The dark traits in leadership succession

#leadershipdevelopment #narcissism #leadership

I had to write a research plan on the Dark Triad in leadership, and since I dove into the topic, I thought why not reflect on it a bit for you here…

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself stating on a professional forum: “Being narcissistic has become a job requirement for leaders today.” For a long time after, I was thinking, why would I say something like that, because I don’t believe it to be true… But unfortunately, I do. I do believe it to be true. Why? Because we live in uncertain times. And what do we need in uncertain times? Someone to take control and make us feel like things are under control. Because, let’s be honest, most of us can’t deal with uncertainty well. So we need someone in charge. Anybody except ourselves. And those who do well in these roles, you guessed it, are those who are high in dark traits.

So, when we complain about toxic leaders, cultures, and environments, let’s also take a good look in the mirror and see how many of those decisions that need to be taken we are able to take with our fullest confidence. If not much, well, then we should not complain either. The only reason we have so many toxic leaders today is that we let them. More precisely, there is nobody who would like to fill their jobs.

So what is the Dark Triad? The Dark Triad is an umbrella term for three socially aversive personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. All three traits share some socially aversive similarities: lack of empathy, manipulative behavior, self-interest, callousness, and exploiting others to reach personal goals. While we might meet all of them in a corporate setting, the one who is known to fulfill their leadership ambitions is the narcissist.

As mentioned before, especially in volatile markets and industries, narcissists have been known to be around in top leadership positions, making undeniable disruptions and contributions in technology. In today’s world, more and more are drawn to the boardroom by companies looking to make bold moves. But what about the lower levels of leadership?

Last week, I was having a leadership development seminar, and one of the younger leaders asked me: “Erika, why do we keep talking about empathy and emotional intelligence? Look at Mr. Musk. He’s an a$$hole, and still one of the most successful leaders of all time!” Well, the best reason is that we are not him. But I still keep getting these questions more and more often. And not only from senior leadership, but also from the juniors.

I started wondering why… The answer is quite easy: because the narcissist in us loves the attention. And if we are higher on the scale of this trait, we will surround ourselves with people who will not call us out when we are BS-ing. Also, the same people will admire us with adoration. Who are these people? You guessed it! The “mini-narcissists,” a.k.a. the talent pool.

Now, there is a great danger behind this. While these personalities thrive in the boardroom and are all there to make great things happen, they are usually highly regulated. Most narcissists in CEO positions have a board to crosscheck them, and they have lots of support mechanisms, like therapists who play the role of the superego which most of them lack. So that is ok.

But when we start moving these traits down the ladder, where they are in no way needed or necessary, who will control them? The same people who should work on innovation and make your business efficient and effective in reaching your targets? Don’t think that’s the best idea.

While low in numbers, narcissists are easy to control, and we might even be able to provide the admiration they all need. When growing in numbers, things will get tricky. Due to the fact that they need this grandiose admiration, there will simply not be enough attention for all to go around. And if there is not enough admiration to go around, they will start taking it.

You will start noticing that all successes are hoarded by middle managers, who all believe their employees are useless and the company would run much better without them (obviously). Since they need big successes, they will start taking higher and higher uncalculated risks. If they miraculously succeed, they will have the admiration required. If they fail, well of course, it will be the fault of all the other incompetents working under them.

The third way to get attention, and this is my personal favorite, is when they start fires themselves so they can quickly come to the rescue. You have no idea how many problems in organizations are self-inflicted. This might seem like a fun way to keep them busy, like buying your dog one of those ball-disposing fetch machines, but please beware. As said before, they are highly prone to overestimate their own abilities. So you might end up in a couple of weeks putting out blazing fires just because they felt the need to play with fireworks, without being able to consider the wind, the drought, etc...

So while narcissists are highly needed and advantageous on leadership teams, please make sure that you also have the control system in place and available when needed. While the big ones might have a vision and there is value behind it, we have to admit that most low-level narcissists (there is no such thing; I just call them that) are just wannabe big ones. And when we take on the risk of promoting narcissism in low-level leadership positions, the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages they can bring. Remember, people in mental hospitals have visions too, but that does not mean we would want to follow them.