EXTREME HUBRIS OF TOXIC LEADERS

   Some degree of exaggerated pride and self-confidence can be found in most organizations. Some degree of self-centeredness can be found at times in most leaders. Of all the leadership traits, many leaders to not exhibit tact or humility in any way. I have witnessed the egotistical, self-centered narcissist from military units to school districts. In its extreme stages, it results in toxic leaders who have no place for listening to others input or excercising particpatory leadership and by no means would they ever be considered servant leaders. Consider some larger than life examples in the following:
   "Hubris and narcissism speaks volumes when unraveling the complex behavior of leaders. Curiously, there is even more than initially meets the eye when attempting to decode the dark and troubled side of leadership. Stories abound as the media has feasted on the upper-echelon conflicts and debacles at Vivendi Universal, Global Crossing, Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, and a “Who's Who” list of Fortune 500 corporations and executives. An infamous circle of corporate leaders have shamelessly exhibited the farther reaches of hubris in the form of greed, excesses, arrogance and unbridled bluster. The toxic leadership of Jean-Marie Messier, Gary Winnick, Kenneth Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, Dennis Kozlowski, and Bernard Ebbers has permanently engraved the darker and destructive side of organizational behavior into the collective conscience of Wall Street, corporate life and business schools around the world."
~ Destructive Leaders and Dysfunctional Organizations:  A Therapeutic Approach
By Alan Goldman, pp.11-26