A headline on the cover of the November 21, 2011 issue of TIME magazine really caught my attention. It read,"Ciao, Berlusconi! How he became Italy's most toxic asset." This caught my attention because I've researched and have been writing about Toxic leaders—in addition to those whom I consider to be Remarkable and Perilous.
While my focus has been on senior business executives and how they move along a continuum of remarkable, perilous, and toxic behaviors, I believe this continuum is applicable to other leadership settings—including the global political landscape. In the high stakes arena of world finances, Berlusconi's seriously toxic leadership has contributed to Italy's becoming the world's most dangerous economy with potentially huge ripple effects throughout the world.
According to Mohamed El-Erian, the CEO of Pimco, the world's largest bond trader, "Italy is the world's third largest bond issuer, a founding member of the European project and a major player on the world stage. A default must at all costs be avoided if the global economy is to avoid a major disruption."
While Berlusconi has stepped down as Prime Minister and economist, Mario Monti, has stepped in to form a new government, many fear Monti's actions may be too little too late—unless major reforms are initiated. These reforms would include cutting back the country's civil service, dismantling a lopsided labor market that keeps older workers in cushy jobs while youth unemployment soars, and boosting the retirement age.
But back to Berlusconi and what—through the lens of a consulting psychologist—makes him so toxic a leader. In my recent book, Behind The Executive Door, I use four major criteria to assess leadership effectiveness. These criteria are; (1) total brain leadership (TBL), (2) emotional intelligence (EQ), (3) productive narcissism, and (4) leadership competencies—strategic thinking, driving results, managing people, and executive credibility (communication, consistency, and courage).
Berlusconi falls blatantly short on all of these criteria. Regarding TBL, his failure to identify economic and political solutions to stabilize the country's socioeconomic condition underscore a serious limitation in his ability to integrate left brain cognitive functioning with right brain conceptual depth.
His serious deficits in the self awareness, self management, and empathy dimensions of emotional intelligence emphasize the depth of his toxicity. The antithesis of a mature and focused statesman, his behavioral excesses were extreme and intolerable—even in a culture far more permissive than most. In the winter of 2011, thousands of Italian women protested throughout the country over his patronizing a female minor for sex and abusing his powers to cover up this misdeed. This sexual assault, his boorish flirtations with women, and public comments (rationalizations) such as "...it's better to be passionate about beautiful women that to be gay" further highlight the intensity of his toxicity as a leader.
Berlusconi's sexual exploits, alleged other misdeeds, and failure to meet the responsibilities of his role as Prime Minister underscore his unproductive narcissism. His actions were fundamentally more in the service of his own ego gratification than in the service of Italy. The TIME magazine story compared him to Giovanni in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, "Like Giovanni, Berlusconi is both comic and tragic and refuses to repent, even after wreaking havoc on the lives of everyone around him." Clinically, we can surely speculate about the presence of serious character pathology.
Further, Berlusconi's unproductive narcissism and lack of repentance are sine qua non characteristics of toxic leaders gone amok with power by feeding primarily their own appetites and/or delusions of grandeur. Think Donald Trump, Leona Helmsley, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, or John Edwards. Instead of steady and proactive leadership of his country, Berlusconi was besieged and distracted by 50 no-confidence votes, dozens of allegations involving tax evasion, Mafia ties, drugs, as well as the sex scandals that included orgies with prostitutes at his Milan estate.
Think predator, not leader. Surely not a leader who is emblematic of the leadership competencies cited above. Strategic thinking? Zip. Driving positive results for Italy? Zilch. Managing people? Doubtful given the seeming ineptitude of his cabinet. Executive credibility? None. Let's also add clueless. When asked recently about his country's economic prospects, he said, "The restaurants are full." Even the best bowl of pasta and a great Brunello will not, unfortunately, solve the dangerous mess in which this toxic leader has left his country.
