Leadership is influence, (Maxwell, 2005). Leadership behaviours have yielded to corporate scandals and catastrophic failures at corporate giants such as Enron, and Lehman Brothers, among others, including in emerging markets like India, where we have witnessed similar failures in Satyam Computers Services Ltd and scams in various government projects such as Common Wealth games, Adarsh Housing society scam. Despite the comprehensiveness of literature on destructive leadership styles and their impact on organizational culture, mission, and people, research on toxic leadership, a more complex and comprehensive destructive leadership style in education settings, has been limited. There has been extensive research on the qualities and abilities of good leaders, but the topic of toxic leadership has recently been recognized for studies. Leadership in education is the active application of one's abilities and talents to influence others in the achievement of common or preconceived educational goals. Studies devoted to understanding the various types of positive leadership in schools have overlooked the toxic aspects of school leadership. It is critical to identify the behaviours of school leaders, specifically teachers, who intentionally and unknowingly inflict long-term harm on their students and school organization. Leadership toxicity in educational institutions has a negative impact on the school environment and the psychological well-being of students. Every institution, including schools, has toxic leadership. Toxic leadership in educational institutions and its repercussions on higher secondary students’ psychological distress is the theme of this research report. The study, which employed a combination of approaches, identified four patterns that distinguish toxic leaders: narcissism, ethical failure, incompetence, and neuroticism

Toxic leadership, psychological distress, school, narcissism, neuroticism