Egocentric people become better leaders, a research says

A recent study suggests that egocentric and egoistic personalities play an important role in the successful of businesses. The study, conducted by professors at Pennsylvania State University’s IMD Business School and Erlangen-Nuremberg University, stated
that narcissist people have more confidence as compared to risk-avoiders.

“We have uncovered the bright side of narcissism. It can serve as a catalyst for risk-taking and innovation. Self-important CEOs demonstrate an ability to act on their supreme confidence when others are timid. Narcissists might be annoying and even downright
selfish, but they may be the best bet when bold and unconventional actions are needed to save an organization,” said IMD Professor Albrecht Ender.

The group conducted the research on 78 CEOs from various Pharmaceutical companies. Their number of appearances in business magazines, frequency with which they were mentioned in articles related to bold steps taken in the business, paid salaries as compared
to their peers/second-in-commands and of course, new fast were they in adopting new technologies, biotechnology in particular, were all put under scrutiny.

 Of these 78 high officials, personnel with narcissist behaviours have been more successful and reporters have had full field days on their actions. These people, according to the report, have been early adopters of the newest technologies and in some cases,
innovators.

However, it does not mean that egomaniacs are not always right in their decisions, the study states but they are most certainly bold in their approach and have a relatively better success rate. These leaders have had their fair shares of organizational ordeals
when their strategies do not pan out well but their persona has always been a beacon in guiding their companies out of disasters.

The Academy of Management’s 2011 Glueck Best Paper Award winning publication is not out yet for the public. It is under review by a panel for its probable release in an academic journal but following is an excerpt that was included in an academic paper:

“In this study, we adopt the logic of upper echelons theory to expand understanding of how executive personality shapes organizational responses to radical change. Specifically, we hypothesize that, due to their supreme confidence and craving for attention,
narcissistic CEOs propel early and aggressive adoption of technological discontinuities by established companies. . . . In contrast to the typically negative portrayal of the narcissistic personality syndrome, our results suggest that narcissism may be a key
ingredient in overcoming organizational inertia. . . .”

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Posted by Usman Khalid on Nov 19 2011. Filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry