Toxic leaders cover

Toxic leaders

by Marcia Lynn Whicker

Drawing upon her extensive experience and research in various types of organizations - business, political, even religious organizations - Dr. Whicker looks closely at three distinct types of leaders - trustworthy leaders, transitional leaders, and those she identifies as purely toxic. In a clear and readable style she describes the key characteristics of each type of leader, while focusing on the absentee leaders, the busybodies, controllers, enforcers, streetfighters, and the bullies, all of whom are dangerous to their organizations and are directly responsible in many cases for an organization's decline. Whicker makes clear, however, that there are ways to protect oneself from such leaders, and shows exactly what these strategies are. A compelling, anecdotal, authoritative analysis for anyone in any organization who has ever wondered "why did the boss do that - and why to me?". This book gives the reader strategies for surviving transitional and toxic leaders and for restoring organizational health.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?