Dark Triad Management
Avoiding Enrons
In psychology, the dark triad traits of Narcissism, Machiavellianism and Psychopathy, can lead to individuals with aims and behaviours that contradict your organisational goals. While in smaller doses and in the right situations these traits could be beneficial- such as the narcissist who lands a key deal by making a better first impression- in more extreme cases this can create dangerous interorganisational discord and rule-breaking.
Somewhat ironically, even if you happen to be a manager high in these traits, your biggest problems are still likely to come from others with these traits (e.g. the ruthless Machiavellian who’s more interested in his advancement than your goals).
No matter who you are, learning to recognise and manage these traits- especially regarding hiring and promotion- is vital to your long-term personal and organisational success.
Relevant Expertise
I’ve always had a strong interest in history and a particular horror at how seemingly compassionate utopian visions could so regularly dissolve into tyranny, leading me to read in depth about the personalities of leaders like Stalin from around age 12.
After later coming across an article on how most psychopaths aren’t criminals, and, even from more trivial inspiration, such as attending an all-male secondary school and seeing how just one or two difficult personalities can negatively affect an entire culture, in my teenage years I read a lot of literature on these traits in general and professional life (Hare, Babiak and others).
During postgraduate education, I raised the (likely neglected) political implications of this issue with a leading International Relations scholar and I have more recently discussed with a researcher specialising in the role of dark triad traits on AI systems. Beyond this, as someone who previously worked for a UK charity and discovered and reported serious ethical concerns to some relevant authorities, I also know, from experience, both the workings of darker personality traits in managerial settings and how easy it is to somewhat overlook them when in contexts you’re not expecting to see them.