Cutting-Edge Leadership

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by Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D.

Why the World Tolerates Corrupt and Dangerous Leaders

Why do people follow such corrupt leaders?

Published on April 4, 2011 by Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D. in Cutting-Edge Leadership

Here's an interesting observation: Muammar Qaddafi, Hosni Mubarek, and even Saddam Hussein, didn't even make the list of the world's most corrupt leaders. When it comes to corruption, abuses of power, and sheer evil, these guys aren't in the same category as Cambodia's Pol Pot, North Korea's Kim Jong-Il (or even worse, his father, Kim Il, Sung), let alone Hitler or Stalin. Why so many corrupt and horrible leaders?

A lot of this has to do with our evolutionary history. Being social animals, we are "programmed" to try to lead and to be led. All highly social animals - apes, wolves, and humans - are governed by dominance hierarchies. We all too easily "fall in line" and go along with those recognized as leaders. The obedience studies of Stanley Milgram illustrate this tendency to "blindly" carry out the orders of an authority, even when it means shocking and potentially harming an innocent victim.

Leadership scholar, Jean Lipman-Blumen, has studied what she calls toxic leaders. Toxic leaders are those whose "destructive behaviors and dysfunctional personal characteristics generate serious and enduring poisonous effects...on those they lead." Toxic leaders work toward their own selfish ends and usually leave followers "worse off than they found us." She believes we follow bad leaders because of our inherent belief in leaders and our desire to be protected by them.

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We also easily believe that leaders are somehow special. We put our leaders on a pedestal - what Jim Meindl calls our "Romance of Leadership," and we sometimes turn a blind eye to the leader's misbehavior. The real problem occurs when the leader begins to believe he or she (although the number of horrible women leaders is few) is indeed special and "above the law."

We have a sort of apathy about leaders. We willingly tolerate their misbehavior, and often follow them unquestioningly. The toxic leader appears initially as a seeming hero or savior, but soon begins the slide into corruption. This certainly is the profile of the recently toppled leaders.

The only defense against corrupt leaders is to stand up to them. But that is more easily said than done. We are seeing that played out on the various revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa. Sadly, it takes thousands of people taking heroic action, to say "enough is enough," and they risk their lives and their families' lives in doing so.

The trick is to initially choose leaders with character, who will not give in to the temptation of power. But followers also need to be vigilant -- to not be complacent, and question the leader's actions and motives. That is the only way to avoid being controlled and suppressed by corrupt leaders.

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