Tales of Leadership is a collection of case studies created for anyone in a leadership position who is interested in genuine self-reflection and self-improvement that will lead to more positive and effective relationships and productivity within businesses and organizations of all types. These case studies in behavior may sound almost too bad or too good to be true, but they are all based on real people and actual events.

Some will read these vignettes and be startled by the egregious behavior exhibited by some of the main characters. Others will read them and deludedly only see themselves in the more positive examples in this series, such as The Architect or The Empowerer.

Very few will readily relate with and admit to The Serpent or The Bully within. …There is a lesson for those of us who tolerate or ignore problematic behavior in senior leaders or understate their negative impact on the organization until it’s too late.

The stories in this series are meant to stimulate conversations around self and organizational improvement and will be most beneficial for those who want to analyze the success or failure of processes and checks and balances that produce leadership behaviors and hold leaders accountable. At the end of each book, there are a series of questions designed to facilitate thoughtful conversation.

However, before you critique and analyze others within your organization, always first look within and ask what traits you see within yourself and, more importantly, what traits others see within you. …THE BULLYDo you have a bully at work?Find out what drives them and how you can spot the telltale signs to protect your own organization before the damage is done.

Bethany Bullock had always been a star performer. She worked in finance for a major Federal Agency in Washington, D.

C. Highly educated and effective, she was promoted almost annually because of her performance ratings until she was given her first role as supervisor.

But then a different side of Bethany emerged… She had worked hard to get to her current position; now she wanted to make sure no one could take it away from her. Everyone in her team was a potential threat to her.

People with ability were not encouraged to thrive in case they outshone Bethany herself. She used her control of her staff’s annual performance ratings as a weapon, consistently under-valuing people’s performance to ‘keep them in their place’.

Incapable of forming positive human relationships, Bethany hated when colleagues seemed to be working well together and forming effective teams. They were clearly ganging up on her.

She would have to break them up…Productivity in Bethany’s department began to plummet. Staff began to leave the agency at unprecedented rates.

The level of sick leave went through the roof. A manager was appointed to join the division and find out what was going wrong….