“If your emotional abilities aren’t in hand, if you don’t have self-awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can’t have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.” - Daniel Goleman

As a leader, you need to be able to interact with many types of personalities efficiently. The brutal reality is that at some point in your career, you may come across individuals who are exhibiting what we would call “toxic” behaviors. You cannot ignore toxic people in the workplace and hope they will go away or simply stop injecting negativity into every fiber of the organization. They will spread their poison like a bad virus that influences others to potentially act or think in the same manner. So, how do you effectively lead a team that contains a “toxic” person?

When we talk about economic and business success, we tend to refer to concepts that people readily understand—return on investment, growth, profits, etc. Productivity is another factor that impacts success in a hugely significant way, but it can be difficult to measure and challenging to understand. Thankfully, we live in a world in which data is king, and it is no longer as difficult as it once was to understand and improve individual and overall team productivity.

As I survey the leadership landscape, I notice my mind traveling in two different directions — on the one hand, it's clear to me that the world is in the midst of a grave leadership crisis. On the other hand, I see more examples of outstanding leadership today than at any time I can remember. It's kind of a paradox, isn't it?