By Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
WHEN discussing the future of leadership, we tend to focus on the bright-side traits that leaders should possess to be effective, and how those traits may change, based on the evolution of work, organizations and society.
Such discussions are important, but they only tell half the story. The other half has to do with what leaders shouldn’t do, which raises the question of how leadership’s dark side will evolve (or devolve).
Consider the case of narcissistic CEOs. The rise of celebrity culture has coincided with the concept of the CEO as a superbrand. Few personality traits are more advantageous for turning your career into a celebrity-style reality TV show than narcissism.
But while the ascendancy of CEOs such as Apple’s Steve Jobs and Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos may suggest that narcissism is a beneficial leadership trait, most overconfident, egotistic CEOs aren’t just ineffective, they’re also destructive—even when they manage to attain great success.
For example, narcissistic CEOs overpay when they acquire firms, costing their shareholders dearly. Their firms tend to perform in a volatile, unpredictable fashion, going from big wins to even bigger losses. Narcissists are also more likely to abuse their power.
The big question is whether our leadership-selection criteria will evolve. If so much evidence has accumulated about the detrimental effects of narcissism and other dark-side traits, why do we keep selecting for them?
Perhaps, our unconscious view of leadership is rooted in ancient archetypes, which would explain the almost universal preference for strong (and despotic) risk-takers rather than vulnerable, self-aware leaders. (It should be noted that even in women, narcissism is perceived as a leadership attribute.)
If we’re serious about evidence-based talent management and able to apply what we preach, then narcissistic leaders ought to be a species facing extinction.
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is the CEO of Hogan Assessment Systems and a professor of business psychology at University College London.