There is Freudian psychological and psychiatric business literature on narcissism. We are now used to discussing our politicians as well as business leaders, movie stars, and models in this terminology. The PR-hungry narcissistic CEO and politician is clearly driven to gain power, glory, and the admiration of others. They can be visionaries and risk takers, seeing the big picture while downplaying the rules, laws, and conventions which handicap them. They can also be amazingly self-absorbed, deluded, and destructive.
Narcissists can be energetic, charismatic, leader-like, and willing to take the initiative to get projects moving. They can be relatively successful in management, sales, and entrepreneurship, but usually only for short periods. However, they are arrogant, vain, overbearing, demanding, self-deceived, and pompous, yet they are so colourful and engaging that they often attract followers. Their self-confidence is attractive. Naively, people believe that they have to have something to be so confident about.
Narcissism, like all the personality disorders, must be understood as a spectrum, not a type. It is a matter of degree: confident, very confident, overconfident, sub-clinically narcissist, pathological narcissist. Confident - good (if an accurate assessment of talents); narcissism - bad. When they have some insight and self-awareness of their preferences and abilities and which organisation forces are in place to restrain them, they can act as great forces for positive change and advancement. If articulate and educated as well as physically attractive, they can become great leaders. But many are insufferably egotistical, self-absorbed, and deluded.
Several versions of the myth of Narcissus survive. They are warnings about hubris and pride. At the heart of the myth is the caution of misperception and self-love, the idea that inaccurate self-perceptions can lead to tragic and self-defeating consequences. There appears to be a moral, social, and clinical debate about narcissism. The moral issues concern the evils of hubris, the social issue the benefits or otherwise of modesty, while the clinical debate is about the consequences of misperceptions.
NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER
Many researchers list narcissism-arrogance in is wrong”, a blinding belief in your own opinions. So, many have a diminished capacity to learn from others or previous experience.
