Look, I get it. It seems like everyone’s got a leadership book out these days, and how many times can you say the same old thing? Well, I have a new book too—Greater than Great—and if you know my writing you know I’m not just saying the same old thing. Plus, I try to find fresh and interesting takes on what I say.
My goal is to get you to think, really think, about what it means to be a leader and then to put it into action.
If you haven’t yet, grab a copy of Greater than Great. Let me know what works and what I could do better in my next book.
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And check out my recent talk for TEDxClarkstown.
The tyrant is a child of Pride
Who drinks from his sickening cup
Recklessness and vanity,
Until from his high crest headlong
He plummets to the dust of hope.
Here’s a fun fact. King Oedipus—father murderer, mother marrier, and plague bringer—makes the perfect case study for toxic leadership in the modern workplace.
Way back in the fifth century BCE, the Greek playwright Sophocles produced a trio of works that centered on the Oedipus myth. The first episode in the trilogy was Oedipus Rex.
Don’t worry. I’ll recap the details of Oedipus’ story for those of you who may have slept through 10th-grade English. This isn’t a retelling of the play but of the whole Oedipus narrative that inspired Sophocles.
Meet King Oedipus
People usually interpret Oedipus Rex as a warning against the self-deceit of hubris or an allegory about the futility of resisting fate. Those are dandy interpretations, but I want to put another spin on it.
Oedipus runs into trouble not because he’s arrogant—or not just because he’s arrogant—but because he’s a self-interested boss.
Now I’m not going to denigrate self-interest as a rule. Even great leaders need to look out for themselves—put on your own oxygen mask first, etcetera, etcetera. The difference is degree and consequence. True leaders never accept more than they earn and never, ever take what rightfully belongs to others.
Bosses, on the other hand, are grabby, grubby, and grifty. They take what they want and even from their underlings. Need an example? Just look at all the mergers and layoffs in the tech industry. The people at the top rarely—if ever—sacrifice a penny and often profit from the gratuitous suffering of their employees.
In this way, Oedipus—a man of blindingly self-interested ambition—is a typical boss and therefore a lousy leader. But don’t just take my word for it; let’s review the record.
We start with Oedipus living large as a gimpy prince and heir to the throne of Corinth when some drunk at a party blurts out that the king and queen are not his real parents. Utterly flummoxed over what this random wino said, Oedipus heads to Delphi to consult the oracle where he learns zero about his true parentage. Instead, the oracle prophesies that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Yikes!
Oedipus figures he can dodge this horrifying prognostication by steering clear of his parents altogether, so he limps away from Corinth toward Thebes. Unfortunately, the Oedipus complex (go figure) is rather strong with Oedipus because Thebes is precisely where his real parents—Laius and Jocasta—rule as king and queen.
Here’s the backstory. It turns out that King Laius—another supremely self-interested man—received an oracle that his infant son would grow up to murder him. Being a big, bad tough guy who don’t take nothin’ from nobody, he commands his wife to kill the baby, but Jocasta can’t do it and orders a servant to dump her darling infant on a hill instead
And lo, a shepherd comes unto him, rescuing the babe and presenting him to the childless king and queen of Corinth to raise for some reason.
Got all that? Now let’s return to adult Oedipus on the road from Delphi to Thebes. He encounters an old man and his servants heading the other way. The old man arrogantly pushes Oedipus aside, so Oedipus goes ahead and slaughters the old man and his entourage, as one does.
Arriving in Thebes, he discovers that a Sphinx is holding the city hostage, tormenting the populace with a real stumper of a riddle. (Imagine a particularly vexing Wordle, only losing means a monster eats you.) Instead of minding his own business, Oedipus confronts the Sphinx and noodles out the solution (spoiler alert: It’s “a man.”), thereby lifting the curse.
His triumph earns him the hand of the recently-widowed queen, Jocasta, who is—and this is true—old enough to be his mother. As a bonus, he also snags King Laius’ still-warm throne.
Perhaps a wiser Oedipus would have connected the man he murdered on the road with Laius. Maybe a wiser Oedipus would just move on, trying to put as much distance as he could between himself and Corinth. Instead he settles in Thebes, marries Queen Jocasta, and rules over the city.
What else might a wiser Oedipus do? Well he could have looked a little more into this nasty business regarding killing his father and marrying his mother. And whatever happened to those unpleasant rumors about his true parentage? As a man of myopic self-interest, though, Oedipus simply installs his royal butt on the royal throne.
The years pass and we find Thebes under Oedipus’ rule suffering from a devastating plague, which is where Sophocles’ play actually begins.
As king, plagues and the like would fall squarely within Oedipus’ portfolio, so he looks into its cause. Turns out, the plague is a punishment for the unavenged murder of King Laius. How Oedipus could continue to overlook the wild coincidence that Laius died just when and where Oedipus killed the old man remains a mystery worthy of the Sphinx.
But there’s more! In the play the revelations and accusations fly, culminating in the multilayered tragic outcome. The prophecy Oedipus so feared and tried to evade is true! (Oh irony!) He has murdered his real father, Laius, and married his real mother, Jocasta.
Jocasta, in horror and despair, hangs herself. Oedipus, his eyes finally open to the truth, puts them out, thus substituting his symbolic blindness with literal physical blindness. It’s like the boss suddenly can see how ruinous his toxic behavior has become, so he takes a stapler to his eyeballs.
And think of the children! He and Jocasta have a family—his offspring/siblings—who must live out their days in the shame and misery of knowing that their ma and pa are also grandma and big-bro.
The subsequent plays in Sophocles’ trilogy round out the tale. In Oedipus at Colonus, we find Oedipus, now wiser and more accepting of his fate, roaming the land in further penance for his misdeeds. Antigone, the final play of the trilogy, zeroes in on Oedipus’ daughter-sister and the ongoing fallout from his choices. Much more tragedy ensues.
If all this took place today, the Oedipus family would be purchasing psychotropics by the truckload and perhaps signing a multi-million-dollar deal for an MTV reality series. Unfortunately, we’ll have to content ourselves with the final lesson delivered by the obligatory Greek Chorus:
There is no happiness where there is no wisdom; No wisdom but in submission to the gods. Big words are always punished, And proud men in old age learn to be wise.
Meet Dean Oedipus
All this might seem like ancient silliness, but I’m sure you’re familiar with the phenomena of toxic work environments and willful blindness. Admittedly workplace dysfunction doesn’t involve much patricide, incest, and ritual mutilation these days, but let’s consider Oedipus’ record as a boss.
Oedipus was smart, energetic, and bold, but he was also ambitious, self-deluding, and ultimately a destructive force. While you can feel bad for the guy and, I guess, admire him for his prowess in solving cursed riddles and committing homicidal road rage, as a leader, Oedipus is just a jerk. As a city manager, whatever good he may have brought to Thebes was more than offset by the mayhem, disease, and death his own misbehavior engendered.
Let’s face it, if the prime function of the ruler is to secure the well-being of the Theban people, any avoidable disaster—such as a plague due to his toxic behavior—smacks of incompetence.
This fact becomes clear in the sequel play Oedipus at Colonus where we find a far more temperate, more thoughtful, and (finally!) wiser Oedipus. After so much horror, he has learned his lesson and, bursting with regret, has abandoned his old ways. He’s a good guy now that he no longer pretends to be a leader.
So, how does the Oedipus myth apply to the workplace? Consider this real-world parallel.
As a university administrator, I served a boss who started spending an immoderate amount of time with one of his female direct reports. Rumors flew about campus. Even students noticed their behavior.
Concerned about the wellbeing of the institution, I trepidatiously, gently approached him about the rumors. In Oedipus Rex this duty fell to the blind prophet Tiresias, whom Oedipus falsely accused. I should have remembered that.
Frankly, I had and have no insight into the true scope and depth of my boss’s relationship with his favorite. It may well have been perfectly innocent, but it looked pretty bad, which is what I told him.
He pleaded ignorance and offered one lame excuse after another, accepting no responsibility, even for appearances. Like Oedipus, his hubris and self-interest blinded him. In fact, the only notable adjustment he made to his shifty behavior was to target me with his ire from then on.
Just like Tiresias.
Wow! The more I think about it, the more glaring the similarities between my boss and Oedipus become. Driven primarily by self-interest? Check! Unwilling to take responsibility? Check! Unwilling to stop toxic behavior for the good of the order? Check! A dissembling blusterer and bully when cornered? Check, check, checkity, check!
Then again, Oedipus came around eventually and accepted the truth. That’d be a big difference. Turns out the Chorus was wrong. Not all “proud men in old age learn to be wise.”
The turmoil my boss’s noxious activities stirred up on campus roiled for years, consequences be damned. Morale sank, and trust in him (and her) tanked. Personally, I was miserable and left. His choices had brought a plague of dysfunction to our university.
Just like in Thebes.
The moral to this sordid fable: If you want to be a great leader, don’t let your personal choices infect your team or your institution. The mark of effective leadership is a smooth-running organization, not some brazen jerk looking out for number one. True leaders constantly probe for their blind spots.
Sowing dysfunction through your behavior or through your self-interest achieves just the opposite of harmony. It’s the mark of one more crappy boss.
Just like Oedipus.
As a leader, how often do you consider what truths you are blind to? Are you sure?
Great leaders search for and eliminate their blind spots, and I can help.
Unlock the Great Leader Within! Download my free resource, the Transform To GREATness Toolkit, now!
I look forward to hearing from you.
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About Dr. Sal
I founded Guidance for Greatness to mentor rising professionals after serving 30 years in higher education as an English professor, dean, and VP.
In my speaking, writing, and coaching, I blend academic credentials (Ph.D. from Toronto, certificates from Harvard and ACE) with practical coaching certifications (Tiny Habits, Thrive Global) to offer something different: leadership development built upon human decency.
My mission? To guide today’s managers to become the next generation of great leaders.
I offer practical, values-driven strategies so that managers can lead authentically.
Why? Because great leaders aren't just effective managers—they're teachers whose example makes a true difference in the world.
It’s here!
Are you tired of paging through unchallenging guru-driven leadership tomes! Look for my new book, Greater than Great: How to Excel in Leadership through Learning, Logic, and Life to Make a True Difference in the World, out now!
Grab a copy for yourself and for that special leader in your life (or your lousy boss)!
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