Your Experiences With "Toxic Leaders"

Another "toxic leader," from an article in the Army Times:

Toxic Leaders.jpg

And for another point of view on the same topic, this letter to the editor:

IN THE COLONEL’S DEFENSE

It was truly shocking and quite reflective when reading this article [“Hawaii brigade boss relieved of command.” July 4]. Surely, I thought that the Army had evolved from their double standards of judgment when women were in positions of command during my time on active duty.
Clearly, I am not saying Col. [Dianna] Roberson might have displayed some of the leadership traits attributed to her, but I think that the entire situation warrants further investigation.
She is a woman who is the commander of a brigade. Further, she is also a woman of color. This, in itself, can be very threatening to some under her command. Having said that, I suspect that many had open contempt for her from the beginning and set out to promote perplexity among her subordinates. They were not responsive to her guidance and direction, stubbornly opposed corrective counseling and constantly promoted chaos and divisiveness within the ranks. They had belligerent, unpleasant, objectionable and hostile personalities and altered facts to suit their own agenda.
For them, if any female is put into a position of command, she must be effeminate, tolerant, lenient, permissive and nurturing. Clearly, Col. Roberson did not fit their perception.
In the face of all of this, Col. Roberson could very well have overreacted and became aggressive and confrontational.
A good leader is supposed to be firm and resolute; have sound management procedures and display a strong personality. He or she must be willing to stand up for military principles, beliefs and have the strength and character to accept and meet challenges. They are frank, direct, no-nonsense, meticulous, alert and perceptive, and inspire zeal and obedience. In a male, these characteristics are considered great leadership skills.
Conversely, these same traits exhibited by a woman make her hostile, too assertive, too aggressive and even militant.
— Lt. Col. Melissa Potts-Emerson (ret.), Rochester, Minn.
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That letter made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. Does this LTC think that the entire army is so unprofessional as to not look past race and gender? Is she fucking serious? That is by FAR the most ridiculous letter I have read in Army times. The fact that that woman made it to LTC with that attitude is unbelievable. Literally, unbelievable. I am disgusted right now.
 
cback0220 said:
That letter made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. Does this LTC think that the entire army is so unprofessional as to not look past race and gender? Is she fucking serious? That is by FAR the most ridiculous letter I have read in Army times. The fact that that woman made it to LTC with that attitude is unbelievable. Literally, unbelievable. I am disgusted right now.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Just bloody garbage.
 
Yeah I seriously cannot get over what was written above to the editor. It is beyond my comprehension that she believes that other officers in the army would go about actively sabotaging another higher ranking officer. And on top of that to imply that it was done solely based on race and gender is disgusting to me. It gets my blood pressure up just thinking about it. I wonder if she read the article in its entirety, I did, and that COL that was relieved deserved it. She treated her subordinates like garbage, set unreasonable goals and wasted unbelievable amounts of time and resources on stupid shit. But she is black and a woman does not cut it in 2011. I feel like I was slapped in the face by the above article, which I refuse to quote because it is disgusting slander.
 
I once had an NCO who came from a different command take over my shop when I was a bootski. He was knowledgeable in little and displayed poor leadership traits*.

Poor leadership traits:
1.) When he was learning his "new job" after transferring from a different command/job description, instead of getting his hands dirty with some on-the-job training--he said he "didn't need to do the work because he is a Sergeant".
2.) Frequently put himself before his troops. Once while we worked well past 2200 (expected to be at formation at 0500 the next morning,) without chow he went and ate some chow at home. Another Sergeant hooked us up with some chow after finding out he had ditched us. Poor leader returned some time later and attempted to yell at us for eating instead of working.
3.) Poor leader charged an NCO beneath him for doing something against regulation that he had done himself not even a month prior.
4.) Poor leader took me to the Gunny when I challenged his authority instead of handling me himself like any NCO with a backbone would.

That's just the stuff off the top of my head. But yeah--I definitely learned how to not be a leader from that soup sandwich.
 
Looks like a lot of commanders in Hawaii are losing their jobs.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Mar/26/ln/ln07p.html

The commander of the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment out of Hawai'i was relieved of command in Afghanistan on March 14, the Army said.
Lt. Col. Steve Brown's removal was the result of his "individual actions that violated military regulation," Schofield Barracks spokeswoman Capt. Kathy Turner said.
No additional details regarding the removal were provided. Brown is retiring from the Army next month, and no further action is anticipated, Turner said.
Brown was replaced by Lt. Col. Frank Tate. The 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment will continue to serve in Afghanistan through mid-April, although some soldiers have returned to Hawai'i.
About 1,000 Hawai'i soldiers returned from Afghanistan several weeks ago from about a half-dozen units. About 5,800 soldiers deployed to the country a year ago.
The 25th Infantry Division (Light) had about 30 Black Hawk, 10 Chinook, and 15 Kiowa Warrior
Click to expand...


http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Mar/16/br/br05p.html
Lt. Col. Alan Ostermiller, the commander of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment in Iraq, has been relieved of his command, the Hawai'i National Guard said today.
Brig. Gen. Joseph Chaves, the commander of the 29th Brigade Combat Team in Iraq, took the action after Ostermiller, 41, was involved in an altercation with one of his staff officers, the Guard said.
Ostermiller, a 1982 Kamehameha Schools graduate who went through the University of Hawai'i ROTC program, was suspended after a verbal altercation escalated into physical contact between Ostermiller and his operations officer, a major, shortly after the battalion arrived in Iraq several weeks ago, officials said.
Brig. Gen. John Y.H. Ma, the general in charge of Army Reserve forces in Hawai'i, recently downplayed reports of Ostermiller nearly choking the operations officer and scuffling with military police, but said reports at that time were still filtering in.
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Seriously? Things are so ban in the unit that you're going to need to choke out your S3? :confused:

 
Was there "toxic leadership" in this case? If so, was it on the part of the brigade commanders, or the 8th Army commander?

http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific...n-s-korea-reprimanded-over-gays-skit-1.144415

SEOUL − Three South Korea-based colonels have been reprimanded for their part in a skit that officials believe made fun of homosexuals and the rules designed to protect them in the military.
The skit – performed March 22 at a dinner attended by 8th Army officials at the Dragon Hill Lodge on Yongsan Garrison – featured the officers using effeminate gestures in portraying openly gay musicians Elton John and George Michael as soldiers, and then lip-synching a song by Boy George, who is also homosexual.
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1) Depends on the content and how it was presented.
2) I'd fire the colonels just for being dumbasses and not keeping up with current events. How many commanders have been smoked over this sort of crap in the last 12 months? At this point in our society, even if you find it funny there WILL be someone who doesn't, is butthurt, and all too willing to make you miserable for it. Trust me, I know....
3) A skit on gay people? Well hell, can I drag out my blackface setup and perform a Vaudeville routine? No? How about one on Asians with "rorrypops?" No? Then what makes these idiots think that they would get away with this? Content matters to a sensible person, but not to the butthurt. See #2.
 
Viper1 said:
I like how GEN Dempsey wants to introduce a 360 review process for evaluation reports. I'm interested to see the mechanics of it.
Click to expand...

My soldiers have been using Army360. I can imagine a future in which NCOs continuously check their A-360 iPhone App throughout the day to see who has better (worse?) reviews...

"Shit, man, another joe burned me; says I don't develop him as a leader..."
 
We were doing a joint op with the Brits, everyone was staged and ready to go. We sit around for about 30 min. PAST go time, & finally Captain --- comes out, explaining that he was late because 1) he was downloading music to listen to on the op, and 2) he was in a bid war on eBay for a comic book action figure (he collects them). He later gets a Bronze Star for that deployment & promoted to Major. Needless to say, the Brits were not amused, & from then on did all mission planning with our 1st Lt.
 

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