Narcissistic leadership

Abstract

Narcissism-a personality trait encompassing grandiosity, arrogance, self-absorption, entitlement, fragile self-esteem, and hostility-is an attribute of many powerful leaders. Narcissistic leaders have grandiose belief systems and leadership styles, and are generally motivated by their needs for power and admiration rather than empathetic concern for the constituents and institutions they lead. However, narcissists also possess the charisma and grand vision that are vital to effective leadership. We review and critically assess the theoretical and research literature on narcissistic leaders in order to understand the potential positive and negative consequences of their leadership, the trajectories of their leadership, and the relationship of narcissism to established models of leadership. We conclude that the study of narcissistic leaders is inherently limited in scope, and propose a new definition of narcissistic leadership in order to reframe the discussion and better incorporate the topic of narcissism into the field of leadership studies.

Narcissistic CEOs and executive compensation

“…A strong assumption in much theorizing about narcissistic leadership is that the personality of the CEO should affect firm performance (e.g., Padilla et al, 2007;Rosenthal & Pittinsky, 2006). Unfortunately, collecting cross-firm data on CEO personality has proven to be challenging.…”

“…As Rosenthal and Pittinsky (2006) note, there are situations in which the characteristics of the narcissist (e.g., charisma, grandiosity, lack of empathy) may outweigh the disadvantages. During periods of chaos and crisis, leaders who have the confidence and will to assert a point of view may succeed where those who are more timid, wavering, and self-reflective may fail.…”

Self–other agreement in empowering leadership: Relationships with leader effectiveness and subordinates' job satisfaction and turnover intention

“…Another partial explanation may be that over-estimators tend to possess a degree of narcissism (Judge, LePine, & Rich, 2006;John & Robins, 1994), which, among other things, involves an inflated sense of self-importance (Fleenor et al, 2010), a need for power and admiration (Rosenthal & Pittinsky, 2006), and displays of self-confidence, dominance, and authority (Nevicka, Ten Velden, De Hoogh, & van Vianen, 2011). Accordingly, Kernberg (1979) noted that the characteristics of narcissistic individuals drive them to seek positions of power, which implies that they are often found in positions of leadership.…”

Innovation and sustainability in a large-scale healthcare improvement collaborative - seven propositions for achieving system-wide innovation and sustainability

“…This form of leadership is what Collins (2001) denotes as Level 5 leadership. (see also Collins, 2005;Rosenthal and Pittinsky, 2006;Owens and Hekman, 2012). These types of leaders are simultaneously comfortable working in shared leadership models where the functions of leadership can be dispersed to all members of the community within the organisation.…”