Have you ever considered that toxic behaviors might be affecting your leadership and organization? Sean Lemson suggests this isn’t about mal intent, but a poisonous leader can trigger disengagement, frustration, and turnover — sometimes in slow motion, so an organization is caught unaware. Sean joins Kevin to talk about toxic leadership, exploring how seemingly small negative behaviors can undermine team morale and organizational health. Sean highlights the importance of self-awareness for leaders, detailing how to recognize and address toxic traits within oneself and others. They also discuss the role of mindset in transforming leadership practices and the critical need for regular engagement assessments.

Listen For

00:00 Introduction
00:40 Guest Introduction
02:16 Journey to Writing the Book
05:06 What is Toxic Leadership?
10:12 Styles of Toxic Leaders
13:51 Recognizing Toxicity in Ourselves
17:00 Goodhart's Law
20:58 Role of Mindset in Detoxification
27:00 Toxic Leadership in Remote Work
30:42 Sean's Hobbies
32:17 What Sean is Reading
33:14 Where to Learn More About Sean
35:35 Conclusion and Action Steps

Meet Sean

Sean's Story: Sean Lemson is the author of One Drop of Poison: How One Bad Leader Can Slowly Kill Your Company. He is certified in scrum agile and leadership coaching. He has been an agile coach for many years at companies like Paypal, Cisco, and Nike. Since 2021 he has led his own coaching firm, Motivated Outcomes. He resides in the Portland Oregon area.

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