Toxic Leaders, Susceptible Followers

October 10, 2024

https://triplecrownleadership.com/toxic-leaders-susceptible-followers/Toxic Leaders, Susceptible Followers

Article Summary:

We have too many toxic leaders in our workplaces, communities, and nations. What are their characteristics? Why do so many people follow them willingly? What makes an environment conducive for them to capture and maintain power? By Gregg Vanourek.

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As if things weren’t hard enough in our lives, we’re also beset with more than our fair share of toxic leaders.

Toxic leaders, according to Jean Lipman-Blumen of Claremont Graduate University and author of The Allure of Toxic Leaders, are:

“those individuals who, by virtue of their destructive behaviors and their dysfunctional personal qualities or characteristics, inflict serious and enduring harm on the individuals, groups, organizations, communities and even the nations that they lead.”

Part of the toxic leader’s game plan, she notes, is to fashion a “grand illusion… a grandiose dream of an unrealistic future” that’s “unconditionally positive.” Meanwhile, the toxic leader is the “omnipotent savior,” and followers become unquestioning, fiercely loyal, dismissive of other options, and sometimes infatuated.

Toxic leaders come in various shapes and sizes. What’s more, people have widely varying views about them: “my toxic leader may appear to be your ideal leader,” she notes. (1)

Signs of Toxic Leadership

The signs of toxic leadership include:

leaders using their position for their own personal ends
playing to people’s fears
violating people’s rights
leaving their followers worse off
not caring about the consequences of their actions
lacking integrity
being self-absorbed and arrogant
having exorbitant ambition

Toxic leaders, according to the research, engage in narcissistic, self-promoting, and erratic behavior. To which we can add hubris, bullying, harassment, and exploitation.

Toxic leaders can manipulate our minds and leverage social dynamics that place us at risk of their exploits. Examples abound of toxic leaders successfully creating the conditions in which they can get good people to lower or abandon their standards and support things they would otherwise find unappealing or even abhorrent—in some cases without even realizing it. We see this in cutthroat corporate environments, fanatical sports franchises, street gangs, drug cartels, abusive religious organizations, cults, political movements, and nations filled with good people who tolerate or support destructive leaders.

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The Toxic Triangle

This brings us to the “toxic triangle,” a cruel confluence of destructive leaders, susceptible followers, and conducive environments that allow for truly bizarre and harmful events to unfold. (Source: Art Padilla, Robert Hogan, and Robert B. Kaiser, “The Toxic Triangle.”) (2) See the image below.

We address each of these three factors and their components in turn.

I. Destructive Leaders

Destructive leaders tend to have charisma, a personalized need for power, narcissistic tendencies, a difficult life history, and an extreme ideology.

Charisma. Leaders are more pernicious when they have charisma and use it for nefarious purposes. They have strong presentation skills (and carefully curated personal branding), impressive energy levels, and effective salesmanship of their vision.

Personalized Need for Power. These leaders use power for their own self-promotion and personal gain, not to serve others. They’re consumed with self-aggrandizement and can be irresponsible, impulsive, dishonest, manipulative, and punitive, according to the research.

Narcissism. Narcissistic leaders have an inflated sense of self-importance, almost inexhaustible need for admiration, inability to handle criticism, lack of empathy and concern for others, and sense of entitlement. They tend to be self-absorbed and attention-seeking. Also, they disregard other people’s viewpoints and ignore their welfare, perhaps also exploiting them. They demand total loyalty and obedience, claim special knowledge and privilege, and offer grand visions that often never come to fruition. Their promises are unrealistic, even utopian. They insist that they alone can save and protect us and give us the security and reassurance we seek when things are topsy-turvy.

Negative Life Themes. Destructive leaders often suffered from childhood adversity, distress, or trauma. They may have experienced feelings of neglect, abandonment, worthlessness, or powerlessness. Sometimes, they’ve been traumatized or otherwise damaged and haven’t been able to heal or move forward.

Extreme Ideology. These leaders have a worldview that’s cynical or even hateful. They think and speak not in terms of lifting people up but in terms of conquering rivals and crushing enemies, of fear and danger.

If these are the characteristics of destructive leaders, what makes people susceptible to following and supporting them? After all, toxic leaders wouldn’t be so problematic if nobody followed them.

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II. Susceptible Followers

Destructive leaders, according to the research (2), have two types of followers: conformers and colluders.

Conformers “passively allow bad leaders to assume power” because of their unmet needs and other characteristics that make them vulnerable.
Colluders “seek personal gain through association with a destructive leader.” They’re ambitious and will often imitate the toxic leader’s behavior, placing them in the power circle and setting themselves up to become toxic leaders themselves if possible.

Unmet Needs. Some followers are susceptible to destructive leaders because they’re financially or emotionally insecure. They may have trouble putting food on the table. Or they feel unsafe, lonely, isolated, empty, or alienated from society.

Lower Core Self-Evaluations. Often, followers are susceptible to destructive leaders because they have lower self-esteem or an “external locus of control” (the belief that external factors, such as luck or others’ actions, drive their station in life rather than their own efforts). According to researchers, people with low self-esteem are more likely to follow charismatic leaders.

Psychological Factors. Given their ego development and self-concept, some people are more likely to follow rules and conform to authority (even to the point of harming others in the name of authority or loyalty). They may be avoidant and have a hard time accepting criticism and controlling their impulses. Also, they may seek attention and be emotionally reactive or have some narcissistic traits. Impressionable followers may internalize the leader’s dark ideology and buy into grand promises. (3)

Another factor, as noted above, is rationalization. People can emotionally identify with a leader because of various factors (e.g., shared worldview, financial interest, policy agreement) and then conceptually rationalize their way into overlooking or excusing their outrageous or even vile behavior.

“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?
It’s, like, incredible.”
-Donald Trump at an Iowa campaign event in January 2016

Distinct from the conformers who go along with destructive leaders are colluders who seek to gain by actively supporting them.

Ambition. Colluders are often hungry for status, and they’re willing to exploit people in service of pleasing their dear leader and setting themselves up for more wealth, power, and status.

Similar Worldview. Colluders follow such leaders because their values and beliefs are congruent with them. The closer the worldview, the stronger the bond.

Harmful Values. Colluding followers are more prone to selfishness, egotism, or greed. They may be impulsive or aggressive.

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III. Conducive Environment

There’s one more factor destructive leaders need in addition to susceptible followers in this toxic triangle: a conducive environment. It’s a context of instability, perceived threat, certain cultural values, and missing guard-rails.

Instability. Destructive leaders exploit instability. They promise bold change to restore peace and order, in the process enhancing their power. In unstable circumstances, followers are more likely to accept that bold, decisive action is required by the leader to restore order. Followers go along with fast, unilateral decisions. They give away their power.

Perceived Threat. Destructive leaders tap into followers’ feelings of danger, grievance, or mistreatment. They exploit feelings of desperation. When things are declining or falling apart, leaders who promise us a safe and better world can be alluring. “When people feel threatened,” write Padilla, Robert, and Kaiser, “they are more willing to accept assertive leadership.”

Essentially, toxic leaders are exploiting the common human tendency to turn outsiders into enemies. We humans are tribal, and our brains are remarkably good at rationalizing the choices of our tribe and our leaders. We often do this unconsciously, making it tricky to guard against. Meanwhile, focusing on enemies is an exceptionally effective way to create cohesion within the tribe.

Notably, the threat may not even be real. Destructive leaders can create and perpetuate the perception of a threat or an enemy to strengthen their power. The mechanisms here are fear and blame, sometimes fueled by deception.

“Fear is the most powerful human emotion…. Toxic leaders will blame broad groups of people such as migrants or religious groups for the challenges faced by society and seek to exploit the momentum that follows it. It is the perception of a threat that creates the environment for the toxic leader to thrive. The threat does not have to be real.”
–Roderic Yapp, “The Toxic Triangle—The Environment and Followers of Toxic Leaders”

Cultural Values. Destructive leaders can magnify their power when certain values are prevalent in the culture. In particular, it works better in cultures with an avoidance of uncertainty and a large power distance (e.g., large disparities in security, education, and wealth). Leaders provide rules, rituals, and structure to take advantage of this situation.

Missing Guard-Rails. Destructive leaders are able to capture, enhance, and maintain their authority in environments where the concentration of power is possible. This includes centralized governance systems that rely on top executives for decisions. In such environments, these leaders will seek to tighten their control and eliminate rivals. To do so, they will seek to manipulate public opinion with lies, propaganda, or negative campaigning (which is so effective because people assign greater weight to negative information than positive information).

“Perhaps the most important environmental factor for preventing destructive leadership is the presence of checks and balances.” -Art Padilla, Robert Hogan, and Robert B. Kaiser, “The Toxic Triangle”

Conclusion

There are several factors at work in the toxic triangle, leading to alarming results. Given these dynamics, important questions arise:

What kind of leaders do we want and need—those animated by service and love or self-aggrandizement and fear?
Don’t we want excellent and ethical leaders who can sustain great results with integrity over time (what we call “triple crown leaders”)?
Do we want leaders who serve the larger good—leaders we can admire, who make us better?
What kind of followers, workers, and citizens do we need to be?
What kind of world do we want for ourselves and future generations—and what are we willing to do about it?