HOLD UP A MIRROR TO TAME ARROGANT LEADERS

IN developing organisational talent, one universal issue is that of leaders' arrogance and narcissism, which mysteriously manifests only after they have reached the pinnacle. Watch the Apple Plus film The Escape Of Carlos Ghosn and read the stories of either Brij Bhushan Saran Singh, former Indian wrestling federation president, or Luis Rubiales, former Spanish soccer federation president, to confirm that arrogant leaders are found in politics, companies, sports clubs, scientific establishments, and even in housing societies.

- R GOPALAKRISHNAN

Imagine a character in a drama. By his body language, we know this character. We can tell by his manner that he loves himself. Like the pot calling the kettle black, sometimes a well-recognised arrogant person may refer to another as arrogant with feigned humility.

Having observed the destructive role of leadership narcissism, in 2018, I wrote a book titled Crash: Lessons from the Entry and Exit of CEOs. Dacher Keltner, psychology professor in the University of California, concluded from his experiments and studies that, when under the influence of power, leaders "acted as if they had suffered a traumatic brain injury". This is a sufficient reason for people in power to move on rather than stay in one role for too long.

Talented executives rise to the seniormost levels due to performance, skills, human relationships and charisma. Once they reach the pinnacle, they have a tendency to forget an important soft lesson: it is tougher to stay up there than it was to get there.

While trapped in the headiness of office, every leader is prone to the dangers of hubris, ego, and loss of human empathy.

The leader could lose her connection with people that helped her rise in the first place. There are several tell-tale signals.