Quora Answer: How Does Bad Leadership Destroy Organisations?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “How does bad leadership destroy organisations?” 

There are several ways that bad leadership can destroy organisations.  The first is that bad leadership is like a virus.  Bad leaders surround themselves with bad leaders.  An inadequate leader will view any competent subordinate as a threat to their position, and will promote sycophants.  This will lead to a hollowing out of middle management, which will precipitate an eventual collapse down the chain.  Bad leaders are an anathema to institutional knowledge of the organisation.  An example would be Blockbuster, where this was one of many other management failures. 

The second is the misuse of resources.  Bad leaders are bad at strategic thinking.  This means the organisation is either ossified, unable to react to challenges, or they will institute a quick fix to paper over the cracks while pointing it in the wrong direction.  Because the underlying issues are either misdiagnosed or not addressed, they organisation will eventually lose direction, and fall to obsolescence.  This is likely a slow death.  An example would be Lehman Brothers. 

Finally, bad leaders tend to promote bad values, contrary to the long-term health and rejuvenation of the organisation.  With sycophants come the patronage system, division and backbiting, and finally self-sabotage.  In the most extreme cases, this leads to widespread lapses in ethical behaviour, leading to legal action.  An example would be Enron.