Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (but remember the dark side of personality)

April 22, 2010 8850 Comments2010-04-22+05%3A05%3A47Ben+Nash

So the job candidate arrives looking great and eager to please. But beware—under the polished exterior may lurk a narcissistic personality. “Commercial enterprises are rife with narcissistic personalities” says to Joan Lachkar, author of an interesting book called “How to Talk to a Narcissist.”

Dr. Lachkar describes narcissists as people who:

Disregard the feelings of others

Continually inflate themselves while putting others down

Are driven by fantasies of limitless power, achievement, and success

Lack empathy and are clueless to the needs and concerns of others

Envy others, need constant approval, and can not tolerate criticism or the success of anybody but themselves

Sounds a bit extreme. But if you have not encountered such behaviors in corporate life (in varying degrees of severity) then count yourself lucky—it is out there in plentiful supply.

Of course some organizational cultures tolerate, or even encourage, such behaviors (Wall St. before the crash?). For most organizations, however, such behaviors are problematic and disruptive, and result in high staff turnover and low morale.

So what can organizations do to try and screen out these tendencies in job candidates or people up for promotion? A screening tool that is very helpful is the Hogan Development Survey – a valid and reliable psychometric instrument that looks at the “dark side” of personality.