A toxic leader is ego-centric. Such leadership grounded by personalized power has potentially
toxic roots. Toxicity in leadership manifests in many ways such as cheating, being engaged in
a denial syndrome, hypocrisy and being totally committed to fulfilling self interest.
According to Debashis Chattrejee, such a leader, caught in the whirlpool of the ego fails to
see the world beyond power and privilege that come from occupying a position. Such a leader
only experiences the feelings of the victor or victim. With success, they proclaim themselves
to be the victor who has brought about success. In the face of failure, they camouflage behind
the victims, never admitting themselves to be the cause of failures.

They are caught in a delusion that they are what the people need and only they can deliver
their followers. Their followers are aware that the leadership exhibited is not based on
cherished values such as truthfulness, respect, service above self and honesty. However, they
choose not to speak up.

But why do followers fail to acknowledge, much less admit the dark side of leadership? It may
be because they are afraid of what effect such an acknowledgement would have on them,
given the illusion of greatness such leaders have created. Life is already hard, so followers
might as well put up with such a leader. Another reason could be because there is time lag
because the actions of such leaders and the consequence of their actions becoming evident,
such as the destruction of the ecosystem or depletion of the ozone layer. Hence the full effect
of their actions are not yet apparent.

We appear to be subdued by three forces of industrial civilization, speed and greed and
unfulfilled need. These three forces combined create an illusion of accomplishment when in
reality there is destruction. Destruction of our values, our principles, our humanity and our
belief in truth and justice. People are deluded by toxic leaders to a point where they are
willing to nominate ego-centric leaders to lead them and ridicule leaders who speak up
against such leadership.

Toxicity that has been exuded by toxic leaders are engulfing our civilization, poisoning the
minds of people and widening the social divide. We witnessed this in the past under ruthless,
autocratic leaders that brought about the Arab Spring revolution, we are witnessing it now in
North Korea and as the US presidential nominations unfold and we can expect this to continue
in the future.

Is society as a whole blinded by toxic leaders to an extent they are willing to be subjugated by
them? Should an organization that is aware of the existence of such leaders turn a blind eye
as they contribute to the bottom line? Is it right for a team to blindly accept the leadership of
someone who has lost credibility? If the answers to the above is yes, then we are all
contributing to the sustained decline of moral values that will have devastating effects in
future. If the answer is no, the next question is, what should we do about it?