Transforming Toxic Leaders

Making the Impossible Possible in Troubled Organizations

by Dr. Alan Goldman

Corporate Cancer

Corporate cancers typically start in the executive suite; failure to diagnose abusive leaders results in unethical, toxic behavior spreading throughout an organization; Read More

Behind the Corporate Mask Is a Traumatized Leader

A traumatized leader lurks behind a politically correct corporate mask; he smiles on the surface – pain behind the Fortune 500 curtain. Shell-shocked professionals want to know. Read More

Negotiating A Deal With An Obsessive Compulsive Leader

What does an organization do when faced with an overwhelmingly abusive and offensive leader? In the previous article posted (see "The Stranglehold of an Obsessive Compulsive Leader") I unveiled a brilliant but troubled CEO. Dr. Joan Smythe simultaneously brought positive marketshare alongside dissonance and psychopathology to her workplace. Read More

The Stranglehold of an Obsessive Compulsive Leader

Joan Smythe, Ph.D., is an obsessively compulsive toxic leader who drives her engineers to the edge of the corporate cliff. She is a driven and possessed CEO. Dr. Smythe is also a relentless workaholic. This lady is cancerously committed to the death and expects that her employees work themselves down to the bone marrow. Read More

A Toxic Leader Manifesto

Troubled organizations are shell shocked. They need help with nastiness in high places. We struggle to understand adult bullies, vicious liars and vindictive, hurtful leaders. Damaged heart surgeons and traumatized CEOs humiliate subordinates and demean colleagues during bypasses and downsizings. What to do? Read More

Toxic Eloquence: When Poisons Penetrate Dreams and Bank Accounts

Eloquence rules and eloquence fools. Eloquence appears in many forms and packages. Who commands and delivers eloquence? Obama dazzles some of us some of the time. Lee Iacocca turned around two U.S. auto conglomerates and charmed global players with his folksy rhetoric. A certain trial lawyer said "if it don't fit you must acquit." Read More

Toxic Empowerment

As a leadership coach I come across a few troubled bosses. One recent case jumps out at me more than others. Mario Erasmus, a leader in the construction industry was dumbfounded by workers who in his words were "sabotaging his high end sites and perfecting the art of insubordination." Read More

Trashy Leaders and Corporate Black Holes

Does the fish rot from the head down? Bad leader behavior and evil intentions increasingly plague our businesses and professional groups. An irate former vice president at Apple & Plum Inc. Read More

Toxic Corporate Testosterone: Pathological Leaders and Gorillas in Pin Stripped Suits

Corporate testosterone shakes and quivers. Bosses on the edge outperform and misbehave. They wreak havoc with motivation and also manage to alienate. Employees pledge allegiance but proceed to plot how to sabotage their out of control leader. Questions abound. Is this CEO a testosterone freak? What makes this clone of Jeffrey Skilling, Kenneth Lay or John DeLorean tick? Read More

CORPORATE INFIDELITY: Soldier of Fortune Seduction

Blink and an organization and family changes: downsizings; rightsizings; firings; premature returns of expatriates; divorce; career reshufflings and life transitions. Read More

"The Divine Downsizing: Champagne & Caviar Corporate Divorce"*

The good divorce or downsizing is a rarity in our personal and professional lives. The divine downsizing and loving divorce seems to border on the ridiculous. Read More