To any savant onlooker, the Big Beautiful Breakup between US President Donald Trump and his billionaire-in-chief Elon Musk was but an inevitable outcome. After all, the unlikely duo had one striking thing in common — a mammoth ego. Their fallout, therefore, has been spectacular, with the former cronies trading barbs and threats (instead of their typical swooning banter) on social media. But oversized egos aren’t just limited to political circles of power; if anything, they’re almost an everyday occurrence in the corporate world.

“The history of a toxic performer is very long in the world of business. That’s because their performance is typically able to blanket their toxicity — while the toxicity is experienced by people, performance is metrics based and demonstrable. With organisations being designed to focus on delivery, outcome and performance, not social harmony and congruence, the toxicity is often met with a blind eye.