The Devastating Impact of Toxic Leadership

The Irishman — What Lessons Can We Learn From Scorsese’s Latest Production About The Dark Triad Of Leadership

Netflix transformed Charles Brandt’s book into a Movie this year and released it en-masse to all subscribers last month. The Book title was mentioned in the opening scenes of Martin Scorsese’s latest masterpiece. According to the Irishman himself, Frank Sheerin, Brandt’s title was a quote by Jimmy Hoffa:

“I Heard You Paint Houses” — Jimmy Hoffa

Having watched Scorsese’s piece of work, I felt it was long but entertaining and thought-provoking.

So on that note, what is the Dark Triad? And how does Scorsese’s latest Movie demonstrate this in Leadership?

The Dark Triad

Firstly, allow me to list the triage of darkness. Illustrated below, the Dark Triad is made up of three personality types, which are:

1. Narcissism — Described as someone with an excessive interest in themselves, or admiration of oneself and their physical appearance.
2. Machiavellianism — In psychology Machiavellianism is described as a personality type whereby a person is completely focused on their own interests to the extent that they manipulate, deceive, and exploit others to get what they want.
3. Psychopathy — Above all Psychopathy is characterized by a lack (devoid even) of empathy and other emotions, like compassion. This enables psychopaths to be highly manipulative of other people.

While “less than 1 percent of the general population is estimated to exhibit psychopathy” (Therese Wennberg, 2012) doesn’t seem too bad, right?Considering that only 1 in every 100 people are psychopaths in society.

Well, think again. In business the stats are alarmingly different:

“1 in 5 business leaders may have psychopathic tendencies”

— cnbc.com, 2019

This data, available from a lot of research on this topic, is quite intriguing. Think about it:

• 1 in 100 people in the General Population is a Psychopath
• 1 in 5 in the Workplace (Leaders) is a Psychopath

That means for every individual in the Dark-Triad (DT) spectrum, or 20 times (100/5 = 20) the general population, are in Leadership roles in business.

“What’s one less person on the face of the earth, anyway?”

— Ted Bundy

So let’s look at three examples demonstrated in The Irishman and the devastation they can cause.

1. Power

There are several different types of power, like Referent Power that comes from being well-liked, enjoyed by Leaders with high Charisma. Expert Power, on the other hand, comes from having knowledge that others don’t have access to. Dr. Von Braun, a former Nazi, is a perfect example of Expert Power. The implications of his power led him from being a key member of Hitler’s team to becoming a Leader at NASA.

With The Irishman in mind, Coercive Power is the ‘go-to’ strategy for Narcissists, Sociopaths, and Psychopaths.

“Coercive power is a person’s ability to influence others’ behavior by punishing them or by creating a perceived threat to do so.” — (Lunenburg, 2012)

In the book, Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go To Work, the author makes the point that psychopaths “sneak into corporate structures” and remain there for a long time, undetected (Babiak et al, 2006). During this time, they acquire a lot of power, manipulate people and siphon off resources.

In The Irishman, Jimmy Hoffa is depicted as this type of character. A Power-hungry individual who would do anything to gain control. The irony is that this very trait led to his success and in the end, his downfall.

Insight: The devastation, in this case, was the disappearance of a Human Being. Although this is an extreme case, in the Business world employees disappear from companies every day as a direct result of the torture they’re subjected to on a daily basis by their DT Leaders.

2. Friendship

Now replace the word Friendship with betrayal. In the Dark Triad world, they go hand in hand, depending on the situation. Betrayal is a natural step on the journey towards ultimate control. Some even get to their final destination — CEO.

There are numerous examples where friendship soured in the business world. Facebook is one such example, remember the movie ‘The Social Network”?

“I’m here on the ground with my nose in it since the whole thing began .”

— John Milton (Al PAcino), The Devil’s Advocate

Closer to home (Ireland for me) there’s a gluttony of case studies to choose from. Just last month it was announced that the Football Association (FAI) is being investigated by the Garda Fraud Squad (Police force). It was recently revealed that the FAI is in debt to the tune of €55 million. In fact, “the Football Association of Ireland board could face criminal sanction if an investigation into claims of a failure to keep proper records finds any wrongdoing.” (Irish Times, 2019).

A satirical article in a leading National Newspaper today considered the former CEO for Sports ‘Person of the Year’ award, stating:

“You know the way Time magazine often award this to some unseemly characters?

That’s because the premise is that it’s the individual that had the most influence, for better or worse.

Given such guidelines, who else could it be? Once Teflon, now despised.

The man may have actually ended the Football Association of Ireland forever more” (Ewan MacKenna, 2019)”

After the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil the “Olympic Council of Ireland Chief Executive Pat Hickey; Pro10 Sports Management, which was the ticket reseller for the OCI; ticket reseller THG, and the International Olympic Committee all came in for criticism from Judge Moran for not cooperating with the investigation” (The Journal, 2018). The investigation into ticket-touting resulted in the resignation of the OCI’s Chief Executive, some of his associates didn’t fare much better.

Friendship is the playground for Dark Triad fanatics, but just around the corner betrayal lies in wait for their victims, empaths. When the music stops a life-long friend can stab you in the back with ease, without a second thought. In The Irishman, a different method of disposal was deployed.

Beware of the Dark Triad triangulation disguised as friendship.

Insight: The devastation in the examples above ended careers and the jury is still out as to whether the organizations they led will follow suit. Highly unlikely given the national interest, so a Government bailout is quite possible — €18 Million is the estimated cost to date.

3. Commitment

By now you should recognize the play on ‘positive’ or ‘friendly words’. This is a smoke-screen, an illusion, a tribute to the subject matter — Dark Triads. The only allegiance that Dark Triad fiends adhere to is Destruction — they’re committed to it, that’s their only commitment.

For you and me, commitment has a completely different meaning than it does for Toxic Leaders. 99 percent of the population commits to a person, a team a value or a purpose. Narcissists, Sociopaths or Psychopaths, on the other hand, commit to the end-game, their game, their goal. Destruction is simply a byproduct of this ambition, like a wrecking ball thwarting a new building.

That said, DT’s are in demand, “In 2016, a U.K. firm advertised for a ‘Psychopathic New Business Media Sales Executive Superstar! £50k — £110k’. The advert claimed one in five CEOs were psychopaths, and said it wanted to find someone with the positive qualities that psychopaths have.” (Sciencemag.org, 2019)

So as a society. we’re responsible. Our counterproductive actions are evidence of the ‘guilty-pleasure’ we get from DT’s. We reward and promote DT’s by willingly handing over the keys to the Oracle. The Global financial meltdown is a testament to this fact. This self-sabotage is no different than Frank Sheerin’s world, Frank was simply a pawn but highly rewarded for dark-deeds.

Insight: The question is this: Are we committed to DT devastation as much as DT’s themselves? The answer is clear, otherwise, there wouldn't be so many in Leadership roles in the world today.

Final Thought

Antoine Merour asked Is Your Organization Immune to the Toxic Leadership Virus? What're your thoughts on this?

“Toxic leaders thrive in businesses where they can take advantage of vulnerabilities embedded in two organizational systems (performance evaluation and conflict resolution) to cultivate an image of high-performer with the higher-ups while harming culture and performance.”

— Antoine Merour

There is no anti-virus to Toxic Leadership. However, the symptoms are clear to see, exhibited in organizations across the world:

1. Reduced Innovation: As everyone is under a microscope, under threat of punishment, there is no room for creativity and innovation.
2. Increased Stress: Unhealthy pressure causes undue stress on subordinates both in work and in their personal lives.
3. Reduced Retention: Employees leave frequently, the average tenure is anywhere from 6 months to 2 years.
4. Increased Cost: The long term impact of reduced innovation will cost any organization in the long term. This coupled with HR battles, lawsuits and increased recruitment and training costs are all red-flags.
5. Financial Anomalies: Cash is King — Accounting illusions reflect the mind of a Toxic leader. Once discovered the impact can have devastating implications for all stakeholders, especially if a Company folds as a result.

It’s worth noting that Gender may be at play here as Male Leaders seem to be a common thread in the majority of case studies available. That said, this is a discussion for another day. In the meantime, I’d recommend reading an article written by George J. Ziogas — What Traits The Most Successful Women Leaders Share — food for thought as the DT virus has no boundaries.

Gender aside, ‘The Irishman’ did shed light on the devastating impact that Toxic Leaders can have on an organization, legit or not. Nevertheless, our appetite for Dark Triad types has not waned in decades, centuries even. Are we all Turnips?

“Toxic leaders expect blood from turnips.”

— Dan Rockwell