Toxic Leadership Blumen

Toxic Leaders Jean Lipman-Blumen's book The Allure of Toxic Leaders does two things. First, it describes toxic leaders -- what they look like in a leadership situation and what they do -- and then it outlines the reasons why people who are obviously toxic still retain a lot of followers. The first part of this comes in understanding some key elements of leadership. It requires followers, first and foremost, and it comes from a variety of sources including charisma and formal authority.

These sources do not necessarily correspond with high quality leadership, which opens the door for toxic leadership to exist and also for it to have followers. One of the key attributes of toxic leaders is that they exploit the fears and desires of their followers, manipulating emotions to achieve their objectives. The objectives are usually not related to the best interests of the followers, hence the toxicity of the leader. Toxic leaders can often emerge in times of crisis. During these times, followers look for stability.

A toxic leader might be in a position of power or rise to a position of power at this point, because they are able to offer a simple solution, no matter how complex the problem. This solution will not accurately address the problem, but it will have a simple emotional appeal to the followers. The followers are searching for stability and solutions in a crisis time, and toxic leaders are there with their simple answers that often appeal to emotional responses.

If there is fear, the toxic leader appeals to that -- minorities have often borne the brunt of such appeals as toxic leaders appeal to fears of the unknown represented by another race or religion. The desire for a solution is manipulated here as well. There might not be a solution, but people want one, so they gravitate to the leader that is proposing one, no matter how impractical that solution might actually be.

The author also notes that much of this is rooted in an innate human need for authority, order, security and belonging. Most humans are assumed to need these things, and so they are commonly exploited by toxic leaders. People are willing to gravitate to leaders who promise them things that are perceived to be lacking in their lives, especially with things like security, which is the basis for living a halfway comfortable lifestyle.

The interesting issue that Blumen raises in this book is that people will often continue to follow a toxic leader even after the toxicity is realized. Some of this relates to a feeling of powerlessness to change anything, as the leader by that point has solidified his or her leadership position and will be tough to unseat. But part of it is that unseating the toxic leader will lead to a leadership vacuum. There is the risk of the unknown associated with the removal of leadership.

When people think about parts of the world that commonly experience coups d'etat, those regions are not typically the most successful on the planet, so there is a good case to be made that stability, even under toxic leadership, is better than instability. Thus, people are insufficiently motivated by toxicity until they absolutely feel that they cannot continue under the toxic leader. That is a situation that does not always arise, or is constrained by that feeling of powerlessness to topple the toxic leader.

Blumen offers some interesting thoughts about the role between leaders and followers in this analysis. Followers need to be empowered in some ways to feel comfortable addressing toxic leadership. For example, whistleblower protections are recommended, as well as term limits on leadership, and a high level of transparency built into institutional structures.

A good example of a structure that inhibits toxic leadership is the American presidency, where if you don't like a President you will have a chance to vote him out in four years or less; and this is combined with term limits. Compare this with countries that have corrupt, toxic presidents-for-life. Without the right institutions to ensure toxic leaders can be removed, people will feel powerless and the toxicity can continue for many years.

The author therefore recommends taking proactive steps to ensure that toxic leaders cannot take hold in the long run. I look at this and agree with the fundamental message. People rise to leadership positions for all sorts of reasons, but they are not always good leaders. Even a good leader.