Professor, Author, Speaker & Consultant
Category : Leadership Leadership Management
Many organizations create toxic and misaligned leader problems without realizing it. Sometimes the problem is intentional, but more often it grows because the organization creates the conditions that allow it to persist.
Category : Leadership
It’s nighttime. Everyone in the house is asleep, but you hear a faint sound somewhere nearby. It’s easy to ignore at first, especially if the TV has been on or the day has been noisy. You get up to check and discover a dripping faucet. You make a mental note to call the plumber in the morning.
Category : Leadership
Despite the research showing the cultural and financial damage caused by toxic leaders, many organizations still move too slowly to address the behavior. Toxic leadership can show up as micromanaging, hoarding information, taking credit for others’ work, or belittling staff and peers. The result is disengagement, higher turnover, especially among high performers and high-potential employees, lower productivity, and more mental health claims.
Category : Leadership Leadership Management
Have You Ever Worked for A Toxic Leader?
Many people have a story they will never forget. Some are still living it right now.
I remember a toxic leader I once worked for. This person checked every box of what I now understand defines a toxic leader.
Category : Leadership Leadership Management
By now, you’ve seen how the 3 Rs of Leadership Resources Management – revealing toxic leaders, reducing leadership misalignment, and retaining high‑value leaders, determine whether your organization accelerates or stalls. Many executives will quietly admit they have toxic leaders and that their best people keep leaving, but very few have a reliable, repeatable way to fix the root causes. Leadership misalignment is often the most damaging due to its organization pervasiveness and the least understood of the three.
Category : Leadership Leadership Management
In-Person Seminar in San Diego
Join us for this valuable lunchtime in-person seminar focused on the costly impact of toxic and misaligned leaders on March 26, 2026 at the North San Diego Business Chamber.
TALES FROM THE LEADERSHIP FRONT
At first, Ethan thought the problem was technical. As CEO of a fast-scaling software development firm with 1,000 employees, he assumed sluggish innovation came from poor systems or process bottlenecks. But after three quarters of declining engagement scores and higher-than-expected turnover among emerging managers, he realized something deeper was at play – leadership misalignment.
Category : Leadership Management
Harboring toxic leaders doesn’t just create a few bad days at work; it quietly rewires your entire leadership pipeline and accelerates the loss of your best people.
The domino effect of toxic leadership is real. When you allow toxic leaders to operate unchecked, you’re not just tolerating bad behavior, you’re signaling to the entire organization that toxicity is acceptable, even rewarded. This message spreads fast. What begins as a “difficult, but high‑performing” manager can quickly evolve into a wider toxic culture that erodes trust, engagement, and retention.
Category : Leadership Management
Promotions, lateral moves, and succession decisions are some of the most consequential choices a senior executive makes. Yet in many organizations, those decisions are made in one‑off meetings with incomplete data, heavy reliance on opinions, and limited visibility across the whole leadership bench. The result is a pattern of “surprises” – unexpected failures, stalled initiatives, and regrettable turnover – after the fact.
Category : Uncategorized
Your 2026 profit risks are not just in the market or the economy. It’s very likely sitting in your leadership ranks. Unlock millions of dollars by uncovering toxic leaders, fixing misaligned assignments, and keeping your best people from walking to your competitors by adopting a Leadership Resources Management strategy that pays dividends in 2026 and beyond.
View the following slides to see how these leaks can result in a $19 million impact for a 1,200 person organization.