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Corporate testosterone shakes and quivers. Bosses on the edge outperform and misbehave. They wreak havoc with motivation and also manage to alienate. Employees pledge allegiance but proceed to plot how to sabotage their out of control leader. Questions abound. Is this CEO a testosterone freak? What makes this clone of Jeffrey Skilling, Kenneth Lay or John DeLorean tick?
Companies need to do gut checks for toxicity. Following the lead of a charismatic leader - one day a work team is climbing Everest and the next day they are in disarray and despair. How can the same senior manager both titillate and destroy? Might the illustrious leader suffer from a personality or mood disorder? Is the boss hormonally challenged? Do we find any outrageously inappropriate bipolar, erratic or abusive leadership behavior at the helm of such corporations as: General Motors? American Airlines? British Petroleum? Dell Computers?
In my book, Transforming Toxic Leaders, I directly delve into this dark side and disclose complex and twisted minds, destructive emotions and corporate misbehavior. I unveil some brilliant yet difficult leaders who appear to cut deals with both angels and demons. Their innovations and smarts win many followers but their bad behavior emanates and poisons colleagues and operations. They are equal opportunity toxic leaders.
Ask aeronautical engineers, Joan Farber, Doug Smythe and Adriane Malmon at Pluto Engineering Ltd. They were initially mesmerized by their CEO, Dr. Lance Redding. Redding's oratory is at an Obama level. The CEO displayed a silver tongue capable of motivating hundreds of aerospace engineers. But in the middle of what they thought was Everest, three puzzled and slightly traumatized professionals woke up one morning to find that this inspirational CEO was over the top. Farber, Smythe and Malmon disclosed to HR and the EAP how Redding had stolen team ideas from their "Friday Improvisation Team" and taken credit for their R & D innovations. The three engineers felt as if they had been bamboozled by the likes of a preacher-CEO who was both charismatic and diabolical.
Once in the presence of a Fortune 500 charmer and silver tongued devil you begin to pick up cues as to how a Lance Redding seduces his followers. The testosterone endowed leader is emotionally charged and finely tuned to reach into your feelings and humanity. Logic is peppered and overly seasoned with passion. Embellishments rule. We initially witness his impeccable credentials, slick demeanor, extraordinary intelligence and crazy spirit. But anger, frustration, impatience, narcissism, outrage and condescension also raise their heads. We suspect that this terribly motivational boss is also poisonous. How could Dr. Redding attempt to take credit for his own engineering team's innovations? Might this constitute white collar crime?
Can you bottom line the motives and modus operandi of a suave, debonair and motivational gentleman who operates in a destructive fashion? How long must it take to detect his toxic motives and subtext? Farber, Smythe and Malmon realized that they were dealing with a chameleon. One morning Lance was bright and chipper and by afternoon he was elitist, a ball of fury, trembling in the thighs, foaming from the eyes, and destined to herd and manhandle his subordinates where angels fear to tread. Why do several of the engineers call him a wild child CEO? Is he a primitive who wears a Brooks Brothers suit as a facade? Why did one of the secretaries label him a "gorilla in pin stripes"? Is it in his gorilla repertoire to steal from his posse and take credit for intellectual property as he sees fit? What are the laws of the corporate jungle for this toxic leader?
Who is this visceral, spewing CEO and where do his toxic emotions, vigor and contagious urgency spring from? This leader is outside the boundaries of 9 to 5 logic. He rewrites the rules of management and customer service and practically solicits grievances and discrimination suits from vendors, clients and employees. What organs are at the matrix of Lance Redding's thought, passions and decision making process? The brain? A dark soul? The belly? The heart? The hormones? The kidneys? The liver? The spleen? Did his right brain take a left turn? The workplace took note of Lance Reddings's verbal innuendos, X- rated tirades, infantile inflection, flirtatious facial expression and macho body language. The CEO's male energy was off the charts, over the border line, and outside the Fortune 500 box. A wild child CEO was on the loose.
Joan Farber, Doug Smythe and Adriane Malmon sued their brazen CEO for theft of intellectual property, psychological anguish and abusive behavior. A fleet of externally hired attorneys, 75% of Pluto Engineering's Human Resources Department and the entire Employee Assistance Program became progressively embroiled in this quagmire. It was no longer business as usual. Distractions and dysfunction reigned supreme. There were fewer sunny day at Pluto Engineering. It was always drizzling.
Whatever was the origin of Redding's sometimes frantic, wild testosterone fueled leadership? The CEO had already infiltrated the organizational system and removed any hope for objectivity. Farber, Smythe and Malmon had trusted Redding despite his seemingly strange, polarizing and erratic behavior. Thinking all along that Lance was a bit off balance and a wacko-genius - they assumed that he had limited control over his emotions but was brilliant and worth the shit. Not so.
Lance Redding is extremely raw, deceptively eloquent and what subordinates call "intoxicating." Lance is a hyper-animated and full-fledged toxic leader and celebrity CEO. As I point out in Destructive Leaders and Dysfunctional Organizations: A Therapeutic Approach, this variety of boss has been lionized in the print and electronic media and is a larger than life figure - Iacocca, Trump and Jobs - all rolled into one. Dr. Redding's IQ was off the charts, he did his MBA at Wharton and the Ph.D. at Harvard. The engineer regularly juggled pedigree, power and acclaim. Occasionally, he locked horns with unsuspecting engineers who initially shrugged of his sometimes preening and demeaning behavior. Redding frequently portrayed himself as but another loner engineer who by default was cast into a leadership role. But this populist ploy was at best, weak.
It's been a love and a hate affair. Redding developed fancy rhetoric and bogus explanations to explain away accusations of intellectual theft leveled by the "gang of three." Lance also tried to make light of the grievances and law suits against him. A few more engineers filed grievances to the effect that "Dr. Redding has serious impulse control issues and goes off on two hour tirades if he feels as if he has been even slightly disrespected in public." Two engineers swore that Lance Redding was a text book case of intermittent explosive disorder - an executive who verbally goes on the rampage like clockwork. Others said Lance was silently incensed and smoldering. Some of his colleagues spoke from the positive side and labeled him "Dr. Adrenaline" or "the leader that the wayward angels bestowed upon us." Off the record, engineers described Lance as "a freak show gorilla in an expensive pin stripped suit with an artsy Italian tie."
Doug Smythe, head of R & D, and leader of what became known as the "gang of three" was renowned for his space shuttle innovations. Smythe stated that Redding "is a good looking leading man with a poisoned mind who spreads his nastiness in a 1001 ways." One of the interesting lines to emerge was that "Dr. Redding always puts a pretty face on his nastiness." It was all about passion, guts and audacity in motion. The only problem was that Farber, Smythe and Malmon questioned their CEO's methods - as when in one of his temper rages he stormed into the ladies' bathroom and started screaming at Joan Farber while she was trying to relieve herself. Yes, this was a little more than unattractive and unappealing. This did not win the CEO any fans. Redding became a 24/7 leadership virus.
When the farther reaches of his explosively autocratic and dictatorial personality were joined with allegations of intellectual property theft - a beastly buzz spread around Plato. In response, the CEO shifted into the attack mode. He spewed out righteous indignation and primitive venom targeted for the inner sanctum of emotions and the bone marrow of employees. To complicate matters, Malmon not only refused Redding's sexual advances, she also laughed off his invitation to accompany him to Lake Tahoe for a weekend. From that point on Lance was in a rage whenever he was within 20 yards of his young engineer from Stanford University. Malmon testified that, "they never prepared me for a boss like Redding when I was getting my MBA or when I spent years getting my Doctorate at Stanford. How can an incredibly educated man be so crude? How can he carry on like such a gorilla? Who is this upper crust wild child? But most of all, please help me, how did a gentleman with a doctorate in engineering becomes a consummate thief? Redding must be pathological!"
Malmon opened the Pandora's Box on Redding. Gossip ensued. It did not have a positive impact on motivation or productivity. During an investigation led by external consultants approximately 20 engineers gave anonymous testimony that Dr. Lance Redding charmed, seduced, and strategized acts of intellectual property theft. This was augmented by frequent outbursts of verbal abuse or intermittent explosions during the course of numerous work days. If ever questioned about intellectual theft, Dr. Redding typically turned defensive and explosive in less than a second. When in turn confronted about his emotional outbursts Lance was quick to claim that his wild behavior was all part of his good intentions. Redding viewed his indignation and verbal outbursts as a sacred wake-up call for the walking wounded and the DOA's (dead on arrivals). More than a few members of the Executive Board of Plato Engineering Ltd. seriously considered whether Redding was a sociopath or a psychopath. Although not entirely clear on what these diagnoses referred to clinically, Board members nevertheless had been searching for psycho-terminology able to explain and express the pain that they were feeling and the insidious disconnects and conflict transpiring throughout the workforce. Was it possible that a matrix of pain and malevolence was permeating outward from the CEO?
Was this testosterone- on-fire or psychopathology? After careful investigation by a team of external management consultants - all fingers seemed to point back to the CEO, himself. Dr. Redding was the rotten apple, a bad egg, the fish that rots from the head down, a gorilla loose in a china shop, and a wild child CEO who was going to wreak havoc wherever his adrenaline or pathology exploded.
On a perfect day in "CEO heaven," Dr. Redding strutted into his corporate chambers in an $11,000 hand tailored Brioni suit from Italy and a $15,000 Chaumet solid gold watch from Paris. He rounded it out with a $800 pair of Church's brogue shoes from London and one of his infamous surrealist inspired Versace ties by way of Milan. Redding completed the fashion persona with Ralph Loren socks and underwear and a healthy dose of his high strung, egocentric, holier-than-thou attitude. I was dumbfounded! Where was his concern for his Columbia, Cornell, Stanford, Harvard and Princeton engineers? How could all of his eyes be on himself? Was some narcissism in play?
Rumor had it that Redding's testosterone levels were out of control. Off the Fortune 500 stage he was known as the Testosterone Tiger and his appetites for you name it - are legendary. In the case of Dr. Redding it was obvious that his personal and professional life were considerably out of balance. Without getting too graphic, let's just say that from the perspective of an executive coach that Redding's misbehavior in and out of the boardroom -was memorable. Lance illustrated very little self-restraint, he did not respect the rights of colleagues in the workplace, and he seemed to only pay homage to his 84 foot custom built yacht. Rumor has it that only female staff members at least 20 years his junior have stepped foot onto his CEO yacht and witnessed the gentleman disrobe out of one of his Brioni suits and strip down to a bare cuff linked shirt.
Ah, but keep in mind that some of this reservoir of corporate testosterone was in fact posing as inspirational leadership. When Redding was on his game he was initially able to hypnotize Farber, Smythe, Malmon and 98% of the engineers and staff at Plato. The upside of his leadership style was through the roof. Go figure. Profits poured in and the CEO was the golden boy. There was no mention of his propensity for intellectual property theft or explosive emotional tirades.
But what about work-life balance? Lance gave free reign to his toxic inclinations. Once he crossed to the dark side the CEO channeled his testosterone by harnessing his charm into a highly cocky and condescending manner of controlling employees. Lance also further stretched his corporate testosterone into extra-curricular agendas. Testosterone gone wild might be a way to describe it. Redding shared his deep fountain of toxic testosterone between a myriad of venues moving from his CEO role into the shadowy world of serial womanizing. Redding's physical, cognitive and emotional churnings occasionally resulted in dicey coverage of sexual escapades by the tabloids. A damage control team saved Redding and his company from devastating PR on several occasions. Curiously, on the job, Lance's toxicity and lava frequently took the form of tantrums that slowly metastasized throughout the ranks of engineers and staff. Redding's toxic testosterone was reminiscent of the decadent CEO's of the 1980's and 90's. Toxicity still lingers in executive suites in the midst of hotly contested hostile takeovers and demonic downsizings. Dr. Redding was the poster boy for well endowed MBA's who are all too well known for their terribly articulate and urbane verbal ejaculations - part charmers and part devils. I call it CEO's On Fire. We are talking about those deviant MBA's who prowl corporate corridors without moral code or restraint. They will say anything and are in pursuit of personally aggrandizing results around the clock. Stay passive or dismissive at your own risk.
For the toxic testosterone charged leader such as Lance Redding, self-restraint is just a 13 letter phrase. Power, lust, greed and betrayal move like an insidious infection woven throughout the collective loins of a company. HR was more than hesitant to speak up about Redding. They were concerned about repercussions and saving their own neck. And the EAP would most likely have to do an extensive field study in order to document and describe the many facets of Dr. Redding's bad behavior. Farber, Smythe and Melman were the exceptions. They couldn't take it anymore. They broke with the unwritten corporate rule of silence. They independently rose and told their stories of testosterone and pathology gone wild. The "gang of three" met up with their share of resistance before slivers of the truth were considered by board members. It was a slow and tedious process. Micro portions of justice were handed out, incrementally. It was disappointing.
What is the cure for toxic corporate testosterone bottled and compressed into the mind, body, emotions and personality of a single leader? Is it testosterone or pathology? Companies need approaches that are able to address the voracious appetite of leaders vested in theft, embezzlement and the darker side.
It is not a simple matter to deal with leaders who are ultimately wed to their emotions. Viable interventions are sorely needed for those leaders with a propensity for theft, emotional outbursts and inappropriate verbal, physical and erotic advances. What hormonal turbulence or psychopathology flows through them and topples out into the public domain of corporate existence?
Is transformation possible? The human condition is of course partially pre-wired for the dark side and the workplace is no exception. Great organizations go to the ends of the earth to find and grow leaders who will not succumb en masse or embody the toxic testosterone and pathologies that upends Fortune 500s.
What to do? What are the antidotes and precautions to be taken by the concerned company?
Have you really considered early detection of the testosterone charged? Are there assertive actions you can take for weeding out the gorillas in pin stripes? Do you prioritize a careful 360 degree evaluation of who will enter your organizational family? Acute attention must be paid to our hiring of potential leaders. Extensive background checks and multi-layered interviewing must be part of the agenda utilized within the limits of the law by our very best selection committees available. In addition, external consultants and psychologists may be contracted with to gain further insight into the psyche and emotions of our future family. We certainly don't want to entertain and court the potentially toxic leader. Each hire is huge. It should be obvious that when tensions and conflicts arise that if you have a quality employee assistance program (EAP) in place it can be invaluable. And some companies increasingly turn toward external consultants to deal with the more extreme incidents and personalities that arise.
In my books, Transforming Toxic Leaders and Destructive Leaders and Dysfunctional Organizations I provide examples of how extreme CEO behavior may be handled via both internal and external experts. How can we protect against and transform bad leadership behavior? In the case of polarizing, toxic corporate testosterone, I recommend that the destructive brew of highly aroused, motivated and deplorable CEO personalities be clinically assessed in order to rule out psychopathology. Following a differential diagnosis - if it is determined that the leader in question suffers from such personality disorders as: obsessive compulsive, antisocial, or borderline - then what we loosely refer to in lay terms as "toxic corporate testosterone" may actually point toward a more serious disorder warranting treatment, therapy and temporary or permanent removal from a leadership role. Although it is a last resort, the removal of the toxic leader from the organization may provide the most positive and systemic transformation for the company -out of a viral psychopathology and into the prospect of functionality, healing and future wellness.
Toxic corporate testosterone is at the core of some wild child CEOs and gorillas in pin stripped suits. Is that darkly wild, primitive leadership behavior just displaced aggression? Is the leader's toxicity misappropriated sexuality in the boardroom and the executive suite? Or does this seemingly excessive leadership testosterone sometimes open up a Pandora's box of mood and personality disorders?
Making the impossible possible may require a differential diagnosis of the CEO thief, the control freak leader, and those organizational players who have lived under the toxic leader's innuendos, outbursts, wild libido and threats. Corporate transformation is contingent upon accurate assessments and interventions that dig deep into the corporate culture and address the trials, tribulations and pain of troubled, twisted minds and contorted, displaced emotions spewing out from toxic leaders. Based on my experience as an executive coach, therapist and consultant, I unveil in my books, Transforming Toxic Leaders, and Destructive Leaders and Dysfunctional Organizations, how numerous transgressions and perpetrators can be identified, confronted and treated. Heed the dark side of corporate behavior and make sure that it gets timely attention and airplay. If not, you may be inviting toxic consequences for you and your organization.
