In last week’s blog post we took a look at the many reasons why finding the right people to lead our companies is more critical now than ever before. We also explored the reasons why leaders that excelled in the past are not necessarily the leaders we need right now and in the future. In previous decades we have been predominantly a manufacturing society, for which we needed leaders that excelled at processes that could be replicated, measured, and improved. In contrast, 75% of today’s employees provide services. They’re knowledge workers who perform mental tasks instead of assembling product parts. These companies need leaders who can engage the workforce, manage people, and inspire collaboration and innovation. In this blog post we’ll delve deeper into the various personality types, and how they impact people as leaders.
Why Personality Type Matters
Evaluation of leadership personality types is an essential part of the selection process for CEOs and top executives. Most of us intuitively recognize different personality types. We routinely notice personality quirks in coworkers that baffle us, challenging our responses and relationships.
Personality typing is not an intellectual pursuit for psychologists, nor a parlour game that helps us get along with others. Leaders in charge of developing business strategies set priorities based on their personality type and innate drives.
Many popular assessment tools reveal personality preference, including the Myers-Briggs Indicator, DISC personal assessment tool and 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire. Each is useful, yet few of us have a precise understanding of what they divulge.
Leadership selection can no longer be based solely on one’s prior experience or successes. Yesterday’s challenges (productivity, profit, efficiency) remain critical, but today’s leaders must also grapple with new technologies, global diversity, and political and environmental instability.
Basic Personality Types
Freud pioneered our understanding of human nature with his classification of three personality types: erotic, obsessive, and narcissistic. One of his students, psychologist Erich Fromm, added a fourth type: the marketing personality.
These terms are somewhat misleading because of their negative connotations. The four types are classified according to what drives people and how they achieve a sense of security.
“Erotics” (not a sexual term) are driven by love, a need to care for others and, in return, be loved and appreciated. These individuals are relationship-oriented. Some management theorists call this personality type “enabling,” while others name it “amiable,” “diplomatic,” “supportive” or “compliant”. Erotics are often found in education, social services, and health care, but they exist in every field. When they are most productive, they bring people together, making connections and facilitating collaboration. They seldom turn down someone in need, or a person asking for a favour. The downside to this personality is codependency and indecisiveness.
“Obsessives” are driven by a need for security, consistency, rules, and logical order. You’ll spot them in every field—especially government bureaucracies, engineering firms, and law and financial offices. As leaders, they focus on operations, details, and numbers. They’re often called “analytical,” “detail oriented” or “numbers people”. Obsessives are guided by rules set by some higher authority (a father figure, a strict conscience, or “the way things have always been done”). Most middle managers and some top executives are obsessives, especially CFOs, COOs, and some CEOs. The most productive obsessives are viewed as “systematic” or ”analytical”.
Obsessives often hold the Number 2 position to a narcissistic CEO—an unbeatable combination of narcissistic vision and obsessive implementation. The problems associated with the obsessive personality type are well known:
- They become mired in details and rules,
- They lose sight of overall goals,
- They’re more concerned with doing things “the right way” than doing the right thing,
- They may become control freaks and/or micromanagers,
- They resist change to the point of obsolescence,
- They can be rigid, judgmental, and cheap, and
- They insist on being right.
The “marketing personality” describes people who, as the name implies, adapt to the market’s demands. They’re driven by the need to be accepted and fit into society. They sense what the market wants and needs, and they conform to it. They align themselves with key people, thrive on change, and seek others’ approval. Most of us adopt some of these aspects to survive in today’s volatile workplace. The biggest challenge with marketing types is their lack of a firm center and continual anxiety. They favor style over substance, spend a lot of energy selling themselves or chasing the next shiny thing, and may be incapable of fully committing to anything or anyone.
“Narcissists” are driven by the need to be unique, express their creativity, and achieve greatness, and they’re readily spotted in leadership positions. The term carries a negative connotation, but it was originally meant to be descriptive (neither good nor bad). A narcissist can be productive (or not) and moral (or not). We often misuse the term, applying it to leaders who are egocentric, greedy, self-aggrandizing, and of little benefit to their organizations and colleagues. A productive narcissist may be viewed as a visionary leader.
Narcissists’ need to achieve greatness overrides everything else. They seldom listen to others and often show little interest in their coworkers (except for those who can help them get what they want). Few social controls are built into their mental model of how the world works. They aren’t worried about conscience or losing others’ love or respect, and they don’t bend to peer pressure or what the public wants.
The narcissist has few internal demands to do the right thing. He answers to himself as to what is right, decides what he values, and determines what gives him a sense of meaning.
While the other personality types are deeply motivated to do whatever it takes to maintain their sense of security, narcissists never garner security from relationships or skills. Rather, they recruit people to join them in their worldview.
There’s a case to be made for narcissistic CEOs who can lead companies to greatness, inspire followers and achieve game-changing solutions in our rapidly changing world.
“It is narcissistic leaders who take us to places we’ve never been before, who innovate, who build empires out of nothing.”
– Michael Maccoby, Narcissistic Leaders: Who Succeeds and Who Fails
As always, I would love to hear your thoughts, questions, or concerns about the topics covered in today’s blog post. I can be reached here or on LinkedIn.
