Assessing Leaders at a Distancenition and adulation that drives these individuals springs from their
excessive self-absorption, their intense ambition, and their grandiose
fantasies. But underlying and impelling this quest is an inner empti-
ness and uncertainty about identity. Helen Tartakoff, for example,
has written of the Nobel Prize complex, the search for acclaim by
intellectually gifted narcissists (Tartakoff 1966).
The interpersonal relationships of narcissists are regularly and
characteristically disturbed. There is a quality of personal exploitive-
ness, with a disregard for the feelings and needs of others. The nar-
cissist surrounds himself with admirers and requires a constant
stream of adulation from them. Yet it is a one-way street, and when
the loyal followers are no longer useful to the psychological economy
of the narcissist, they can be dropped suddenly without a backward
glance. This precipitous fall from grace will frequently be bewilder-
ing to the individuals dropped, who mistakenly believed they were
highly valued by their hero. Indeed, their provision of psychological
supplies of adulation was valued, but they had not been seen as sep-
arate individuals, with needs of their own, but rather as an extension
of the narcissist. The narcissist is often extremely charming and
delightful to be with, contributing to the false spell cast over his
intimates. Thus there is a characteristic difficulty in sustaining loyal
relationships over time.
The mirror image of the quest for adulation is sensitivity to slight
and criticism. The narcissist is vulnerable, easily hurt, and goes
through complicated maneuvers to avoid being hurt. The narcissist
can put on a mask of cold indifference and can envelop himself in
what Volkan (1980) has called "the glass bubble." Like the Little
Prince, the narcissists feel they live by themselves in splendid isola-
tion, a glorious but lonely existence, enclosed by an impervious but
transparent protection.
Because narcissists are so vulnerable to injury psychologically,
they cannot afford to acknowledge ignorance. This in turn leads to
major difficulties with learning, for the learning process carries with
it an implicit assumption of lack of knowledge and it inhibits pro-
foundly the acceptance of constructive criticism. Dogmatic certainty
with no foundation of knowledge is a posture frequently struck by
the narcissist. This discomfort with learning is related to the sensi-