How narcissistic leaders infect their organizations' cultures

I suggest reading the whole article.  I left out much that was informative to respect intellectual property rights.

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-10/uoc--hnl100220.php

 

News Release 5-Oct-2020
University of California - Berkeley Haas School of Business

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all? The answer: not the organizations led by narcissists.

A new paper by Berkeley Haas Prof. Jennifer Chatman and colleagues shows not only the profound impact narcissistic leaders have on their organizations, but also the long-lasting damage they inflict. Like carriers of a virus, narcissistic leaders "infect" the very cultures of their organizations, the researchers found, leading to dramatically lower levels of collaboration and integrity at all levels--even after they are gone.


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In previous research about toxic leaders, Chatman and her colleagues found that narcissistic CEOs have a dark side that reveals itself slowly over time. Their exploitative, self-absorbed behavior sets them apart from the charismatic, "transformational" leaders they are often confused with. They are also paid more than their non-narcissistic peers, and there's a larger gap between their pay and those of other top executives in their companies, often because they are so good at unfairly claiming credit for other's accomplishments. Narcissistic leaders get their companies involved in more lawsuits, as well, Chatman and her colleagues' research has found.

Narcissistic leaders have personalities that are profoundly grandiose, overconfident, and dishonest, credit-stealing, and blame-throwing, according to Chatman. They are abusive to their subordinates, think they are superior, don't listen to experts, create conflict, and believe the rules simply don't apply to them. They can explode in rage at any sign of disagreement or disloyalty. There's always an "I" in their conception of the team.

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"Narcissistic leaders affect the core elements of organizations and their impact on society," says Chatman, the Paul J. Cortese Distinguished Professor of Management. "Companies organize because they can do something together that no individual could accomplish alone. When narcissistic leaders undermine collaboration, they by definition reduce the effectiveness of an organization. Without integrity, an organization risks its very survival."

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Yet the mythology persists: Don't bold, visionary leaders like Elon Musk of Tesla or Steve Jobs of Apple need to be a little bit narcissistic in order to have the self-confidence to launch innovative and supremely risky ventures? The answer is a definite no, says Chatman. "You can have confidence and be innovative, and not be self-involved, exploitative of others, overconfident, and risk-insensitive," she says. "Bill Gates is a perfect countervailing example. But somehow, the lay public, especially in the U.S., has developed a view that leaders are supposed to be loud-talking and overconfident."

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hatman says that one of the best ways to mitigate the damage narcissistic leaders can cause is to base a significant part of their compensation and performance evaluation on the development of their people. Boards can also align a leader's compensation to the performance of their team, and boards can devise ways to reward collaboration with peers. Measures such as these help ensure leaders cannot circumvent sharing credit and working with others.

Chatman's findings show that after a narcissist leader gets a strong foothold, removing them is only the first step in repairing the organization. "Boards can't assume that simply by removing a leader, they will be able to change how people in the organization behave," she says. "The culture leaders helped create will still be embedded in the policies and practices that reward people for prioritizing uncollaborative and unethical behaviors. Turning around this kind of culture will take explicit effort and likely a significant amount of time."