The Bermuda Triangle of Leadership

When I was growing up, I was absolutely fascinated with the legends surrounding the Bermuda Triangle (known by some as the Devil's Triangle), a triangular-shaped area of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by the city of Miami, the island of Bermuda, and the island of Puerto Rico.  The triangular area covers nearly 500,000 square miles of ocean, and since the time of Christopher Columbus, sailors and pilots have reported strange phenomena and erratic compass readings while traveling in that area.  In addition, there have been a number of ships, planes, and in one case, a group of five TBF Avengers (Flight 19) that have mysteriously disappearing while traveling through the Triangle.  Through the years, various individuals have blamed these disappearances on everything from space aliens to the famed lost city of Atlantis.  There are just as many skeptics, however, as there are believers.  The U.S. Coast Guard has reportedly said, "In a review of many aircraft and vessel losses in the area over the years, there has been nothing discovered that would indicate that casualties were the result of anything other than physical causes. No extraordinary factors have ever been identified."

The legends and mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle no longer quite hold the same level of fascination with me today as they did when I was ten years old.  I suppose that's what happens when you get older.  These days, I am intrigued by a concept that is called the toxic triangle of leadership (a term proposed and popularized by Art Padilla, Robert Hogan, and Robert Kaiser).  In honor of my childhood fascination, I propose that we call this the Bermuda Triangle of Leadership.   The concept here is that it takes more than just a bad leader to create a hostile work environment.  Rather, it is a confluence of a destructive leader with susceptible followers and a conducive environment that makes organizations suffer.  

The first side of the triangle is destructive leadership.  Importantly, we rarely deal with absolutes when it comes to leadership - there are likely to be positive and negative results produced by bad leaders.  Using the characterization developed by Adam Grant in his book, Give and Take, destructive leaders are primarily "takers" - individuals who try to get as much as they can possibly get from a relationship.  Destructive leaders have a selfish orientation (as opposed to being selfless) and lead through dominance, coercion, and manipulation rather than through influence, persuasion, and commitment.  Destructive leaders generally thirst for power and are prone to narcissism.  To use Adam Grant's terminology, they take more than they give, and their motivation focuses on consolidating their power and increasing their status.

There are usually checks and balances to counter destructive leaders.  Susceptible followers form the second side of the triangle.  Two types of followers support destructive leaders - colluders and conformers.  Conformers passively allow destructive leaders to assume power, while colluders actively support them.  Colluders often mimic the destructive leaders' behavior, because they benefit from the power it gives them.  Conformers tend to stay "below the radar" in order to keep their jobs or to avoid conflict.  

Given the right set of environmental conditions - the third side of the triangle - destructive leaders working with susceptible followers leads to organizational failure.  Weak oversight and governance, unclear ethical standards, and an inadequate system of checks and balances comprise the conducive environment that create disaster.  Place a destructive leader with a group of conformers and colluders in the wrong organizational culture and you have your leadership version of the Bermuda Triangle.