Overcoming the

Overcoming the “Dark Side” of Leadership: An Appreciative Inquiry

Jimmy A. Payne | 2021

Abstract

If asked to identify a list of leaders, most people could, almost immediately, provide a list of several more popular, successful, and great leaders. It appears that when we think about leadership, we are conditioned to think about only the positive, popular, and prominent leaders. However, with the increasing number of corporate scandals, ethical breaches, and failed organizations, this might suggest that we have neglected a very important aspect of leadership research—the dark side of personality and its effects on leadership and organizational performance with an emphasis on ineffective leadership. This qualitative study was an exploratory, multicase study addressing the knowledge that the dark or negative side of leadership has led to the failure of many organizations. But why do leaders succumb to the negative forces of this type of leadership? Is there a catalyst that leads them down this negative path, or is it something else? Leadership actions, behaviors, models, and examples have been researched for over 75 years (Jago, 1982; Yukl, 2012). Most of this leadership research has focused on the positive side of leadership—48% more in the databases reviewed for this research and the benefits of how good leaders are valuable to the organizations they serve. However, this appears to ignore the opposite side of leadership—the dark or the negative one. This research worked to aid in continued identification of the many issues and reasons relating to why leaders succumb to the dark or negative side of leadership. Therefore, it will provide leaders with another method of looking at these leadership issues and possibly uncovering a new way of avoiding the problems associated with the dark side of leadership.