of these negative traits are combined in a leader. It is now evident why so many authors use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model. A number of these dysfunctional personal characteristics illustrate the toxic leader’s inability to get past low level survival needs; level three, and in many cases level two.… the most extreme toxic leader is not getting the basic safety needs met and therefore has issues of “insecurity, yearning, sense of loss, fear, obsession, and compulsion.” In less extreme cases, the individual may be getting safety needs satisfied, but misses out on love and belonging needs. This type of leader has a feeling of “self-consciousness, feelings of being unwanted, feelings of worthlessness, emptiness, loneliness, isolation, and incompleteness.”

WHY DOES TOXIC LEADERSHIP HAPPEN IN THE U.S. ARMY?

The investigation into toxic leadership in the military should include a close look at why it exists and why it appears to be so prevalent in the military. The simple answer is that toxic leadership reflects an aspect of human nature. As discussed earlier, humans fall victim to a series of hierarchical needs. Recall that Maslow points out the needs at the lowest levels must be met before advancing to the next level. Unfortunately, some humans struggle with getting these needs met. They get delayed at a certain level of development and are never able to move on. If this is at level two, the level of safety, or level three, love and belonging , the result may be low or no self-esteem. Nearly every type of toxic leadership previously defined has self- esteem concerns as its root.

Another reason may be the inherent paradoxical nature of military leadership. A review of some of the toxic leadership types reflect some desired qualities of military leadership. Unlike some of the milder traits and types, such as incompetence, malfunctioning, inadequacy, and absentee, many of the more severe traits and types, such as busy, rigid, in control, enforcing, confident, and street fighter, may be characteristics the Army values in a leader. It is the extent to which these characteristics are applied that represents a problem. In moderation these features may be seen as good and acceptable. In the extreme they are toxic. For the most part, these toxic military leaders tend to do little in moderation and do most everything in the extreme. This is not a case where if a little of something is good, more must be better.

Inadequate development is another cause of toxic leadership. Mentoring is a critical aspect of Army leadership. Officers are taught at an early age to find leaders to emulate. Junior officers are advised to observe and emulate older, senior, successful officers to determine what they have done to be successful. If there were no existing toxic leaders, there would be none to emulate. However, since there are toxic leaders, it is inevitable that toxic leadership will be replicated. It will continue to propagate because it is seen by some as a pathway to success."

So, before you shrug this off as “not my circus, not my monkeys,” check the 18 types of toxic leaders.

Better yet, dive into the whole damn PDF if you want the full horror show.

Spot the red flags before they become your daily routine.

Toxic leadership doesn’t just ruin armies.

It poisons teams, tanks trust, and kills momentum.

Anywhere.

Everywhere.

If you want to win, you have to call it out. 

Because staying silent says plenty. 

PS. If you don’t know jewellery, know your jeweller. That’s Buffett’s rule. It’s the same with messaging. Smart ideas die in boring words. If you don’t know the game, find a partner who does, because your reputation is on the line. I help thinkers, rebels, and disruptors say what they mean and make it stick.  Step up. Bring your message. I’ll bring the punch. You’ve got one shot to say it right. I’ll help you take it.