Transforming Toxic Leaders

by Alan Goldman

Unlike other books written on "toxic leaders," this book takes issue with the predominant view that "toxic leaders are bad" and destructive to their companies. Rather, the author argues that even highly productive leaders have some toxic qualities central to their success story. The book redirects the conversation about toxicity in a more productive direction, as toxic leaders are not just viewed as villains and liabilities, but are also considered as potential assets, innovators, and rebels. Working on the premise that "toxicity is a fact of company life," the book provides organizations with a model and blueprint on the advantages to be gained from skillful anticipation, control, and handling of troubled and difficult leaders. In contrast to dysfunctional organizations that ignore toxicity or dwell on the perceived destructive impact of toxic leaders, successful companies come up with resourceful, innovative strategies for turning seeming deficits into opportunities.

184 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Cenk Kiral · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is in my view probably the best book on one of the most striking problems of today's contemporary business world, the toxic management. I have read several books on this, but none of them gave the comprehensive framework around the matter as much as Alan Goldman has done. It is full of practical examples, and systematic steps, although I would have liked to see a bit more model based approach here. However, the issue is a big problem, and everyone who wants to have adeeper understanding of toxic management and howto solve shouldread this book