Sometimes we run into people in positions of power who just seem incapable of getting their ego out of the way. Regardless of how “successful” they appear on the outside – and how many rewards they receive for it – it’s a drudge to work for them and the company suffers the inefficiency of a demotivated workforce. Most organizations – especially large ones – that I’ve worked for tend to treat these ego-leaders as a cost of doing business.
What they don’t seem to realize is that by tolerating a toxic boss they are failing to realize productivity and innovation while sending the message to the entire employee base that, “we know this person abuses their position but we care more about them and their results than we care about you and all the productivity we could get out of you if we and the ego-boss respected you.”
Although I don’t think it happens often enough, it does happen that the egomaniac sees the errors of their ways and switches perspective to become the servant leader.
