Leadership's Blind Spot: Why Your Assessment Rewards Toxic Leaders
Dec 03, 2025“I have an issue with the way that we assess our leaders at the moment.”
Those were the uncompromising words of General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, the First Sea Lord and highest-ranking officer in the Royal Navy. It’s a staggering admission from the top of an institution that relies entirely on effective command.
He continued by exposing the core flaw:
“We are very subjective in our leadership assessment tools. It’s top-down. How your superior feels about you largely dictates how you get reported upon. And it makes us very vulnerable to promoting toxic leaders if we’re not careful, who by their nature are very persuasive up even while they’re damaging below.”
While he was describing the Navy, he could have been describing countless organizations worldwide. This system—which favors personal performance and upward management—is the leadership blind spot that continues to cripple culture and performance everywhere.
We reward the leaders who shine brilliantly in front of their boss, and tragically overlook the damage they leave behind downwards in their teams.
You simply cannot build a resilient, healthy, or high-performing culture on a foundation of unresolved toxicity at the top. If your current leadership assessments focus only on subjective, top-down performance metrics, they will inevitably fail to detect, and therefore accidentally reward, the very behavior that destroys your best talent.
And that is the critical shift Sir Gwyn is highlighting:
Leadership is not how you perform in front of your boss. It’s the wake you leave behind you.
The difference between a toxic culture and a high-performing one is your ability to measure that wake. The ability to measure emotional impact is the only way to safeguard your organisation against the persuasive charmer who is a liability in disguise.
Are your leadership assessments vulnerable to promoting toxic behaviour? It’s time to move beyond subjective checklists. At EdgeEQ, we specialise in helping organisations like yours define, measure, and develop the crucial emotional intelligence capabilities that truly determine effective leadership. Contact us [email protected] to book a confidential call.
Looking to shift how your team shows up?
Check out Elephant in the Room ā€” our signature training programme for teams ready to build trust, speak honestly, and perform at a higher level.
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