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I had the assignment of working with a brilliant but troubled boss who shut himself out from his own workplace. He was unavailable and managed by not walking around. Most of his days were spent holding court in his 3,000 square foot executive suite. This leader was consumed with hubris and self-admiration. The CEO viewed himself as a benevolent dictator incapable of being appreciated by subordinates. In the midst of grievances alleging absenteeism and bullying he vehemently stood his ground repeatedly stating that his leadership was superb. What to do?
According to formal and informal reports CEO Sergio Marcus’s* narcissism was consuming. It got in the way of his ability to provide successful leadership. A former consultant referred to this CEO’s voluminous self-love as “executive hubris.” As the leader of Light Year Innovations Inc., Marcus was elated and swollen with overconfidence and pride. Sergio lasered in on the shortcomings of his colleagues but he had a very limited view of his own problems and limitations. Of particular note was that Marcus failed to realize how much he needed the brainstorming and innovativeness of his key engineers and scientists. They were the life blood of the organization and were central to the CEO's strategy and vision. But Marcus was excessively dismissive of his talented crew. He referred to his Masters and Doctoral trained scientists as “living in a bubble” and “terminally divorced from common sense.”
CEO Sergio Marcus was in a self-imposed exile, alone and sequestered in his executive suite. He was intoxicated with “the elixir of executive hubris.” Engineers sarcastically referred to Marcus as “the genius in the C-suite.” He believed that he had to defiantly stand alone in the midst of his company’s recently escalating crisis. Self-anointed, it was his mission to unravel troubling company finances while also juggling a devastatingly low retention rate among top level engineers. Marcus became increasingly dictatorial attempting to micromanage and impose his singular top-down vision.
In company presentations Marcus attempted to bully and strike fear into the workforce. Integrity and respect were sorely lacking. Despite setbacks the CEO oozed confidence and increasingly made unilateral decisions for the organization. Some engineers referred to him as “the dictator.”
The CEO was difficult to understand and appreciate. He was an enigma. Suspicion grew in the workplace. The executive board was concerned. A quiet rebellion grew among the younger engineers. They saw themselves as being on shaky ground with Marcus. Their leader was smug and full of himself but the engineers lacked tenure or assurances. They were not sure how to handle it or where to turn. They were fearful that they were at the CEO’s mercy. It was so difficult to stand up to or challenge this boss.
In an effort to provide Marcus with direction I was retained as the CEO’s executive coach over an 18-month period of ensuring conflict and chaos. My coaching sessions were viewed as essential by the executive board but were dismissed by the CEO as “mistaken and frivolous.” Marcus, himself, assured me that I was “beside-the-point and superfluous.”
From my view as his coach, what was this CEO’s predicament? Quite simply, he had concocted grandiose visions for the company but his actions repeatedly failed and his plans were rejected by subordinates. The CEO suffered serious loss of face. Marcus was openly defiant and refused to delegate. He was certain that nobody was up to the challenge and that if the company was “going to go into the dumpers let it be on the shoulders of the CEO rather than the plebeians.” He was not open to dialogue, suggestions or debate. He was narcissism gone wild.
Session-after-session throughout the first several months of executive coaching Marcus proclaimed that “only the CEO can fix the company.” Finally, after approximately ten sessions we talked about the North and South Poles of leadership, hubris and humility.
We increasingly focused upon grievances that had been filed against Marcus by his subordinates. I occasionally made a break through where the CEO sufficiently let down his wall of pride and hubris to consider the perspective of a deeply wounded engineer or outraged board member. Slowly but surely over a period of 5 months of coaching Marcus made emotional breakthroughs enabling him to step into the shoes of his bullied subordinates. He gradually got woke to how his overbearing presence, abrasive emails and shunning of otherwise brilliant engineers and board members had serious repercussions. It was difficult for him to accept but his reputation in the company was largely as a narcissist and bully.
Marcus was a master of disguises. He featured himself as a brilliant fellow who could not be figured out. But despite his own misguided and grandiose interpretations of himself he had to ultimately face reality in the form of his subordinates’ perceptions, wounds and grievances.
Slowly, painfully, a series of little breakthroughs were made. Several acknowledgements of misbehavior in the workplace were made possible via the use of in-house videos documenting his elitism, aloofness and insults. Meanwhile the grievances against him mounted. It had reached a point where the threatening behaviors of the CEO were now coming back to haunt him.
Trust was paramount in our coaching sessions. Once Marcus trusted me enough then confessions, self-reflection and slivers of repentance bubbled to the surface.
When the CEO cared enough to truly want to heal his workplace, repair his deeply damaged credibility, and reinvent his leadership style we were on a therapeutic road to positive change. I envisioned the transformation of a toxic leader.
Following documented and observable progress I partnered with the client and HR in scheduling a series of meetings with wronged and wounded engineers and scientists, colleagues and staff. It was aimed at creating an atmosphere of dialogue and open communication more consistent with humility than with narcissism and bullying. Inch by inch, step by step issues were addressed and I worked with the CEO and the wronged colleagues to provide face saving measures with minimal embarrassment and humiliation. It was a series of revelatory meetings where Marcus learned how to offer apologies and empowered his extremely capable colleagues to take on the crisis level challenges that they were facing. Each meeting with his colleagues chipped away at another layer of anger, disarray and conflict in a non-threatening manner. Within two months three grievances filed against the CEO had been resolved.
Within a period of a year there was a clear turn away from the CEO’s excessive self-absorption and narcissism and the appearance of what we referred to as executive humility. The narcissism was progressively loosening its grip.
Unfortunately, executive narcissism and hubris is not uncommon in Fortune 500's and many organizations. Left untamed and untreated it turns into what I refer to as workplace narcissism gone wild. Some business leaders resist a negative label and deny that there is a problem. Ironically it can be the grievances and threats of civil law suits that finally identify a leader’s problems and create an urgency to do something about it. Hopefully this case may generate talk about the narcissistic leader and open doors to understanding the troubling behavior at the top of some companies.
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*Note: The CEO and company names have been changed to protect identities of the client. In addition, events, descriptions and data have been altered to protect coach-client privileged communication
