Is Your Boss the Reason Your Career Isn't Moving?
Reflect on the most effective leader you have ever had. Undoubtedly, they paid attention to your abilities, your capabilities, the contributions you have made which never made it into the official minutes of meetings. They promoted you. They offered you opportunities to grow.
On the other hand, reflect on your experience with the least effective leader.
Undoubtedly, the differences between the two will stand out clearly in your mind. While there are many factors that influence leadership effectiveness, there is one personality characteristic that research shows time and again negatively influences those under them: narcissism.
People with high levels of narcissism are not simply vain individuals who believe themselves better than everyone else. Narcissism involves a complex set of traits that include feelings of superiority, a desire to feel special and admired, low empathy, and a grandiose sense of self-worth. In short, narcissists can easily be mistaken for confident and ambitious leaders.
Two Kinds of Narcissism. Both Can Hurt You
There are two types of narcissism that Weinberg and Ronningstam (2022) have stressed. One, called grandiose narcissism, is the kind you imagine when you think of a narcissist. The person with grandiose narcissism is outgoing, talkative, charming, and absolutely sure of his or her significance. Those people make good impressions in interviews, move fast through ranks, and make a big impression wherever they go. Whereas, vulnerable narcissists, on the other hand, may seem less intimidating but are equally difficult to deal with.
They both cause trouble for those around them. However, because grandiose narcissism presents as such a strong model of leadership, it often goes unchallenged the longest.
What the Research Shows
Based on a recent study, Wang, Li, Wu, and Ding (2021) demonstrated that narcissism among leaders correlated with greater conflict between the leader and the team members. The conflict produced less career satisfaction. Lack of satisfaction may result in poor performance and reduced opportunities for promotion and advancement.
Furthermore, this process does not happen suddenly. There are no dramatic incidents such as firings or obvious sabotage. Instead, the effects tend to unfold gradually. Narcissistic leaders are, by nature, less focused on supporting the growth of others. They are often less attuned to recognizing potential unless it reflects positively on themselves. As a result, credit tends to flow upward, while frustration moves downward. Over time, even capable and hard-working employees may begin to question whether the problem lies with them.
In many cases, it does not.
The Shadow Side Nobody Mentions
Perhaps one of the tougher realities associated with narcissistic leadership styles is that they don’t typically introduce themselves right away. Narcissists can make themselves look like energetic, visionary, and driven leaders who may even be enjoyable to work under when it first begins. The negative effects usually pile up over time because of issues like giving out credit to others, transferring responsibility onto you, and an increasing feeling that despite your contributions, there will always be less air for you.
The reality is that by the time that it becomes clear that it is narcissism you’ve been working under, it’s probably too late because you have already paid a cost in terms of lost opportunities or damaged relationships.
What Organizations Can Actually Do
First, it is in hiring and promoting talent. Charisma can be easily quantified during a face-to-face interview. The same goes for empathy and the desire to develop subordinates, although both are more difficult to measure than charisma. They can be measured, however, and they need to be factored into the equation when evaluating potential leaders.
Second, it is in viewing the relationship between supervisors and subordinates as something important for business results, not just human resources management. When managers take the time to establish trust and maintain open lines of communication, they serve as a real counterbalance to the sort of long-term career erosion mentioned above. It will be reflected in retention rates, productivity levels, and job satisfaction.
Third, it is in matching personalities within teams. This seems overly simplistic, but putting effort into ensuring that employees are a compatible match for their managers’ personalities makes a difference to wellbeing and career success.
Conclusion
This is not meant to suggest, of course, that certain types of personalities were destined to become poor managers or that those with leadership ambitions are somehow destructive of their employees. It does mean, however, that awareness is capable of changing some of these tendencies, even the individual involved.
The main implication, then, that we are able to take away from research studies would seem to be the importance of being able to recognize how personality affects the professional atmosphere. Those characteristics that allow a person to rise through the ranks do not necessarily make them good to work under.
If, indeed, you have ever asked or questioned yourself how your career progression could be as slow as it was, then you may want to ask yourself another question: Who has been overseeing this?
If your organization is exploring how leadership dynamics affect employee performance and career progression, I offer statistical and research support to help turn complex data into clear, actionable insights. Contact me here.
References
Wang H, Li D, Wu L, Ding Z. Effects of Leader Narcissism on Career Success of Employees: An Interpersonal Relationship Perspective. Front Psychol. 2021 Dec 20; 12:679427. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.679427. PMID: 34987439; PMCID: PMC8722452.
Weinberg I, Ronningstam E. Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Progress in Understanding and Treatment. Focus (Am Psychiatr Publ). 2022 Oct;20(4):368-377. doi: 10.1176/appi.focus.20220052. Epub 2022 Oct 25. PMID: 37200887; PMCID: PMC10187400.
