Narcissistic Leadership and the Cult of the CEO
Tuesday, April 8, 2025.
Somewhere in the sleek glass towers of modern capitalism, a PowerPoint deck is loading. The title slide reads: Disrupt. Innovate. Lead.
But what it really means is: I’m about to trauma-dump in bullet points and then ask you to hit quarterly targets like your inner child depends on it.
Welcome to the cult of the CEO—where charisma is currency, vision is often delusion, and the line between leadership and corporate narcissism is mostly decorative.
From Managers to Messiahs
In the old days, a leader was someone who made good decisions and didn’t yell too much.
Today, your average Fortune 500 CEO is expected to be a thought leader, an influencer, a spiritual guide, and possibly the second coming of Steve Jobs—all while attending wellness summits and posing with books they didn’t read.
Dr. Michael Maccoby was ahead of the curve way back in 2000. His book, The Productive Narcissist, argued that many of the most visionary leaders—Jobs, Bezos, Musk—exhibited narcissistic traits. They believed they were chosen. They inspired fierce loyalty. They made things happen.
But here’s the catch: the line between visionary and delusional narcissist is a tightrope, and it’s often walked in Prada loafers.
Charisma Is a Hell of a Drug
According to research by Rosenthal and Pittinsky (2006), narcissistic leaders tend to rise in organizations because they radiate confidence, charm, and direction—at first.
They speak in absolutes. They “trust their gut.” They “pivot.” They use words like “ecosystem” when they mean “product bundle.”
The problem, of course, is that narcissists are incredibly skilled at managing impressions but often terrible at managing reality. They overestimate their abilities, ignore criticism, and take success personally but failure politically. If things go wrong, it’s the intern’s fault. If they go right, it's destiny.
This phenomenon has a name: hubris syndrome (Owen & Davidson, 2009). It’s a disorder of power, not personality—a belief in one’s own godlike capacity to shape events. You see it in politics. You see it in Silicon Valley. You probably see it in your boss’s LinkedIn posts.
Toxic Work Culture: Built by Narcissists, Branded as Wellness
Narcissistic leaders don’t just create companies. They create cultures of self-optimization—where employees are subtly coerced into worshiping performance metrics, personal branding, and the illusion of hustle as holiness.
Ask any burned-out startup employee: the Slack channel is full of “grindset” memes, but the office kitchen is empty of health insurance brochures.
Psychologists like Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic (2019) have argued that we mistake confidence for competence.
Narcissistic leaders are often rewarded for bold, decisive behavior even when it’s reckless. And because they tend to surround themselves with sycophants (or “direct reports”), they rarely face the consequences until it’s too late.
See also: WeWork. Theranos. FTX. And every tech company that hired an “empathy officer” right after laying off 400 people.
When Leadership is Narcissistic Therapy in Disguise
Let’s not overlook the rising phenomenon of the narcissist-as-coach. Today’s executive coaches, self-help influencers, and personal development gurus often repackage narcissistic traits—grandiosity, self-focus, charisma—as aspirational virtues.
You’re told to “manifest your success”, “own the room”, “speak your truth”—even if your truth is that you just yelled at a barista for putting oat milk in your macchiato.
This is the spiritualization of narcissism: turning self-absorption into enlightenment. The narcissist becomes a shaman with a TED Talk, a healing crystal, and an aggressively lit Instagram reel.
And Yet... They Still Get Results (Until They Don’t)
Here’s the tragic twist. Narcissistic leaders often succeed—for a while. They generate hype, attract investors, and push boundaries. Their overconfidence translates into high risk tolerance, which sometimes results in actual innovation.
The problem is that narcissistic systems eventually eat themselves. Staff burnout increases. Innovation stagnates. Toxic cultures metastasize. And because criticism is treated as betrayal, the house of cards falls silently—until a whistleblower writes a Medium post.
Narcissism Detox: How to Lead Without Drinking Your Own Kool-Aid
You don’t have to be a humble monk to lead well. But you do have to cultivate self-awareness, empathy, and accountability—the exact traits narcissists avoid because they sound like buzzkills.
Here’s what the research (and a few emotionally intelligent middle managers) suggest:
Create feedback loops that can’t be gamed
Reward integrity over impression management
Model vulnerability, not just charisma
Hire people who are smarter than you, and listen to them
Limit the leadership echo chamber
Don’t confuse performance with presence
In short: Be brave enough to lead without needing to be admired.
Final Thoughts
Narcissistic leadership is a feature of systems that fail to prioritize wisdom.
Leadership isn’t about who gets to talk the most. It’s about who listens when the room goes quiet.
Be Well, Stay Kind, and Godspeed.
References (APA Style)
Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2019). Why do so many incompetent men become leaders? (and how to fix it). Harvard Business Review Press.
Lasch, C. (1979). The culture of narcissism: American life in an age of diminishing expectations. W. W. Norton & Company.
Maccoby, M. (2000). Narcissistic leaders: The incredible pros, the inevitable cons. Harvard Business Review, 78(1), 69–77.
Owen, D., & Davidson, J. (2009). Hubris syndrome: An acquired personality disorder? A study of US Presidents and UK Prime Ministers over the last 100 years. Brain, 132(5), 1396–1406.
Rosenthal, S. A., & Pittinsky, T. L. (2006). Narcissistic leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 17(6), 617–633.