Narcissism And Leadership: A Review And Research Agenda
It is clear that a significant number of world leaders have rigidly grandiose belief systems and leadership styles. Often, the authors who recount the “psychohistories” of these leaders connect both the leaders’ assent to power, and their ultimate (and seemingly inevitable) downfall, to their narc...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | en_US |
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Center for Public Leadership
2010
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/55948 |
| _version_ | 1811094960614670336 |
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| author | Rosenthal, Seth A. |
| author_facet | Rosenthal, Seth A. |
| author_sort | Rosenthal, Seth A. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | It is clear that a significant number of world leaders have rigidly grandiose belief systems and leadership
styles. Often, the authors who recount the “psychohistories” of these leaders connect both the leaders’
assent to power, and their ultimate (and seemingly inevitable) downfall, to their narcissistic grandiosity.
While not every author employs the term “narcissism” to describe the leader in question, across the board
they reliably depict individuals whose aspirations, judgments, and decisions, both good and bad, are driven
by unyielding arrogance and self-absorption. The pantheon of purportedly narcissistic leaders ranges
from the great tyrants of recent history including Hitler, Stalin, and Saddam Hussein (Glad, 2002), to
lesser-known malevolent leaders like the founder of the American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell
(Miliora, 1995) and cult leader Jim Jones (Zee, 1980), great historical figures such as Alexander Hamilton
(Chernow, 2004), business leaders of all stripes including Steve Jobs (Robins & Paulhus, 2001), Michael
Eisner (Sankowsky, 1995), David Geffen (Kramer, 2003), and Kenneth Lay (Kramer, 2003), and an eclectic
and sometimes surprising list of current political leaders such as Benjamin Netanyahu (Kimhi, 2001),
John McCain (Renshon, 2001), George W. Bush (Krugman, 2005; Suskind, 2004), and both Jimmy
Carter and his mother, Lillian (Glad & Whitmore, 1991). |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:08:16Z |
| format | Working Paper |
| id | mit-1721.1/55948 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:08:16Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | Center for Public Leadership |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/559482019-04-11T10:16:33Z Narcissism And Leadership: A Review And Research Agenda Rosenthal, Seth A. hks cpl kennedy school leadership narcissism superior It is clear that a significant number of world leaders have rigidly grandiose belief systems and leadership styles. Often, the authors who recount the “psychohistories” of these leaders connect both the leaders’ assent to power, and their ultimate (and seemingly inevitable) downfall, to their narcissistic grandiosity. While not every author employs the term “narcissism” to describe the leader in question, across the board they reliably depict individuals whose aspirations, judgments, and decisions, both good and bad, are driven by unyielding arrogance and self-absorption. The pantheon of purportedly narcissistic leaders ranges from the great tyrants of recent history including Hitler, Stalin, and Saddam Hussein (Glad, 2002), to lesser-known malevolent leaders like the founder of the American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell (Miliora, 1995) and cult leader Jim Jones (Zee, 1980), great historical figures such as Alexander Hamilton (Chernow, 2004), business leaders of all stripes including Steve Jobs (Robins & Paulhus, 2001), Michael Eisner (Sankowsky, 1995), David Geffen (Kramer, 2003), and Kenneth Lay (Kramer, 2003), and an eclectic and sometimes surprising list of current political leaders such as Benjamin Netanyahu (Kimhi, 2001), John McCain (Renshon, 2001), George W. Bush (Krugman, 2005; Suskind, 2004), and both Jimmy Carter and his mother, Lillian (Glad & Whitmore, 1991). 2010-06-18T19:30:53Z 2010-06-18T19:30:53Z 2006-01-04 Working Paper http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/55948 en_US Center for Public Leadership Working Paper Series;06-04 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ application/pdf Center for Public Leadership |
| spellingShingle | hks cpl kennedy school leadership narcissism superior Rosenthal, Seth A. Narcissism And Leadership: A Review And Research Agenda |
| title | Narcissism And Leadership: A Review And Research Agenda |
| title_full | Narcissism And Leadership: A Review And Research Agenda |
| title_fullStr | Narcissism And Leadership: A Review And Research Agenda |
| title_full_unstemmed | Narcissism And Leadership: A Review And Research Agenda |
| title_short | Narcissism And Leadership: A Review And Research Agenda |
| title_sort | narcissism and leadership a review and research agenda |
| topic | hks cpl kennedy school leadership narcissism superior |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/55948 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rosenthalsetha narcissismandleadershipareviewandresearchagenda |