I am not saying that it is not a trait, but it goes back to my statement regarding Medusa. You can't cut the snakes, you have to cut Medusa's cranium.
The fact is the way the military and corporate America work are identical. At the upper levels it is not "what you know", but "who you know". It is hard to get rid of a "toxic leader" if they are connected. The toxic leader was placed there by the person above them, tell me are you going to risk your position because YOU find them toxic? Maybe their boss doesn't see them as toxic. Maybe they will see you as toxic.
That is what goes through a person's mind.
It goes through your mind even more in the military because they hold your career in their hands. 9 times out of 10, most people will actually do exactly one of those traits that people listed as a toxic leader.
Place their career in front of others...they do that because they are up for a promotion, a PCS, a career school, etc. They place their life in front of everyone else. They are not going to risk their career opportunities to rock the boat. They will bite the tongue, bide their time, and hope. That means the toxic leader gets to move onward and upward. As I stated reality and theory rarely meet.
I am sure you want to believe you will be different, but the reality is the military trains you to "salute sharply and follow", it teaches you a "chain of command", and when you go AD you will see people who didn't do that and paid a heavy price. I would love to say that careers are made only on experience, knowledge and success, but it isn't. It is like the corporate world. It is human. It is about being able to bend/meld to the bosses direction.
Due to those facts, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Those FCC's become DO's, and they will say when I was an FCC or shop chief, I had to suck it in and up, so get over yourself, this is my way, and deal with it because I had to deal with it. RHIP (rank has its privileges)