The ABC's of bad leadership are: arrogance, bullying, complacency and corruption. Each of these ABC's of bad leadership are negative values. Leadership is either value positive or value negative. Leadership, like the culture of an organization, is never value neutral. It is the leader who chooses whether to be value positive or value negative. This choice by the leader is the single most important factor which shapes the culture of an organization. It is also why it is important to understand the nature of negative value leadership. Negative value leadership is bad leadership. In the book, Caring Leadership, by this author, it is stated that it is the prevalence of an "I don't care" attitude in the workplace that is the primary cause of organizational performance mediocrity and employee dissatisfaction. Once an "I don't care" attitude takes hold in an organization, it will eventually scuttle an organization's quest for excellence unless a cultural transformation takes place. Organizations are either going forward and making progress, or going backward and losing ground. Organizations of people never stand still. It is the "I don't care" attitude that propels an organization backwards, sometimes imperceptivity, but always certainly. Bad leadership is responsible for ultimately creating a pervasive "I don't care" employee attitude within the workplace. Once an "I don't care" attitude takes root in the workplace, it is extremely contagious. The most detrimental words which can be uttered in the workplace are "I don't care." However, employees do not actually have to speak the words, "I don't care". Rather, the words "I don't care" can be heard just as loudly through employee's actions. Silent "I don't care" attitudes can be just as deadly to the organization. Again, it is the leadership of an organization that is always responsible for the existence of a prevalent lack of caring in the workplace. In Caring Leadership it was explained that creativity in the workplace begins to flow where trust exists in the workplace. Employee trust of organizational leadership is built in caring places to work. Workplace trust and respect for the leadership lead to greater employee commitment, creativity, performance and morale. Caring leadership is the key. Unfortunately, bad leadership undermines trust. Without trust between the leader and the people in the organization, performance excellence is not possible. This author has previously written about the need for organizational change because there are far too many mediocre performing organizations in both the private and public sectors in America. Servant Governing, The Servant Organization and Caring Leadership are companion books to this book. Servant Governing primarily relates to government organizations. The Servant Organization is written for application to for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Caring Leadership compliments the two foregoing books in that it was written from the employee's perspective of how and why caring leadership can transform a mediocre performing organization into an organization of performance excellence through the implementation of The Servant Organization's Four Cornerstone Framework. The above books outline a four-part leadership and management framework which, when implemented, will help improve organizational creativity, vitality and performance. With the framework in place, the organization can shape its own identity. The adoption and implementation of The Servant Organization's Four Cornerstone Framework by caring leaders will help the organization achieve higher performance results. The Servant Organization culture created by the caring leader engenders trust, stimulates creativity, drives mission focus, increases performance, enhances job satisfaction and, in for profit organizations, adds to shareholder value. The ills of bad leadership can be cured by the caring leadership of a servant
About the Author: Ed Dean has extensive experience in leading and managing organizations in the public and private sectors. In the public sector Mr. Dean served for fourteen years as the elected Sheriff of Marion County, Florida. Mr. Dean was appointed as Sheriff in 1998 by the late Governor Lawton Chiles. He was then successfully elected as Sheriff in 2000, 2004, 2008 and served until January, 2013. The Marion County Sheriff's office received the coveted Florida Governor's Sterling Award in 2008 for Performance Excellence and was recognized again in 2011 by the Florida Governor for Sustained Excellence. Mr. Dean is active in many community organizations and has served as Chairman of the Board of several not for profit and governmental organizations. Ed Dean is the author of seven other books, Luctor et Emergo, (2010), Angel in Disguise, (2011), which are biographies of his deaf parents and their amazing story of the challenges they faced in life and how they overcame them. He is co-author of Inspiration for Fifty Years, (2013), which is a history of Townley Engineering and Manufacturing Co., Inc. and the story of overcoming hardship through the faith of founders, J. O. "Jake" Townley and Helen Townley. He is co-author of The Servant Organization for Jesus, (2013), which provides a leadership and management framework to improve church operations. The Servant Organization, is a companion book to Servant Governing, (2013), also by Mr. Dean, which outlines a Framework for Achieving Organizational Excellence based upon the Four Cornerstone Framework. Caring Leadership - Creating and Sustaining a Workplace of Performance Excellence is written from the employee's perspective and also is based upon the Four Cornerstone Framework. This book, The ABC's of Bad Leadership vs. Caring Leadership Within The Servant Organization's Four Cornerstone Framework is written to examine the characteristics of negative leadership and to learn from them.