What the Data Is Telling Us About Women, Leadership, and Harm

Take a Peek at the Early Findings from My Research on Toxic Leadership

Let’s start with what we already know in our bones: toxic leadership hurts. But what does that actually look like? How does it show up in the day-to-day experiences of women leaders? And what are the long-term effects when safety, belonging, and esteem are disrupted in the places we’re expected to lead?

I’ve been asking these questions through my doctoral research—and now, I’m finally beginning to see the patterns emerging from the data.

After analyzing the transcripts from women leaders across various sectors, a few phrases kept rising to the surface:

• “I dreaded Monday morning.”
• “I felt invisible no matter how hard I worked.”
• “It wasn’t just stress—it was harm.”
• “I was expected to train the person they gave my job to.”

These aren’t just emotional responses; they’re indicators of a workplace culture that erodes psychological safety and identity. Through word frequency analysis and thematic coding, here’s what’s becoming clear:

• Game-playing and political maneuvering weren’t just occasional annoyances—they were persistent barriers. Terms like “playing politics” and “game-playing” appeared repeatedly in the data, pointing to a leadership landscape where power was used as a tool of manipulation, not collaboration.
• The ‘Sunday Scaries’ aren’t a meme—they’re a metric. The emotional dread tied to work, especially in anticipation of re-entering toxic environments after a weekend, came up often. Women described this feeling as both a warning sign and a chronic condition that bled into every part of their lives.
• The loss of esteem runs deep. What stood out the most was how consistently women described a collapse of confidence. Not because they lacked skill or success, but because they were systematically undermined, excluded, or silenced by leadership.
• Leaving didn’t erase the damage. Even after exiting toxic environments, the cognitive, emotional, and physiological effects lingered. “It took years to believe in myself again,” one participant shared.

These early findings confirm something many of us already suspect: toxic leadership isn’t just bad for morale—it’s damaging to identity, trust, and growth. And for women leaders, especially those already navigating gendered expectations, the impact is layered and lasting.

I’m continuing to code the data, identify deeper themes, and connect these findings to existing leadership literature and psychological safety research. But for now, here’s what I want you to take with you:

• Harmful leadership isn’t just about the “bad boss.” It’s about systems that allow harm to be normalized.
• Healing leadership means naming what’s happened, reclaiming esteem, and reimagining what leadership can look like.
• You are not alone. And you’re not imagining it.

Thank you for walking this journey with me. I’ll be sharing more findings soon—along with tools and strategies we can all use to lead from a place of care, not coercion.

With grounded honesty,
Christine