Narcissism and psychopathy are so fascinating because they can simultaneously help individual leaders advance their careers while hurting the people and organizations they lead.

Why men are more likely to be narcissists (sorry, guys, it’s just science)

Meta-analytic studies suggest that the gender differences in narcissism have indeed been declining over the past few decades, largely because women have become more narcissistic, rather than men becoming less so. This change reaffirms the danger of encouraging women to lean in or act more like men to climb the corporate ladder. We are only inviting them to strengthen a problematic leadership model and augment rather than reduce current incompetence rates.

Second, although narcissists generally perform perfectly well just after their promotion to a leadership role, this usually short honeymoon period is followed by a much bleaker phase. For instance, narcissistic leaders, especially narcissist CEOs, are paid more than their counterparts, and they are also more likely to push their organizations into extravagant acquisitions and other investments without, unfortunately, producing a higher return on investment (ROI).

Narcissistic leaders are notably less coachable, not least because of their stiff resistance to negative feedback. They’re quick to blame others for their own mistakes and to take credit for others’ achievements. In the unlikely event that narcissists do pay attention to criticism, they will usually respond aggressively and retaliate rather than use that feedback to improve. To make matters worse, these tendencies are exacerbated by narcissists’ impulsive nature. Because of their poor self-control, narcissists have trouble sustaining any development or self-improvement initiative.