The Allure of Toxic Leaders: Why We Follow Destructive Bosses and Corrupt Politicians--and How We Can Survive Them - Hardcover

Lipman-Blumen, Jean

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195166345 ISBN 13: 9780195166347

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2004

Synopsis

Toxic leaders--such as Ken Lay at Enron or Al Dunlap ("Chainsaw Al") at Sunbeam, or Slobodan Milosevic in Yugoslavia--have always been with us, and many books explain what makes them tick. But in The Allure of Toxic Leaders, Jean Lipman-Blumen explains what makes the followers tick, exploring why we tolerate--and remain steadfastly loyal to--leaders who are destructive to their organizations, their employees, their nations, and their constituents.
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. The author explores how psychological needs--such as the desire to be at the heart of the action, to be an insider--can often make us susceptible to toxic leaders. She describes how followers inadvertently keep themselves in line by a set of insidious control myths that they internalize. In addition, outside forces--such as economic depressions, political upheavals, or a crisis in the company--can increase our anxiety and our longing for charismatic leaders. Equally important, Lipman-Blumen shows how followers, mired in the swamp of toxic leadership, 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 first charm, but then manipulate, mistreat, weaken, and ultimately devastate their followers. The Allure of Toxic Leaders tells us how to recognize these leaders and identify the germ of toxicity within their "noble" visions before it's too late.

About this title

About the Author

Jean Lipman-Blumen is the Thornton F. Bradshaw Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, Claremont Graduate University, in California. She is a co-founding director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Leadership and served as a special advisor in the White House under President Carter. Her books include The Connective Edge: Leading in an Interdependent World and Hot Groups: Seeding Them, Feeding Them, and Using Them to Ignite Your Organization (with Harold J. Leavitt), which was the Association of American Publishers' "Business Book of the Year."

Reviews

Lipman-Blumen, a professor of public policy and organizational behavior at Claremont Graduate University, examines the seemingly inexplicable reasons why many employees are loyal to CEOs and politicians who abuse power, cook finances and otherwise virtually destroy their companies. Among the book's conclusions: employees feeling uncertain over their own job security will remain loyal to a toxic executive. Furthermore, economic turmoil, political crisis or company problems sometimes enhance the toxic leader's appeal. Using insights based on a psychological approach, especially Maslow's theories of self-esteem, Lipman-Blumen (The Connective Edge) offers numerous examples in both politics and business of toxic leaders who have survived crises and received accolades despite their obvious flaws. By using names familiar to many readers—Rudolph Giuliani; the former mayor of Providence, R.I., Buddy Cianci—the author is likely to attract a wider audience than if she focused on business executives. The book's strength is the detailed psychological approach to examining the phenomenon of loyalty to toxic leaders. The last section discusses how employees can recognize the signs of toxic leadership, but it doesn't offer enough practical steps on how to challenge these leaders. Still, this is a solid look at a dismaying business trend.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195166345
• ISBN 13: 9780195166347
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320