Think twice about who you chose as leader: narcissists are initially appealing but don鈥檛 deliver in the long term
From events such as the Rugby World Cup to party politics, coaches, captains and party leaders are in the spotlight.
Leadership is an important aspect of everyday life as well, and we all choose leaders or at least, work with leaders. For example, we know who is 鈥渂oss鈥� in the workplace, who is 鈥渃aptain鈥� at Sunday footie, and who at home is 鈥渋n charge鈥�.
Although we often formally or informally select leaders and think that we are making informed choices on who is most effective, new research at from 精东影业鈥檚 (IPEP) in the Journal of Personality shows that we are more likely to select leaders who display narcissistic traits. People high in narcissism are individuals whose main aim is to build and maintain their inflated, overly-positive self-image; an aim that is often achieved at the expense of others.
The team鈥檚 research suggests that we only perceive highly narcissistic people as effective leaders when we don鈥檛 know them very well. For example, you might have selected a narcissistic leader in school, in your sport team or in your workplace without much knowledge of that person, and you are now required to work under his or her leadership. Things may have been fine at the beginning 鈥� but what happens over time?
This latest research shows that while narcissistic leaders are 鈥渓ove at first sight鈥� for many of us, these positive perceptions of narcissistic leaders only last for a short honeymoon period. Over time, the narcissistic leader鈥檚 ship sinks. Yes, you fell for the charm but there鈥檚 no substantive leadership behind the charm.
Chin Wei Ong, one of the researchers explains: 鈥淚n the research, followers were initially attracted to narcissistic leaders鈥� charisma and vision, and these factors were responsible for narcissists鈥� initial rise as leaders. In other words, groups of people initially preferred the narcissist over others as their leader. However, a combination of narcissistic leaders鈥� continued focus on themselves at the expense of others and their failure to challenge, or support, for example, encouraging followers to think of problems in new ways or providing individualized support for each follower led to narcissists鈥� ineffectiveness as leaders over time.
Does this mean that narcissistic leaders are always doomed to fail? Dr. Ross Roberts, another of the researchers, suggests that the jury is still out on this one. 鈥淣arcissists are charismatic and charming but they fail to give enough attention to their followers. The challenge for narcissistic leaders is to be able to harness their charisma and combine it with other factors such as an ability to be empathic, which should enable them to be seen as effective leaders across time. An extreme narcissist may not care what others think of them and may be doomed to fail in leadership roles. But there are other milder forms of narcissism that may be more effective鈥�. The researchers are now conducting studies in this area to try and understand what factors might increase narcissists鈥� effectiveness as leaders.
Although not all leaders are narcissistic, their personalities could influence how effective they are as leaders over time. Perhaps this is something to consider next time you are asked to choose a leader?
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Publication date: 21 October 2015