The research suggests there are leaders who may act like offensive fools without really being narcissistic. The conclusion is that the difference is in motivation: whether leaders seek a higher goal as they genuinely want to achieve improvement in society or some almost utopian goal; or whether it's all about their own personal growth.
The findings show that much of the problem is that narcissists seldom learn from their mistakes, in large part because of a belief that they are not to blame. The process of analysing past actions is known as counterfactual thinking and requires the ability to envisage different results to those that actually occurred. Scientists suggest that while we all engage in a certain level of self-defensive thinking, such as attributing success to our own efforts and failure to external forces, narcissists take this perception to a whole new level. They think they are better than others; they do not take advice from other people, whom they distrust. If asked what they would do differently next time, they will most likely reply nothing: everything went well.
But the negative impact of a narcissistic leader on a company can really be long-lasting. The study shows narcissists can "infect" the culture of a organisation, resulting in, for example, reduced integrity and cooperation, even long after the narcissistic leader has departed.
The researchers conducted five experiments and a field study involving CEOs of large companies to try to understand the impact of narcissist misconduct on their companies. The results suggest a number of negative impacts, including limited collaboration and the occurrence of unethical behaviour, with these characteristics becoming part of a broader organisational culture.
Companies are set up because they can do something as a unit that no individual can accomplish alone. But when narcissistic leaders undermine cooperation, they reduce the effectiveness of the entire organisation. Without integrity, a company risks its own survival.
The leader's behaviour then spreads throughout the organisation because it is seen as a clear example of what is not only expected of the entire workforce, but is also desirable. This creates a culture that can be very difficult to change once it has taken hold.
Narcissistic leaders also have a huge influence through what they don't do. For example, they could choose not to apply principles for the promotion and management of ethical behaviour or equal pay. They may also fail to promote cooperation and build mutual respect. And they often fail to penalise employees who violate these shared standards.
The analysis revealed that narcissistic leaders are much less likely to value integrity in their own teams and in the wider organisation. Rather, they are likely to promote policies that reduce the likelihood of cooperation. This is then reflected in the type of people taken on and promoted within the company, whose culture ultimately embodies these distorted values.
Partial research analysis by the University of Melbourne even suggests the very act of taking a position of power may provoke the narcissist in all of us. The traditional view has largely been that narcissists tend to seize power on their own, but this new study challenges this view and suggests instead that a narcissist is created by power just acquired.
According to experts, narcissists may feel a sense of legitimacy, expecting and demanding special privileges from others. They are willing to exploit others to get their own way. Once narcissists are given a certain amount of power, things can assume a really ugly dimension. In addition, of course, as further research by BerkeleyHaas points out, it can take some time to rectify the damage done by the narcissistic leader to the business culture, so repairing it is only the first step of a much longer journey.
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