Transforming 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"--

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.

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.

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.

In recent years, scholars have focused more on the "dark sides of leadership." Both the negative and positive aspects of the relationship between leaders and followers are considered. But the relationship between leaders and followers is also influenced by the context in which the relationship occurs. Organizational aspects such as culture and structures are studied in relation to how negative leadership develops. Organizations, just like humans, are able to develop justifications for their actions, to self-aggrandize by claiming their exclusivity. In this book, the dark sides of organizational behaviors and leadership are considered from different aspects and contexts. The book contributes knowledge of how negative leadership develops, what part organizational structures play, and what the consequences are for the leader, the subordinates and the organization.

Transparent communication and effective leadership are not always evident in businesses of ministry. Many have left churches in droves after being hurt by toxic leaders. 10 Reasons Communication Brings Transformation includes Janette Braverman's personal storiesand leadership strategies on the craft of effective communication. She also includes interviews with mega-church leaders Bishop Darriell L. Hines of Christian Faith Fellowship Church and Sr. Paster Jason Webb of Elmbrook Church

About the Book The Perils of Toxic Leadership is a science-based research-heavy discovery of toxic leaders’ overall effect on workplace culture, the wellbeing of those they manage, and the costs associated with such leaders. This book aims to take the latest science on the topic and morph it into a user-friendly accounting of its most extraordinary implications. There has never been a more focused time on toxic leadership in the history of the world than there is today. With this book, Dr. Chris Justino is trying to create a digestible and engaging read that helps shine a light on specific traits to spot before hiring a toxic leader, accepting a role under a toxic leader, or voting for one. Since the 80s, global economies have been subject to the most heinous atrocities committed by toxic leaders, such as major economic downturns, corporate scandals, and war. Dr. Justino wants to provide the information hundreds of studies (including his own) have produced on the subject, but in a way that communicates well beyond academia. About the Author Dr. Chris Justino is a father, a veteran, and a leader. He has two boys under the age of ten and continuously ponders the world they are inheriting from their father’s generation and the generations before him. Dr. Justino is known for helping his community, specifically those most vulnerable, to do better for themselves and their families. On a personal note, Dr. Justino enjoys being a father more than anything. As an individual, the minds of leaders have fascinated him since he was a child, and nearly every book he owns has nonfiction based on actions of great and not-so-great humans. He loves to travel, find new mountains to snowboard, and learn everything. On a professional level, he has led many different types of organizations of all sizes. He believes that a great workplace culture leads to a great product and/or service. Dr. Justino’s study, the foundation for this book, was “The Relationship between Toxic Leadership Traits and Employee Turnover Intentions among Four Cultural Typologies." He holds a BA in Business Leadership, an MBA, and a Doctor of Psychology with an emphasis on Organizational Development and Leadership.