Chapter 1: Toxic Leaders: Who They are, What They Do, and What You Can Do about Them at Work

As a scholar-practitioner working at the intersection of employment law, leadership, ethics, and human resources, the paradox of how otherwise smart and talented people can turn into toxic and unethical leaders has consumed much of my research agenda for the past decade. In an attempt to find answers, I have conducted research studies in the corporate sector (focused on the perspectives of corporate HR practitioners and executives; Daniel, 2009, 2012, 2013; Daniel & Metcalf, 2016a) and also in a military environment (specifically with officers attending the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Daniel & Metcalf, 2015a, 2015b, 2016a). This book chapter draws heavily from those prior research studies and other work in which I have participated over the past decade (Daniel, 2017a, 2017b, 2018; Daniel & Metcalf, 2013, 2017).