toxic leadership

I read this extraordinary op-ed by a Trump administration insider. It reinforces what I was thinking about for some time. In our current time, leadership has become a farce. It could be a significant detriment to the world to have such leaders come up on top of organizations and nations. Why is this happening, in spite of a large number of people knowing that this is all illogical, improbable and irrational?

Looking at the words used to describe Trump in this article: worst inclinations, misguided impulses, amorality, not moored to any discernible first principles that guide decision making, little affinity to ideals, impetuous, adversarial, petty, ineffective, whims, veer off topic and off the rails, repetitive rants, half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions, flip-flipped, erratic behavior.

I see more of similar behavior from leaders, may not be such crazy levels. Narcissism, not encouraging feedback, shooting the messenger, prone to exaggeration, lack of humility, hypocrisy, not liking anyone else looking even slightly good, not interested in details, taking rigid positions, simplification, generalization and host of other problems.

I think another factor has amplified the problems that such leadership is inflicting on the world. How we consume information and form opinions have fundamentally changed with social media and such leaders are adept at managing the perceptions through such mechanisms. If both of these combine, it multiples the power.

From the article: “The bigger concern is not what Mr. Trump has done to the presidency but rather what we as a nation have allowed him to do to us. We have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility.”

Someone remarked couple of days back that even if Trump shoots someone, it will not change anything. Another was betting that he will still win a second term. I have met people who think in spite of everything, the nation is benefiting overall, so can put up with everything else. A grain of truth inside a mountain of lies still makes people “agree partially”.

Should some of our positions be one or zero, with or against, than partial? How should we avoid getting toxic leaders? How to call them out in clear terms without being stripped of civility and stooping low?