Toxic Leaders and Tough Bosses: Organizational Guardrails to Keep High Performers on Track

Toxic work culture is driving away 1 in 5 employees at an annual cost of US ＄44.6 billion to American organizations. Yet ironically, toxic leaders often achieve stellar financial profits, continue to get promoted and remain in their leadership roles. In Toxic Leaders and Tough Bosses - Organizational Guardrails to Keep High Performers on Track, employment law attorney Teresa A. Daniel JD, PhD, draws upon numerous studies and interviews to show the real, devastating impact of toxic workplace culture and why leaders must care. This book discusses what signs to look out for in a toxic workplace, factors that promote toxic behavior, types of leaders and how they impact their organization, the role of HR in managing employee wellbeing, and what to look out for in exceptional leaders. With evidenced-based strategies for building stronger workplace culture, including tools to help organizations develop better leaders and managers, it makes a compelling case for eradicating toxic leaders as a priority. Toxic Leaders and Tough Bosses is for organizational leaders, mid-level managers, supervisors, HR practitioners and anyone else invested in implementing new, tried and tested ideas to improve their organization’s culture to create and sustain its optimum success.

Dr. Teresa A. Daniel serves as Dean and Professor-Human Resource Leadership Programs at Sullivan University based in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

She has a significant body of research in human resource management (HR) with an emphasis on two primary areas of inquiry: counterproductive work behaviors (focused on workplace bullying, sexual harassment, and toxic leadership), and HR’s unique role and its impact on organizational effectiveness (primarily in the management of toxic workplace emotions, responding to situations of workplace bullying and harassment, dealing with toxic leaders, building positive work cultures, and the management of people during mergers and acquisitions). She provides consulting services focused on these topics at InterConnections LLC.

Dr. Daniel’s research has been actively supported by the national Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) through the publication of numerous articles, interviews, and books. Her newest work is Organizational Toxin Handlers: The Critical Role of HR, OD, and Coaching Practitioners in Managing Toxic Workplace Situations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). She is also the co-author of two books with Dr. Gary Metcalf titled Stop Bullying at Work: Strategies and Tools for HR, Legal & Risk Management Professionals (SHRM, 2016) and The Management of People in Mergers & Acquisitions (Quorum Books, 2001).

She was honored as an Initial Fellow of the International Academy on Workplace Bullying, Mobbing, and Abuse in 2014 and received the Distinguished AlumnusAward at Centre College in 2002. Most recently, she was the 2019 Grand Prize Winner of the national SHRM HR Haiku contest.