Elizabeth Holloway

Mitchell Kusy

Most of us as leaders have experienced the frustration and confusion of having an extremely difficult person to deal with in the workplace?a person who debilitates individuals, teams, and even organizations. These difficult individuals have the capacity to completely undermine our sense of well-being. Why? Because in a variety of ways they get under our skin, infiltrate our professional and personal space, demoralize us, de-motivate the team, and ultimately affect our competence and productivity. They are ?toxic.? Unfortunately, like bad neighbors, short of picking up and moving to new venues, it seems impossible to escape the deleterious effects of these toxic individuals?and for some victims, even once the toxic person is no longer there! The topic of toxic personalities at work has been long on history but quite sparse on research. Although there are numerous books on the subject that attempt to guide leaders? thinking and behaviors to preserve their own sanity, Toxic Workplace will be the first to tackle the underlying systems issues that enable the toxic person to create a path of destruction in the organization, often for a very long time and at the cost of losing talented people all throughout the organization. The author's research has revealed the warning signs that indicate a serious behavioral problem before months or even years of lost productivity has resulted. Further, they have identified how this toxicity spreads in systems with long-term effects on organizational climate even after the person has left. Their two-year national research study of approximately 500 leaders provides very specific actions that leaders need to take to reduce both the intensity and frequency of toxic personalities at work. No other book provides this menu of options from a systems perspective with practical relevance in real work situations.

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