Narcissistic Leadership

7/29/2019 Narcissistic Leadership

1/15

NARCISSISTIC LEADERSHIP

Narcissistic leadership is a leadership style in which the leader is only interested in him/herself. Their

priority is themselves - at the expense of their people/group members. This leader exhibits the

characteristics of a narcissist: arrogance, dominance and hostility. It is a common leadership style.

The narcissism may range from anywhere between healthy and destructive. To critics, "narcissistic

leadership (preferably destructive) is driven by unyielding arrogance, self-absorption, and a

personal egotistic need for power and admiration."

Narcissism and groups

A study published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin suggests that when a group is

without a leader, you can often count on a narcissist to take charge. Researchers found that people who

score high in narcissism tend to take control of leaderless groups.[2]

Freud considered

"the narcissistic type... especially suited to act as a support for others, to take on the role of leaders and

to... impress others as being 'personalities'.":[3]

one reason may be that "another person's narcissism has

a great attraction for those who have renounced part of their own... as if we envied them for maintaining a

blissful state of mind an unassailable libidinal position which we ourselves have since abandoned."[4]

There are four basic types of leader with narcissists most commonly in type 3 although they may be in

type 1:[5]

1. authoritarian with task oriented decision making

2. democratic with task oriented decision making

3. authoritarian with emotional decision making

4. democratic with emotional decision making

The term "narcissism" was originally introduced to portray a personal form of self-

admirationnamed after the mythological Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection.

Sigmund Freud defined narcissism as a state of mind where the individual exposes exclusive

self-absorption, while bearing an inflated self-image which is reflected on unusual behavior.

Freud believed that narcissism is an essential part of any individual, but up to a certain extent.

Similarly, Morrison concluded that a reasonable amount of healthy narcissism enables the

individual to achieve a balance of own needs in relation to others. Today, the term narcissism is

used to describe a pattern of pathological traits and behaviors, including Narcissistic Personality

Disorder (NPD), inferiority complex, low self-esteem, self-obsession, and egoistic supremacy.

Defining Narcissistic Leadership

Exposing a snobbish sense of self-importance, arrogance, overconfidence, low self-esteem, and

aggression, narcissistic leaders believe in the effectiveness of their leadership style because they are

obsessed with dominance, power and admiration. They typically overstress their special talents and

achievements and they rarely assume mutual responsibility. They behave with dominant superiority
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-5http://www.narcissismfree.com/what-is-narcissism.phphttp://www.narcissismfree.com/what-is-narcissism.phphttp://www.narcissismfree.com/what-is-narcissism.phphttp://www.narcissismfree.com/what-is-narcissism.phphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-2


2/15

and are often thoughtless toward their subordinates, exposing feelings of rage, dishonor, and

disgrace, especially if their self-esteem is threatened of contradicted.

Narcissistic leaders favor the pattern of authoritative leadership, eliminating their subordinates from

participating in the strategic decision making. Organizational members are required to perform their

tasks effectively, although they are eliminated from participating in strategic decision-making. In the

context of authoritative leadership, leaders are power-driven individuals, experts in their field. They

process all the necessary information and take the sole responsibility for the final decision.

On the other hand, narcissistic leaders may be effective in times of organizational change. Their

narcissist illusions may be beneficial in regards to the choices they make and the commitment they

show to the organization. During the adaptation period, the leader should have the ability to

motivate employees and maximize commitment to organizational goals by clearly conveying to

subordinates the message of strategy implementation, for which the leader has the absolute

responsibility. In this context, the transformative vision of a narcissistic leader can instill employee

loyalty and have a strongly positive impact on the organizational performance.

Relationship between Leadership and Organizational Performance

There is an inherent relationship between leadership and organizational performance. Today's

dynamic market environment features healthy competition, decreasing returns and rivalry between

organizations. In this context, effective leadership contributes positively to the improvement of

organizational performance when organizations face challenging situations.

Effective leadership creates the grounds for enhanced organizational performance and sustained

competitive advantage. Democratic leaders create a strategic vision and focus on building

commitment to that vision aiming to motivate employees toward the achievement of organizational

goals.

The strategic role of leadership is highly researched from the perspective of how leadership behavior

potentially enhances organizational performance. Leadership culture, skills and motivation are

broadly viewed as increasingly important toward the improvement of organizational performance.

Effective leadership has a strong impact on customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and

financial performance. However, we should also consider the environmental variables that affect the

relationship between leadership and organizational performance. For instance, micromanagement

practices affect greatly the way leaders influence employee performance and consequently,

organizational performance as a whole.


3/15

Narcissistic Leadership and Organizational Performance

Narcissistic leadership has a profound impact on organizational performance. By denying effective

communication and delegation to subordinates in the strategic decision making, narcissistic

leadership cultivates employee resistance and lack of confidence to the top management. By being

highly unlikely to empathize with their subordinates, they are even less likely to motivate or

encourage others to take an initiative. Therefore, although healthy narcissism could lead to employee

commitment, unhealthy narcissism leads to internal competition within the organization because

organizational members are greatly affected by irrational decision-making .

Narcissistic leaders are not active listeners. They are emotionally volatile and often prone to a variety

of destructive impulses and dysfunctional behaviors expressed as egoism, arrogance and despotism.

Their fragile self-esteem leads to ignore real facts and live in their own, fantastic world, where they

can be undisputed leaders and confront any opposite view as irrational. By denying active listening,

narcissistic leaders basically deny any involvement in organizational teams. Yet, their insistence on

showing themselves as self-sufficient puts organizational performance at stake. Team structures in

modern organizations ensure strong organizational culture and balance as team members are forced

to act collectively to ensure corporate and individual prosperousness.

Narcissist leaders do not accept any kind of responsibility for their actions, thus hindering the

organization to achieve its mission. Irrational insistence on having their own way, lack of empathy,

and eagerness to exploit others alienates organizational members and leads to lack of strategic

consensus. In the context of denial, narcissistic leaders contribute negatively to organizational

performance.

Narcissist leaders do not promote a learning organization by denying sharing and exchanging

knowledge. They don't allow other organizational members to recognize and assess the

organizational culture, thus creating weak social bonds within the organization. Employees do not

trust their leader, but even more they do not trust the organization and therefore, it is easier for them

to quit their job. Often, although organizational members may love their job description, they are

forced to leave the organization because they cannot align with their leader or perform their tasks

under authoritative leadership patterns. In this context, narcissist leaders are highly unlikely to

positively contribute to organizational performance because organizational members do not derive

job satisfaction. Consequently, the organization cannot grow and meet its goals.

In conclusion, narcissistic leadership denies any responsibility for the failure of organization in the

fear of admitting failure of own decisions. Yet, leaders need to learn from their mistakes and align

their esteem rewards with organizational goals in order to improve organizational performance. To

that end, leaders may evaluate their past performance and plan for future action aiming to eliminate


4/15

the risk of repeating the same mistakes. Moreover, they should use their power to provide strong

incentives to employees to stay in the organization and strive to meet organizational goals.

Corporate narcissism

Corporate narcissismoccurs when a narcissist becomes the leader (CEO) or a member of the senior

management team and gathers an adequate mix ofcodependentsaround him (or her) to support his

narcissistic behavior. Narcissists profess company loyalty but are only really committed to their own

agendas, thus organizational decisions are founded on the narcissist's own interests rather than the

interests of the organization as a whole, the various stakeholders, or the society in which the organization

operates.[7]

As a result, "a certain kind of charismatic leader can run a financially successful company on

thoroughly unhealthy principles for a time. But... the chickens always come home to roost."[8]

Psychoanalysts have suggested that "one of the ways of differentiating a good-enough organisation from

one that is pathological is through its ability to exclude narcissistic characters from key posts. "[9]

Impact of healthy v. destructive narcissistic managers

Lubit compared healthily narcissistic managers versus destructively narcissistic managers for their long-

term impact onorganizations.[14]

Characteristic Healthy narcissism Destructive narcissism

Self-confidenceHigh outwardself-confidencein

line with realityGrandiose

Desire for power,

wealth and

admiration

May enjoy powerPursues power at all costs, lacks normal

inhibitions in its pursuit

Relationships

Real concern for others and their

ideas; does not exploit or devalueothers

Concerns limited to expressing socially

appropriate response when convenient;devalues and exploits others withoutremorse

Ability to follow a

consistent path

Has values; follows through on

plans

Lacks values; easily bored; often changes

course
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_narcissismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_narcissismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codependentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codependentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codependentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-downs-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-downs-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-downs-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizationshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizationshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-confidencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-confidencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-confidencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiosehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiosehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remorsehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remorsehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remorsehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remorsehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiosehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-confidencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizationshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_leadership#cite_note-downs-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codependentshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_narcissism


5/15

Foundation

Healthy childhood with support

forself-esteemand appropriate

limits on behaviour towards others

Traumatic childhood undercutting true sense

of self-esteem and/or learning that he/she

doesn't need to be considerate of others

Ten Traits of Narcissistic Leaders

By Dr. Joseph Mattera

By definition, a narcissist is a person who believes the world evolves around them

to such an extent their own desires blind them to relational reality which makes

them insensitive to the needs and perspectives of others. One of the sad realities

in our consumer driven, hedonistic culture is that we are producing millions of

narcissistic people including leaders of large organizations.

Because of our sinful nature as human beings, all of us have some narcissistic

tendencies to deal with.

The following traits identify leadership narcissism.

I. When leaders think others are there to serve them instead of vice versa

This reverses the principle in Matthew 20:26-28 in which Jesus says a greatperson in the kingdom is one who serves and that He didn't come to be served

but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-esteemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-esteemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-esteemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-esteem


6/15

In an organization or church led by a leader of this type the ladder for success is

based more on catering to the narcissism of the leader than on merit or work

output. (Note: I am not discounting the importance of loyalty with this

statement.)

II. When leaders want the perks of the ministry without the pain of the ministry

There are leaders I know who want titles, prestige, honor, and the respect that

comes with a leadership position but they dont want to pay the price for it. Most

successful senior leaders and CEOs already understand this, so this problem is

more prevalent with secondary leaders working closely with senior leaders who

desire recognition as a top leader but dont do the hard work necessary for

excellent results.

III. When leaders put their own needs before the needs of the organization they

lead

True spiritual leaders give their lives for the sheep in the same way the Lord Jesus

did (read John 10). Narcissistic leaders will fleece the sheep and financially

jeopardize their organizations for the sake of their own self-indulgent lifestyles.

IV. Leaders who are self-indulgent when it comes to the material things of this

world


7/15

Some leaders have an excessive desire to continually shop for the things that

interest them (clothes, cars, computers, etc.) in order to keep them happy and

motivated to serve.

Along with this may be an excessive desire for entertainment, pleasure, or play.

V. Leaders who look for close relationships with those who pander to them and

avoid those that confront them

Some leaders will only have people in their inner-circles who pander to their need

to feel superior. They do not want people around them who disagree with them

or speak into their lives. These leaders continually fall for flattery which opens a

huge door for satanic deception.

VI. When leaders view people as objects to use for their own advantage

Instead of regarding people as fellow image-bearers of God some leaders view

the importance of people based on if they can serve their agenda. As soon as they

believe a person is no longer contributing to their agenda they begin to ignore

them and look for the next person they can use. To this end they court and even

flatter people they have their eyes on, treating them like the most important

people in the world which abruptly comes to a halt when their services are no

longer needed.

VII. Leaders who are uninterested in other peoples problems

Some leaders have no attention span for others while they are speaking abouttheir own issues or problems. They will engage conversations as long as it is about

them or something they are interested in, but will shut down emotionally as soon

as the conversation shifts to something outside their interests.


8/15

VIII. Leaders who rarely give in to other peoples ideas

Some leaders are not good listeners, refuse to bend, and even act emotionally

immature when they dont get their way or when an idea of theirs is not acted on

or agreed with.

Once leaders like this have decided they want something, it is almost impossible

to change their minds unless they hear another idea that benefits them even

more.

IX. Leaders who cannot have intimate emotional connections with close

associates or their spouses

Because of a lack of interest in meeting the needs of others, some leaders will

only have superficial friendships based on fun, entertainment, and gossip. When

conflicts arise they shy away from relationships since they are no longer meeting

their cravings for fun, escape, and entertainment.

Their marriages are great in the beginning when they are in the honeymoon stage

and enjoying a robust sex life. But when the pressures of raising children,

finances, and time management kick in, they bury themselves in things that helpthem escape reality: another relationship, entertainment, hobbies and the like.

Their marriages grow further and further apart as they literally become

emotionally divorced before the eventual physical divorce takes place (unless,

through self-awareness and repentance their marriages can be saved).

X. Narcissistic leaders are more vulnerable to sexual sins

Narcissistic people are easily bored and are prone to look at pornography and

commit adultery because their main desire from sex is not emotional intimacy but

physical pleasure. As soon as the excitement wears off in their relationships they

look for others who can sexually arouse them. In those cases where adultery has

not yet occurred, those with a high libido will gravitate to pornography within six


9/15

months to one year of every serious relationship they are in and in many cases

will hide their continually use of pornography throughout every relationship they

have.

Narcissistic spiritual leaders are easy prey to the flattery of the opposite sex which

leads to adultery--even in churches they oversee. This is because, unless the cross

of Christ is directly applied to their deep emotional need to be the center of

attention, when their spouse doesnt meet their expectations they will drift to

someone else to meet their addiction to praise.

Narcissistic Leaders: The Incredible Pros, the Inevitable Cons

There is very little business literature that tells narcissistic leaders how to avoid

the pitfalls. There are two reasons for this. First, relatively few narcissistic leaders

are interested in looking inward. And second, psychoanalysts don't usually get

close enough to them, especially in the workplace, to write about them. (The

noted psychoanalyst Harry Levinson is an exception.) As a result, advice on

leadership focuses on obsessives, which explains why so much of it is aboutcreating teamwork and being more receptive to subordinates. But as we've

already seen, this literature is of little interest to narcissists, nor is it likely to help

subordinates understand their narcissistic leaders. The absence of managerial

literature on narcissistic leaders doesn't mean that it is impossible to devise

strategies for dealing with narcissism. In the course of a long career counseling

CEOs, I have identified three basic ways in which productive narcissists can avoid

the traps of their own personality.

Find a trusted sidekick. Many narcissists can develop a close relationship with

one person, a sidekick who acts as an anchor, keeping the narcissistic partner

grounded. However, given that narcissistic leaders trust only their own insights

and view of reality, the sidekick has to understand the narcissistic leader and

what he is trying to achieve. The narcissist must feel that this person, or in some


10/15

cases persons, is practically an extension of himself. The sidekick must also be

sensitive enough to manage the relationship. Don Quixote is a classic example of

a narcissist who was out of touch with reality but who was constantly saved from

disaster by his squire Sancho Panza. Not surprisingly, many narcissistic leaders

rely heavily on their spouses, the people they are closest to. But dependence on

spouses can be risky, because they may further isolate the narcissistic leader from

his company by supporting his grandiosity and feeding his paranoia. I once knew a

CEO in this kind of relationship with his spouse. He took to accusing loyal

subordinates of plotting against him just because they ventured a few criticisms

of his ideas.

It is much better for a narcissistic leader to choose a colleague as his sidekick.

Good sidekicks are able to point out the operational requirements of thenarcissistic leader's vision and keep him rooted in reality. The best sidekicks are

usually productive obsessives. Gyllenhammar, for instance, was most effective at

Volvo when he had an obsessive COO, Hkan Frisinger, to focus on improving

quality and cost, as well as an obsessive HR director, Berth Jnsson, to

implement his vision. Similarly, Bill Gates can think about the future from the

stratosphere because Steve Ballmer, a tough obsessive president, keeps the show

on the road. At Oracle, CEO Larry Ellison can afford to miss key meetings and

spend time on his boat contemplating a future without PCs because he has a

productive obsessive COO in Ray Lane to run the company for him. But the job of

sidekick entails more than just executing the leader's ideas. The sidekick also has

to get his leader to accept new ideas. To do this, he must be able to show the

leader how the new ideas fit with his views and serve his interests.

Indoctrinate the organization. The narcissistic CEO wants all his subordinates to

think the way he does about the business. Productive narcissistspeople who

often have a dash of the obsessive personalityare good at converting people totheir point of view. One of the most successful at this is GE's Jack Welch. Welch

uses toughness to build a corporate culture and to implement a daring business

strategy, including the buying and selling of scores of companies. Unlike other

narcissistic leaders such as Gates, Grove, and Ellison, who have transformed

industries with new products, Welch was able to transform his industry by


11/15

focusing on execution and pushing companies to the limits of quality and

efficiency, bumping up revenues and wringing out costs. In order to do so, Welch

hammers out a huge corporate culture in his own imagea culture that provides

impressive rewards for senior managers and shareholders.

Welch's approach to culture building is widely misunderstood. Many observers,

notably Noel Tichy in The Leadership Engine, argue that Welch forms his

company's leadership culture through teaching. But Welch's "teaching" involves a

personal ideology that he indoctrinates into GE managers through speeches,

memos, and confrontations. Rather than create a dialogue, Welch makes

pronouncements (either be the number one or two company in your market or

get out), and he institutes programs (such as Six Sigma quality) that become the

GE party line. Welch's strategy has been extremely effective. GE managers musteither internalize his vision, or they must leave. Clearly, this is incentive learning

with a vengeance. I would even go so far as to call Welch's teaching brainwashing.

But Welch does have the rare insight and know-how to achieve what all

narcissistic business leaders are trying to donamely, get the organization to

identify with them, to think the way they do, and to become the living

embodiment of their companies.

Get into analysis. Narcissists are often more interested in controlling others thanin knowing and disciplining themselves. That's why, with very few exceptions,

even productive narcissists do not want to explore their personalities with the

help of insight therapies such as psychoanalysis. Yet since Heinz Kohut, there has

been a radical shift in psychoanalytic thinking about what can be done to help

narcissists work through their rage, alienation, and grandiosity. Indeed, if they can

be persuaded to undergo therapy, narcissistic leaders can use tools such as

psychoanalysis to overcome vital character flaws.

Consider the case of one exceptional narcissistic CEO who asked me to help him

understand why he so often lost his temper with subordinates. He lived far from

my home city, and so the therapy was sporadic and very unorthodox. Yet he kept

a journal of his dreams, which we interpreted together either by phone or when

we met. Our analysis uncovered painful feelings of being unappreciated that went


12/15

back to his inability to impress a cold father. He came to realize that he demanded

an unreasonable amount of praise and that when he felt unappreciated by his

subordinates, he became furious. Once he understood that, he was able to

recognize his narcissism and even laugh about it. In the middle of our work, he

even announced to his top team that I was psychoanalyzing him and asked them

what they thought of that. After a pregnant pause, one executive vice president

piped up, "Whatever you're doing, you should keep doing it, because you don't

get so angry anymore." Instead of being trapped by narcissistic rage, this CEO was

learning how to express his concerns constructively.

Leaders who can work on themselves in that way tend to be the most productive

narcissists. In addition to being self-reflective, they are also likely to be open,

likable, and good-humored. Productive narcissists have perspective; they are ableto detach themselves and laugh at their irrational needs. Although serious about

achieving their goals, they are also playful. As leaders, they are aware of being

performers. A sense of humor helps them maintain enough perspective and

humility to keep on learning.

Excerpted from the article "Narcissistic Leaders: The Incredible Pros, the

Inevitable Cons" in the Harvard Business Review, January-February 2000.

[Order the full article]

Michael Maccoby is an anthropologist and a psychoanalyst. He is also the founder

and president of the Maccoby Group, a management consultancy in Wahsington,

DC. The former director of the Program on Technology, Public Policy, and Human

Development in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Maccoby is the author ofThe Leader:

A New Face for American Management (Simon and Schuster, 1981), The

Gamesmen: The New Corporate Leaders(Simon & Schuster, 1977), and Why

Work? Motivating the New Workforce (Second Edition, Miles River Press, 1995).

The Narcissistic Personality
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/relay.jhtml?name=itemdetail&id=R00105&referral=4046http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/relay.jhtml?name=itemdetail&id=R00105&referral=4046http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/relay.jhtml?name=itemdetail&id=R00105&referral=4046http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/relay.jhtml?name=itemdetail&id=R00105&referral=4046


13/15

Narcissists, one of three personality types identified by Sigmund Freud, have

often emerged to lead and inspire people in the military, religious and political

arenas, says Michael Maccoby. Business, too, has had its share of narcissistic

leaders, especially at times, like the early 20th century, "when business became

the engine of social change...[and] men like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller,

Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford exploited new technologies and restructured

American industry."

The period from the 1950s through the 1980s, by contrast, was characterized by

business leaders who shunned the limelight. Only recently have narcissistic

leadersthe likes of Microsoft's Bill Gates, Intel's Andy Grove, Apple's Steve Jobs,

Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos and GE's Jack Welchtaken their place again as the

leaders of large corporations and familiar faces on the nation's stage.

Narcissists bring plusses and minuses to their roles as leaders, says Maccoby. On

the plus side, they bring great vision, an ability to see the big picture and, as a

result, the opportunity to change the very rules of the game. They are also

especially gifted in attracting followers, usually through skillful use of language,

though charisma, adds Maccoby, is a double-edged sword. On the minus side,

narcissistic leaders can be poor listeners, sensitive to criticism, lacking in empathy

and "relentless and ruthless in their pursuit of victory."

To make the most of who they areand to be productive leaders, says

Maccoby,narcissists must recognize their potential shortcomings and work to

avoid the traps of their own personalities.

The toxic effect of a narcissistic leader

They're arrogant, have grandiose visions about their own importance, believethey are special and have unique gifts that others do not, have a sense of

entitlement, are exploitive and lack empathy.

If this sound like somebody you work with - or even like your boss- you won't need to be told that

people with narcissistic personalities can be a real handful in the workplace because they believe they

are better than others.


14/15

But the key question is the effect narcissistic leaders have on an organisation. Do they have any positive

attributes, or do they always do more harm than good?

That's what organizational psychologist Kathy Schnure has set out to answer in new research that

compared ratings of leadership potential for those who have high levels of narcissism to those who

show low-to-average levels on the 'narcissism scale'.

She will be presenting her findings at the 25th annual conference of the Society for Industrial and

Organizational Psychology April 8-10 in Atlanta GA.

She found those displaying strong narcissistic tendencies - things like exploitation/entitlement,

leadership/authority, superiority/arrogance, and self-absorption/self admiration - had a significantly

higher rating of potential leadership abilities than those with low-to-average scores.

"Those results would indicate the vision, confidence and pride in their own accomplishments could

presumably translate into effective leadership in an organization or team," Schnure said.

On the other hand, while narcissists do gain leadership roles, often based on their charisma and ability

to persuade others to accept their point of view, some of the underlying traits, or "dark sides" will

eventually surface, preventing any "good" leadership," she added.

According to Timothy Judge, an organizational psychologist at the University of Florida, a primae

example of this "dark side" is an overblown sense of self-worth.

"Narcissists are intensely competitive, self-centered, exploitive and exhibitionistic. They tend to

surround themselves with supplicants they see as inferior. When they are challenged or perceive

competition, they often derogate and undermine anyone, even those closest to them, they perceive as

threats (and unfortunately, they are vigilant in scanning for threats)," he explained.

In contrast, Schnure said, leaders who are charismatic are not necessarily narcissists. "Charismatic

leaders are not exploitive; they do not trample others to get what they want. Rather they display

empathy toward employees," she added.

So while narcissists do see the big picture and have a strong vision, they are not good at working with

others and eventually they become detrimental to the organization.

"They make good figureheads, in part because of their ability to articulate goals and attract people to

their way of thinking," Schnure explained.

"But in terms of day to day leadership, they can be toxic with subordinates. That becomes especially

apparent after their employees get to know the way the narcissistic leader operates. The favorable first

impressions they make are not sustainable over a period of time," she said.

What's more, as other research by Timothy Judge has found, narcissists rarely live up to their high

opinions of themselves. They may believe that they are better at their jobs than others, but their

colleagues and managers believe that they do an inferior job compared with other employees.


15/15

As Kathy Schnure points out, this is a compelling reason why hiring managers should be more aware of

this personality trait. While initial appearances may be favorable, they need to do their due diligence

before hiring a person with narcissistic tendencies.

"More organizations should attempt to assess narcissism pre-hire or pre-promotion to avoid them,"

Timothy Judge said. "It's fool's errand to think that narcissism can be corrected as a result of anorganizational intervention.

"At best, organizations can try to contain and control a narcissist," he added. However, for hiring

mangers it's a case of buyer beware because, as Judge points out, "no small amount of research

suggests narcissism is a pretty toxic trait."

Narcissistic Leadership

Documents

Transcript of Narcissistic Leadership