Much has been written about good and bad leadership and, specifically, how good leaders build and promote thriving organizations, while bad leaders quickly kill any progress.

I recently had an experience with bad leadership (really bad leadership!) and saw firsthand how bad leadership was made worse by the organization’s own people – the very assets that organizations hold dear. While poor leadership is one thing – and there are ways to manage this issue – the organization’s assets – its people – can sometimes do more damage to the organization than its inept leaders.

In an organization where I was recently involved, here is what I observed about its people…