INTRODUCTION
Someone suggested to me that this section might be titled ‘ When
Leaders Go Bad, ’ which is a crude but not wholly inaccurate way to
describe the main themes of the chapters in Part II.
Some years ago I saw a cartoon of two fi ghting children being
pulled apart by their mother. One child points at the other, protesting,
‘ She called me a CEO fi rst! ’ In the past, business leadership was viewed
as an essentially benign activity, with leaders working for the good of
the organization and all its stakeholders. Most studies of leadership
emphasized its positive, transforming aspects, assigning an almost moral
dimension to the task — a calling to a higher plane. But this is no longer
the case. Those ‘ outmoded ’ studies avoided confronting the dark side
of leadership, the part that fl ourishes on the power that comes with
the role. This ‘ Darth Vader ’ side, which grows out of personality traits
like self - aggrandizement and entitlement, thrives on narcissism, self -
deceit, greed, distrust, and the abuse of power. In the psychopathology
of leadership, the combination of a dysfunctional personality and per-
sonal power can, and almost inevitably does, create social and business
disasters.
Working with executives, you quickly realize that they don ’ t behave
rationally all the time. In fact, irrational behavior is common in organi-
zational life and business leaders are much more complex than the usual
run of subjects that psychologists study. People with mental illness are
actually relatively easy to understand because they suffer from extreme
conditions. The state of mental health of senior executives is much more
subtle. They can ’ t be too crazy or they wouldn ’ t have made it to a senior
position — but they are nonetheless extremely driven people. When I try
to understand them, I usually fi nd that their behavior springs from child-
hood patterns and experiences that have carried over into adulthood. It
should be said that executives are not usually very pleased to hear this;
they like to think that they are completely in control and are almost