Can Bad Leaders Still Yield Good Behaviors & Good Results?

For a moment, after you’ve read the following question, close your eyes and think about who comes to mind: Who is the worst, the baddest leader you’ve seen / encountered/ heard of? Did you think of Adolph Hitler, Nero, Commodus, Woodrow Wilson, Neville Chamberlain, Emperor Hirohito, Robert Mugabe, Benito Mussolini, Tsar Nicholas II, Pol Pot, Joseph Stalin, Kim Jong-un, Mao Zedong, Saddam Hussein, Alexander Lukashenko, Vladimir Putin, George W. Bush, Hugo Chavez, Idi Amin, Xi Jinping, Fidel Castro, Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump, Richard Nixon? Or, was it someone else from current, past, or ancient history?

What is a ‘bad leader’? What is a ‘good’ leader? In his article published in Forbes, Joshua Miller, “The Five Critical Traits That Separate Bad Leaders From Good Leaders”, the author shares for following:

1. Bad leaders don’t effectively influence [others]. Good leaders rally their people [toward something positive].

2. Bad leaders don’t have much resilience. Good leaders persevere - and inspire perseverance. Influence and resilience are similar. However, resilience comes down to a leader’s ability to steer their team forward during challenging times. Think about it this way. If the [leader of a country] publicly threw their hands in the air and said they didn’t have answers for the [country’s] rapidly crashing financials and blames their predecessor for it, would that inspire confidence in that [country’s population]? No. Morale…would suffer.

3. Bad leaders stifle creativity. Good leaders encourage creativity to flourish.

4. Bad leaders exhibit low emotional intelligence. Good leaders know how to read a room. Leaders need to be able to read a room [understand their constituents]. If they lack emotional intelligence, various problems, like inopportune comments, misunderstandings, and hurt feelings, will likely surface. Leaders should take steps to strengthen their emotional intelligence so they can have better relationships with themselves and with their teams. The level of emotional intelligence a leader has can be why a project succeeds or fails or an entire [country] succeeds or fails.

5. Bad leaders lack strategic thinking [that benefits all stakeholders]. Good leaders are strategy-minded” ( https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbescoachescouncil/2022/08/24/the-five-critical-traits-that-separate-bad-leaders-from-good-leaders/ ).

While the ‘bad’ / ‘good’ leader list of traits in the previous paragraph is incomplete and oversimplified, it does give us a framework for considering the question, Can Bad Leaders Still Yield Good Behaviors & Good Outcomes? According to a January 2025 article in Psychology Today, the author identifies how “Bad Leaders Can Teach Good Lessons.” He suggests we can consider the following:

“1. Learn what not to do [from a bad leader] This is as simple as it sounds. Let this leader be a lesson in what you don’t want to do when you become a leader and what to look for in future bosses when you consider joining a team or an organization [or when you are voting for leaders for the country]. This is not just throwing a label on the behavior and calling it a day; it is looking at what drives it and beginning to understand what to look for that signals it. [By observing the bad leader’s behaviors, you can vow not to adopt those behaviors yourself. If the bad leader is a bully and makes decisions that hurt group of people, promise yourself you will not be like that leader.]

2. Observe [others] [How do others under the leadership of a bad leader react to their bad leadership? Observing their reactions to the bad leader will help you avoid taking or supporting some of the bad leader’s actions.]

3. Observe yourself Consider how any of us act when we are angry. Observe how you [react when the bad leader is misbehaving. [Do you find yourself mimicking the volatile behaviors of the bad leader and are becoming more like them than you would like?] Sometimes the step you need to grow and develop and turn around [your responses to a bad leader is to hold up the metaphorical mirror to yourself to see that you may have taken on the bad traits of the bad leader so that you can consciously pivot away from those responses.]

4. Identify the positive Everyone is good at something, and you can learn from that. While [the bad leader] may yell or be absent, they got to their role by succeeding somewhere along the way. Take time to look at what that trait is and learn from it. You don’t need to [like the bad leader] to watch and learn how they sell [their ideas / plans], navigate a room, or position their team [or country] for success” (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-change-dynamic/202501/bad-leaders-can-teach-good-lessons).

In his article, “Why Do People Follow Bad Leaders?”, Dr. Ronald Riggio explains, “There are [approximately] 50 countries in the world that are headed by dictators—more than one-quarter of all nations. Depending on how you define ‘bad leaders’ another quarter, or more, of world nations are led by unethical, unstable, or incompetent individuals. Yet, we rarely see occasions where the people rise up and oust one of these bad leaders. So, this begs the question: Why do people willingly (or unwillingly) follow bad leaders?

Here are several reasons, and the underlying psychological factors:

1. A Preference for Strongman Leaders - Most of us want our leaders to be strong and confident, but too many of us confuse arrogance and narcissism for strength. That is wrong. Research clearly shows that the very worst leaders—those who become tyrants—are very narcissistic and arrogant.

Why do these leaders typically fail? Their narcissism convinces them that they are always right; that means that they ignore others’ counsel and advice and don’t learn from their mistakes. Great leaders possess humility. They seek others’ input because they are aware of their limitations. Moreover, they continually strive to improve and become better leaders.

2. We Are Victims of Our Own Mental Shortcuts - Heuristics are what psychologists call mental shortcuts that we use so that we don’t have to think and analyze so much (we have a tendency toward ‘cognitive laziness’). One reason that bad leaders are allowed to stay in power or get re-elected is that we use a number of mental shortcuts and fool ourselves into believing the bad leader is ‘really OK.’ Here are some:

A. We Unquestioningly Accept the Leader’s View - For a number of reasons, many followers don’t question their leader’s actions adequately. When a leader is caught in seemingly bad behavior, followers all too quickly believe the leader’s argument that ‘nothing was wrong.’ We tend to put leaders on a pedestal—what leadership scholar, Jim Meindl, referred to as our ‘Romance of Leadership’ so we don’t investigate fully and instead accept the leader’s explanation.

B. We Conform to Our In-Group’s Perspective - We trust those who are similar to us—or those who have similar belief systems. If those who share our beliefs and political ideology support a leader, we conform and provide support. In U.S. elections, 80 percent of Democrats and Republicans simply endorse members of their own party, right down the line [without thinking].

C. We Believe that the Alternative is Worse Than Our Leader - (‘The Devil We Know’) - The in-group, out-group bias is a very powerful heuristic. It is very easy to trigger the belief that we’re the ‘good guys’ and outsiders are the ‘bad guys.’ Thus, any leader who is not ‘one of us is bad, and would be worse than the poor leader we have now.

D. We Rationalize - This is a very human response to rationalize away the sins of our poor leaders. When the leader is caught in a violation—a sexual affair, some underhanded dealings, profiteering—we rationalize by saying ‘It’s OK. S/he is the leader’ and we make an exception. If we continue to rationalize the leader’s offenses, it becomes a slippery slope, with the bad leader engaging in worse and worse behavior and never being held accountable.

3. We Equate Effectiveness with Being a Good Leader - We place great value on results, but often neglect to consider how those results were obtained (i.e., ‘the ends justify the means’). Bad leaders can achieve results (or have a reputation for achieving results), but do it through bad behavior—taking advantage of others, taking credit for others’ work, other forms of exploitation, etc.

4. We Bask in the Leader’s Power by Association - We like to be on the winning side, and we’re willing to support bad leaders if we get what we want from them. In her book on toxic leadership, Dr. Jean Lipman-Blumen suggests that followers enable and assist bad leaders because it gives them a sense of power. Bad followers/‘henchmen’ are drawn to bad leaders because they can share power.

So, [sometimes] our own human tendencies help bad leaders stay in power and thrive” (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201910/why-do-people-follow-bad-leaders).

Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher, reminds us that “The best revenge [against a bad leader] is to be unlike him who performed the injustice. You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength” (qtd. in https://pinkgiraffedaily.com/5-best-marcus-aurelius-quotes-on-leadership/#:~:text=). This wisdom recently caused me to pivot away from some angry thinking and behaviors; they give me peace in learning how to deal with bad leaders. Thanks, Marcus!

Can bad leaders still yield good behaviors and have good outcomes? Please share your stories, thoughts, insights, and suggestions by either commenting below this post if you are reading this on social media, or, if you are reading this through your email subscription, please share, by emailing me, at reimaginelife22@gmail.com.

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