INTRODUCTION 127insulted to think that they might have an unconscious. But we all have
blind spots and the non - rational personality needs of people who make
decisions can seriously affect the management process and the organiza-
tion itself.
I fi nd that many executives are trying to compensate for narcissistic
injuries — wounds to their self - esteem that were infl icted in childhood
by parents who were, too distant, too inconsistent, or too indulgent.
People with narcissistic injuries have a great hunger for recognition and
external affi rmation. To counteract their feelings of helplessness and lack
of self - worth, they are always in search of an audience. And gener-
ally — part and parcel of their reluctance to admit that they might act in
response to unconscious dynamics — I fi nd that they have no idea that
narcissistic wounds underlie their behavior. To make executives and
leaders aware of their vulnerabilities (they are very good at hiding them
from themselves and others), I sometimes ask them to describe the most
critical negative voice that still plays in their heads from childhood. They
all hear one: even the most successful will admit to a lingering echo of
someone saying, ‘ Yo u ’ re not as good as you think you are. You will not
amount to anything. You ’ re an imposter. ’ That voice — perhaps the voice
of a critical parent, perhaps the voice of the child who realized it couldn ’ t
live up to its parents ’ estimation — will infl uence the actions and relation-
ships of an individual on a daily basis.
Once someone harboring a narcissistic injury reaches a position of
power, funny things start to happen. Because such people are often
highly charismatic, employees start to project their own grandiose fan-
tasies onto the leader, and suddenly everything becomes surreal. This
means, of course, that followers are in a vulnerable position as well.
Dependency reactions take over.
I discovered this process for myself when I was about 14. My brother
and I were at a youth camp in the Netherlands where we went every
summer. Like everybody else, we usually went for only three weeks but
this particular year we were sent away for the whole summer holiday.
After three weeks there was always a transition between the old group
and the new intake and my brother and I decided to liven up the
changeover by creating an initiation ritual. We put a bathtub full of
freezing water in the middle of a fi eld and told all the new arrivals that
it was an old camp tradition that everyone had to dip themselves in it.
I shall never forget the sight of 60 boys — most of them much bigger than
us — lining up obediently and one after the other climbing into the tub.
Then the camp director happened to walk past ... He brought our reign
of terror to an abrupt end by pointing out to the boys that there were
60 of them and only two of us, and my brother and I got what we