Table of Contents

PrefaceAcknowledgments1. Nature and Scope of Toxic Leadership2. Impact of Toxic Leadership3. Creating and Sustaining Toxic Leaders4. The Role of Narcicissm in Toxic Leadership5. Toxic Leadership and Sexual Misconduct6. Surviving a Toxic Leader7. Toxic Coworkers8. Mitigating Toxic LeadershipConclusionNotesIndex

About the Author

George E. Reed is dean of the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. He served for twenty-seven years as an army officer including six years as the director of command and leadership studies at the U.S. Army War College. His writing has been published in journals such as Public Administration Review, Military Review, Leadership, Public Integrity, Armed Forces and Society, and Parameters.

Reviews

"We must provide all leaders the tools to recognize and ultimately overcome toxic leadership. Tarnished is a great starting point."—Maj. Nathan K. Finney, Army Magazine

"Reed offers an essential discourse on what many may see as an unpleasant, but necessary reality of military culture. . . . Understanding and not tolerating toxic leadership is critical to stewarding the profession of arms."—COL Charles D. Allen, Parameters

“George Reed has written a penetrating study of the nature, persistence, and consequences of the phenomenon of ‘toxic leadership.’ This study goes well beyond academic analysis of toxic leadership and provides wise and practical suggestions for how best to deal with it from the perspective of superiors, peers, and subordinates.”—Martin Cook, Admiral James Bond Stockdale Chair of Professional Military Ethics at the U.S. Naval War College and coeditor of the Journal of Military Ethics

“A stunning work, detailing the problem [of toxic leadership] with data and anecdotes, but even more, it offers concise and helpful solutions at the institutional and individual level. An absolute must-read for army brass, policymakers, and the soldier suffering in a toxic environment.”—Georgia Sorenson, visiting research professor of leadership studies at Carey School of Law and inaugural chair and professor of transformational leadership at the U.S. Army War College

“The military knows a lot about good leadership. That makes sense because they have studied it for so long. In this remarkable and interesting book, however, George Reed recounts the lessons the military teaches us about bad leadership.”—Ronald E. Riggio, Henry R. Kravis Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychology at Claremont McKenna College and coeditor of Leader Interpersonal and Influence Skills: The Soft Skills of Leadership