The Humble, Narcissistic Leader

The Art of Manliness

Philosophy, Society & Culture, Education

4.7 • 14.8K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2021

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Research, not to mention anecdotal observation, shows that a lot of narcissists end up in leadership positions. That's because the qualities narcissism enlarges into extremes —confidence, assertiveness, a sense of destiny — help people rise to the top.

Unfortunately, the same qualities of narcissism that help an individual obtain a leadership position, can prevent them from being effective in that position, and from holding onto it.

My guest's research has uncovered what can be a solution to this dilemma: the timeless virtue of humility. His name is Brad Owens, he's a professor of business ethics, and we begin our discussion today by digging into the fact that studies done on the effect of narcissism on leadership have been inconsistent, with some showing it to have a positive effect, and others a negative one. Brad explains that the reason these studies may have been inconclusive, is that while narcissism can get someone into a leadership role, it then gets in the way of them succeeding in that role. We then turn to the idea that cultivating humility can temper the negative effects of narcissism, and the three aspects of humility every leader, whether narcissistic or not, should cultivate. We discuss whether there are situations where you do want to be more narcissistic than humble, what a humble, narcissistic leader looks like, and how Steve Jobs and George Washington serve as examples of this combination of qualities.

Get the show notes at aom.is/humblenarcissist.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
0:01.4	[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
0:04.4	[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
0:06.4	[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
0:07.4	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcasts.
0:11.1	Research, not to mention antidole observation, shows that a lot of narcissists end up in leadership positions.
0:17.0	That's because the qualities narcissism enlarges into extremes like confidence,
0:20.9	assertiveness, sense of destiny help people rise to the top.
0:24.2	Unfortunately, the same qualities of narcissism that help an individual obtain a leadership position
0:28.8	can prevent them from being effective in that position and from holding on to it.
0:32.3	My guess research has uncovered what can be a solution to this dilemma, the timeless virtue of humility.
0:37.6	His name is Brad Owens, he's a professor of business ethics,
0:40.7	and we've begun our conversation today by digging into the fact that studies done on the effect of narcissism on leadership
0:46.5	have been inconsistent with some showing to have a positive effect and others a negative one.
0:50.6	Brad explains that the reason these studies may have been inconclusive is that while narcissism can get someone into a leadership role,
0:56.4	it then gets in the way of them succeeding in that new role.
0:59.0	We then turn to the idea that cultivating humility can temper the negative effects of narcissism,
1:03.4	the three aspects of humility every leader, whether narcissistic or not should cultivate,
1:07.8	we then discuss whether there are situations where you do want to be more narcissistic than humble,
1:11.4	what a humble, narcissistic leader looks like and how Steve Jobs and George Washington serve as examples of this combination of qualities.
1:18.5	After the show's over, check out the show notes at a.m..i.s slash humble narcissist.
1:22.7	Brad joins you now via clearcast.io.
	...

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