Surviving Toxic Leaders

Since Jean Lipman-Blumen's The Allure of Toxic Leaders shook the corporate world in 2005, countless articles, books, and Internet blogs have appeared on the topic. Despite such interest and response, no study of toxic leadership had appeared from a Christian point of view until this volume, Kenn Gangel's Surviving Toxic Leaders. Gangel begins by showing that toxic leadership existed throughout biblical history. Making generous use not only of biblical materials but also of contemporary leadership literature, Gangel names the causes and cures of power abuse, cheating, bullying, laziness, and dictatorial behavior in today's leaders. Readers will benefit from Gangel's leadership experience and expertise. He has been a pastor, a college dean (twice), and a college president. Gangel currently edits The Seal, a review of leadership literature. Practical and personal, Surviving Toxic Leaders abounds with stories of real people and their situations. Everyone who has ever had trouble at work will benefit from Surviving Toxic Leaders.

Surviving Toxic Leadership with Gratefulness, is the result of my struggle to make sense of the experiences HR professionals generously shared with me, as well as my own nearly decade long experience with a toxic leader. In this book, I share gori details along with a systemic research-based perspective on toxic leadership, recognizing that the problem of a toxic workplace is never encapsulated in the leader alone. I argue throughout the book, that it is crucial and urgent that we not only learn about toxic leadership, but act to end it. Toxic leaders and those who enable them must be held accountable, and victims must be given the tools to become survivors.As you read this book, I hope you will find a connection between your own experiences and those that I and my research participants struggled with and ultimately survived. If you are reading this as a person who is currently experiencing toxicity in the workplace, or as someone who has recently escaped a toxic leader, I hope that the stories in this book will be affirming and comforting. You are not alone. If you are reading this as a person who is sympathetic to the problems of workplace toxicity and has the power to instigate change, either in your workplace or with a friend or family member who is victim to a toxic leader, these stories may be a useful reference.

Toxic leaders, both political, like Slobodan Milosevic, and corporate, like Enron's Ken Lay, have always been with us, and many books have been written to explain what makes them tick. Here leadership scholar Jean Lipman-Blumen explains what makes the followers tick, exploring why people will tolerate--and remain loyal to--leaders who are destructive to their organizations, their employees, or their nations. Why do we knowingly follow, seldom unseat, frequently prefer, and sometimes even create toxic leaders? Lipman-Blumen argues that these leaders appeal to our deepest needs, playing on our anxieties and fears, on our yearnings for security, high self-esteem, and significance, and on our desire for noble enterprises and immortality. She also explores how followers inadvertently keep themselves in line by a set of insidious control myths that they internalize. For example, the belief that the leader must necessarily be in a position to "know more" than the followers often stills their objections. In addition, outside forces--such as economic depressions, political upheavals, or a crisis in a company--can increase our anxiety and our longing for charismatic leaders. Lipman-Blumen shows how followers can learn critical lessons for the future and survive in the meantime. She discusses how to confront, reform, undermine, blow the whistle on, or oust a toxic leader. And she suggests how we can diminish our need for strong leaders, identify "reluctant leaders" among competent followers, and even nurture the leader within ourselves. Toxic leaders charm, manipulate, mistreat, weaken, and ultimately devastate their followers. The Allure of Toxic Leaders tells us how to recognize these leaders before it's too late.

This book derives from my struggle to make sense of the experiences HR professionals generously shared with me, as well as my own experience surviving a toxic leader. In this book, I share these stories and a systemic research-based perspective on toxic leadership, recognizing that the problem of a toxic workplace is never encapsulated in the leader alone. I argue throughout the book, that it is crucial and urgent that we not only learn about toxic leadership, but act to end it.

Since Jean Lipman-Blumen's The Allure of Toxic Leaders shook the corporate world in 2005, countless articles, books, and Internet blogs have appeared on the topic. Despite such interest and response, no study of toxic leadership had appeared from a Christian point of view until this volume, Kenn Gangel's Surviving Toxic Leaders. Gangel begins by showing that toxic leadership existed throughout biblical history. Making generous use not only of biblical materials but also of contemporary leadership literature, Gangel names the causes and cures of power abuse, cheating, bullying, laziness, and dictatorial behavior in today's leaders. Readers will benefit from Gangel's leadership experience and expertise. He has been a pastor, a college dean (twice), and a college president. Gangel currently edits The Seal, a review of leadership literature. Practical and personal, Surviving Toxic Leaders abounds with stories of real people and their situations. Everyone who has ever had "trouble at work" will benefit from Surviving Toxic Leaders.

Unlike other books written on "toxic leaders," this book takes issue with the predominant view that "toxic leaders are bad" and destructive to their companies. Rather, the author argues that even highly productive leaders have some toxic qualities central to their success story. The book redirects the conversation about toxicity in a more productive direction, as toxic leaders are not just viewed as villains and liabilities, but are also considered as potential assets, innovators, and rebels. Working on the premise that "toxicity is a fact of company life," the book provides organizations with a model and blueprint on the advantages to be gained from skillful anticipation, control, and handling of troubled and difficult leaders. In contrast to dysfunctional organizations that ignore toxicity or dwell on the perceived destructive impact of toxic leaders, successful companies come up with resourceful, innovative strategies for turning seeming deficits into opportunities.

"A study of toxic leadership in the U.S. military and an examination of ways to better the command structure through a revamp of the way leaders are trained and treated"--

Learn how to thrive in—or escape from—a toxic work environment. Toxic organizations are rife with conflict, fear, and anger. The environment causes people to have physiological responses as if they’re in a fight-or-flight situation. Healthy people become ill. Colds, flu and stress-related illnesses such as heart attacks are more common. By contrast, in resonant organizations, people take fewer sick days and turnover is low. People smile, make jokes, talk openly and help one another." - Annie McKee (author, consultant) Many employees experience the reality of bullying bosses, poisonous people, and soul-crushing cultures on a daily basis. Rising Above a Toxic Workplace tells authentic stories from today's workers who share how they cope, change, or quit. Candidly they open up about what they learned, what they wish they had done, and how to gain resilience. Insightfully illustrating from these accounts, authors Gary Chapman, Paul White, and Harold Myra blend their combined experiences in ministry and business to deliver hope and practical guidance to those who find themselves in an unhealthy work environment. Includes a Survival Guide and Toolkit full of strategies and realistic insights