Introduction: Acknowledging, Deconstructing and Processing When Leadership Fails

When Leadership Fails describes an array of workplace experiences rooted in unconscionable practices ranging from ineffective to destructive leadership behaviors. In some experiences, employees are targeted with bullying, humiliation, manipulation, deception and harassment. Other experiences emanate from leader character flaws such as indifference, intemperance, envy and greed. Still others involve organizational sabotage in the form absenteeism, deception or stealing. This book grew from seeds planted in casual conversations about bad leadership experiences in professional practice, management consulting and executive coaching. Through sharing our own encounters, we recognized our narratives were not unique.

We curated When Leadership Fails with three goals in mind. First, we give voice to the brave individuals willing to share their experiences. These encounters can have longstanding, adverse effects on personal well-being and career trajectories even as you move onto new supervisors, departments or organizations. You will better understand that impact as you reflect on the authors’ accounts and compare them to your own experiences. Second, we deconstruct these experiences to reclaim our power. Each chapter demonstrates how resilience and professional growth triumph in spite of unrelenting supervisors, dismayed peers and irresponsible organizations. Lastly, we want to inform better leadership and organization development practices through communal processing of these collective experiences. Hence, each chapter identifies leadership lessons for individuals, groups and organizational.