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What does a subordinate do when he or she has little control over the situation because the leader - that subordinate's commander - is creating the toxic environment?
I faced this exact question as a brand new "butterbar" lieutenant arriving to my first company in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The lessons I learned from that deployment forever changed and molded me into the leader I am today and made me realize the importance of bringing awareness to the issue of toxic leadership at company levels and below. Toxic leadership continues to distress those affected well after the source is gone from a unit, and as an Army, we are failing our Soldiers if we do not take the necessary action to rectify this problem and remove the poison from our ranks.
According to Jennifer Mattson's article "Battling Toxic Leadership," the Army defines "toxic leaders as those who put their own needs or image above their subordinates, who micromanage their subordinates, and who are insecure in their own positions."1 Similarly, "in response to a Secretary of the Army tasking in 2003, U.S. Army War College faculty and students stated that toxic leaders 'are focused on visible short-term mission accomplishment... provide superiors with impressive, articulate presentations and enthusiastic responses to missions... [but] are unconcerned about, or oblivious to, staff or troop morale and/or climate... [and] are seen by the majority of subordinates as arrogant, selfserving, inflexible, and petty.'"2 Not all of these characteristics individually make a toxic leader, but together or even a combination of the aforementioned can be signs of toxic leadership.
In LTG (Retired) Walter R Ulmer Jr.'s article titled, "Toxic Leadership: What Are We Talking About?" he refers to a U.S. Army War College study to define toxic leaders as, "self-serving, arrogant, volatile, and opinionated to the point of being organizationally dysfunctional...very persuasive, responsive, and accommodating to their seniors."3
As a leadership major at the U.S. Military Academy (USMA), I had my fairshare of lessons, briefings, and lectures on what it meant to be a good leader. Many outstanding leaders from across the military branches came to visit, give their testimonies, and share their experiences. Most of the testimonies focused on how they reacted in a situation or how they were able to overcome...