Toxic Leadership Reflection

In the leadership context in which I currently work I am assigned as a Platoon Sergeant accountable for 45 Soldiers and their families. The issue that I have witness within my current organization has seemed to be the lack of care for the individuals within the unit by the higher level leaders. As a senior leader within the organization I have found it to be really challenging being surrounded by what I view as toxic leadership. The plan that I have for the issues within the organization is to change the organization one Soldier at a time. This plan will take time and will have to be started at the bottom and target the new Soldiers that arrived in the unit. The issue that I see with most of the leaders that have positions of power to be individuals

that do not care for the overall welfare of the individuals that they are in charge of but for the overall welfare of achieving their own personal goals. The practical reason why when the power is once in the hands of people, a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest (Wren,2004,p.311). This is quoted from Wren in the civil disobedience of Henry David Thoreau, displaying that even in the past there was leaders that existed that really didn’t care about the individuals that they were in charge of.
The plan that I would first like to implement in changing the mentality of the organization is first maintaining a positive attitude within the organization and trying to influence the subordinates that I have under my control. Good leadership is a contagious element within organizations. If I change the mentality of my Platoon the other Platoons will eventually conform to the nature of my Platoon. The issue that I see with leaders that do not seem to care about their subordinates is that they have a lack of education of the reasons that individuals need good leaders. Kings were instituted to feed, to judge, to cure the disease of the people (Wren, 2004, p.281). The kings of the earlier time were put in place to take care of its people that served them and were expected to have the welfare of their people at the top of their priority. The issue that I see within the organization is that it is so competitive to receive advance promotions at the senior level in the United States Army. This issue makes it more about the individual that is leading in most cases and not about the individuals that are being led.
The process of changing the organization will be a one year process and the reason for this is the ability to change individuals minds after they have lost faith in their leaders will be an ongoing process. The first step that I will take will be pulling all the individuals within the unit in and giving them my vision of the future of the organization. It will be a process like the one in the past of the rhetorical leader Dr. Martin Luther King. I have a dream that one day every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places shall be made plain, and the crooked places shall be made straight and the glory of the lord will be revealed and all flesh shall see it together (Willis, 1994,p.221). This individual speech was spoken during a time in America when all the people were divided and the African American people didn’t receive the same rights to freedom that Caucasians received. The issue within my organization is on the same principal because if Soldiers are not receiving outstanding leadership it is not on the Army. The individuals within the Army that are choosing not to live up to the values that have been set forth are making the organization seem to not be one that is favored by the individuals within it.
The second approach to the situation of changing my organization one individual at a time will be taking out the time to educate the organization of all the programs and systems that Army has set forth.

The knowledge of the subordinates knowing the differences between leadership and effective leadership will allow them the empowerment to demand fair and just treatment. The reason that I feel that I will have to attack the lower enlisted individuals will be because these individuals are new to the organization and the Army at the same time. Individuals that have been within the organization for a while will be less willing to accept change. After an individual has gotten use to the norms of the organization they will tend to not have any issues with the way that the organization is ran. The third approach to inflicting change within the organization will be challenging the authority of the leaders that seem not to care and allowing them to know my views and feelings of their leadership styles. I will approach those leaders and question them on the reasons that they make certain decisions and inform them of the impacts that they have on the subordinate Soldiers when they make toxic decisions that do not entertain the best interest of the Soldiers within he

unit.
Franklin Roosevelt understood the importance of psychology that people have to have the courage to keep seeking a cure, no matter what the cure is (Willis, 1994, p.32).

Franklin Roosevelt was a president that was power hungry prior to being diagnose with polio disease. I look at how he changed his approach to leadership and became among the list of the most dependable presidents of the United States of America. This displays that the leaders within my organization can accept change with the right education and with the right leadership challenges and experiences throughout their careers. I feel that changing the organization will be a challenge and that I will have to bring amongst positive impacts that will allow me to win the hearts

and