Transforming Toxic Leaders

Eloquence rules and eloquence fools. Eloquence appears in many forms and packages. Who commands and delivers eloquence? Obama dazzles some of us some of the time. Lee Iacocca turned around two U.S. auto conglomerates and charmed global players with his folksy rhetoric. A certain trial lawyer said "if it don't fit you must acquit."
The masterful communicator is built for leadership. Eloquence commands attention and climbs ladders. The gift of gab and dazzling nonverbals convey emotions, heart, and a visceral logic that cuts through the clutter. Audiences, clients and colleagues are inundated with words. It takes special language, tone and delivery to rise and seize the media's attention and center stage.
Eloquence, however, comes at a price. Eloquence can be brilliant and uplifting as well as gravely misleading and lethal. The eloquent speaker unveils, undresses, unhinges, uproots and unsettles audiences. Political and corporate reality is turned upside down and inside out. The marriage of eloquence and ethics allows business and citizenry to soar to higher ground. In stark contrast, the back alley splicing of eloquence and evil - destroys, sinks ships, ignites dastardly wars and devours fortunes. The ancients clearly warned us repeatedly against the senator, emperor and business king pin who dresses up his bad intentions, poisons and toxicity with silky, slinky, mesmerizing language, inflection and drama. Sometimes we choose to forget about those sophists and opportunists who charm us into bombing a questionable foe and persuades us to hand over our life savings to a horrible man and his Ponzi scheme.

Yes, eloquence has been around for thousands of years. It is deeply ingrained in the human condition. It was dissected by the ancient Greek and Roman orators and rhetoricians. Eloquence fascinated St. Augustine and was studied by medieval religious leaders. They applied eloquence to the pulpit. Eloquence was central to uplifting the pagans and pointing the unwashed masses toward organized religion.  More recently eloquence formally reappeared in Victorian U.S. and U.K. education as elocution. Eloquence was at the core of the gentleman in business, family and politics. To be utterly devoid of eloquence translated to a lower station in life. In the gutter talk of the early 21^st century we might state that the absence of any trace of eloquence indicates a station in life that is nastily labeled as "trailer trash."
Beware. Be forewarned that eloquence can be bright, fresh and enlightening as well as dark and deadly. The deadly variety prospers. Destructive eloquence is on the rise. It provides leaders with a psychological edge. It is a case of poison penetrating dreams and bank accounts. Scoundrels speak with a magic and exhilaration seemingly reserved for the lofty.
When the unethical leader in the form of a Madoff, Lay, Skilling or Kadafi develops a repertoire of toxic eloquence this greatly enhances their prospects for seducing, raping and confusing their constituencies. Extraordinary levels of eloquence, charm and deceit are required to persuade a workforce, a highly sophisticated and prosperous clientele, or a population to march lockstep into destructive investments and agendas. We are all fairly well briefed on the fact that eloquent Nazis spewed toxic laden rhetoric and accelerated a hatred that was unfortunately already churning deep within the German population. The satanic dictator appeared in flesh and mustache across Berlin, Cologne and much of Europe. He coughed up a deadly brew of nationalism, pride, and hideous distortions of righteousness and evil. Adolf was quite eloquent in his demonic agenda. Followers worshiped him, kissed his feet and in the presence of Nazi eloquence swore that they were at one with the Lord.
Unfortunately, this is not just about the Nazis and current dictators in the Middle East. As we well know, the big business of religion is hardly immune from the allure of the intoxicating speaker. On the dark and seamy underbelly of religion, a toxic eloquence elevated several T.V. preachers to stardom. Flocks of true believers were led astray into the valley of the shadow of death. Rape, incest, pedophilia, seduction and thievery posed as the gospel. Sadly, the silver tongued preachers have had their corporate CEO counterparts in Arthur Anderson and other fallen Fortune 500 angels. Bankruptcies, life imprisonments, suicides and deep mental disarray have been but a few of the consequences of corporate demagogues.
Real life corporate collapses can be linked to the likes of a Jeffrey Skilling or a Kenneth Lay. They are hardly being cast as scapegoats. They are rather at the source of wild side toxicity. The mother of invention here is to be found in deeply entrenched greed that bubbles to the surface in masterful language that titillates, excites, inspires unites and allows the chosen into an exclusive club. Meanwhile, the toxic leader who drools and dazzles with eloquence is an expert at casting skeptics and non-believers into exile and oblivion. Artful rhetoric, seamless semantics, perfected facial nuances and perfect gestures all present a veneer that disguises inner bankruptcy and demonic strategies. Toxic eloquence is a key to diffusing corporate and political poisons.
Companies go down. Consortiums and multinational ventures are dissolved as stakeholders shake their heads trying to understand how they were tricked. Otherwise brilliant professionals and crazy successful organizations were momentarily turned dumb, dumber, dumbest. How could our elite be so deceived? They have been bamboozled by the moving lips, exquisite words, and effervescent and vacuous promises uttered by criminals in couture Versace and Armani suits.
A case in point wass the anti-Christ CEO of Jonestown. Reverend Jones was quite an orator and he was able to oversee an impressive harem. Jones' silver tongued rhetoric persuaded individuals, couples, lovers, friends, families, business leaders and highly endowed professionals to partake in a mass communal suicide at Jonestown. Suffice to say that the misplaced fury and venom of this disturbed preacher still ricochets through our emotions and resonates decades later. How could such a bogus, fringe character and bona fide psychopath mimic Satan and court his followers to a mass grave? Jones and other dysfunctional leaders mesmerize those in search of revelation and a script to live by. How could a community of seekers subscribe to Jones's totalitarianism and sign on a dotted line that should have never come to be? Surely Jim Jones points toward the ferocity of a toxic eloquence and the fact that audiences are there for the asking.
Consider how the likes of a Bernie Madoff got his claws into the vaults, loins, bank accounts and life savings of so many prominent business leaders and top tier organizations? Bernie dug deep into the ancient handbook of supreme deception as he rationalized evil and covered it with a veneer of smiling, personable gamesmanship. His game was largely his eloquence as he required more than just distortions and lies to destroy lives, institutions and fortunes. The ability to financially rape and pilfer so many quality individuals and corporate entities was all constructed around his toxic eloquence. Madoff's words were what his clients wanted to hear. The logic was perfectly twisted. The references and verbal gymnastics were world class, superb and slippery as hell. The marriage of a Ponzi scheme to eloquence was a match ultimately made in hell. The problem, however, was that this hell was not readily visible to followers! It was dressed up in an eloquence that charmed wallets, egos and Eros!
Is there an antidote? I advise that we cautiously gauge eloquence on a case-by-case and leader-by-leader basis. Go beyond the glossy designed suits, perfected smiles, refined demeanors, and impressive dialects and maintain a healthy skepticism about those presenters who primarily "wow" you with their physical presence and delivery.