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Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work

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Re: Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work

#11

Post by krrishd »

Even if one were to grant the conclusion — leaders resist remote work to preserve their "power and status" — to what extent is the magnitude and success of a company (or for that matter, any serious enterprise) a direct function of its leader's ability to:

- Exercise authority / power

- Maintain status within the hierarchy

As in - who wants to work for a leader who is neither powerful nor high-status within their own company? Who consciously chooses a leader who is neither effective in getting people to do the right things, nor effective in commanding a (somewhat faith-based) trust in their long-term vision?

The study feels extremely leading in its idea of what a "good" leader would look like (presumably "hands off," leaves everyone alone such that good outcomes simple "emerge", etc) -- while treating this bent as obvious truth.

I say this as someone who spent the last 6 years straight working remotely (also having been successful in contributing impact).

Re: Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work

#12

Post by thesuitonym »

krrishd wrote: post #11

Even if one were to grant the conclusion — leaders resist remote work to preserve their "power and status" — to what extent is the magnitude and success of a company (or for that matter, any serious enterprise) a direct function of its leader's ability to: - Exercise authority / power - Maintain status within the hierarchy As in - who wants to work for a leader who is neither powerful nor high-status within their own…

It's not a zero sum game. You can preserver power and status without being a narcissist.

Re: Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work

#13

Post by krrishd »

thesuitonym wrote: post #12
krrishd wrote: post #11

Even if one were to grant the conclusion — leaders resist remote work to preserve their "power and status" — to what extent is the magnitude and success of a company (or for that matter, any serious enterprise) a direct function of its leader's ability to: - Exercise authority / power - Maintain status within the hierarchy As in - who wants to work for a leader who is neither powerful nor high-status within their own…

It's not a zero sum game. You can preserver power and status without being a narcissist.

Certainly you can - but this study appears to use motivations around power and status as its heuristic for narcissism!

Re: Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work

#14

Post by jdw64 »

forshaper wrote: post #9
jdw64 wrote: post #6

What I'm feeling is that this narcissistic personality might actually be a signal that society rewards. I saw a news report recently saying that narcissistic traits are often found in successful CEOs. In my view, maybe society is designed in a way that makes it hard for people without narcissism to succeed. It's like bad money driving out good. Most successful VC leaders in the US are generally considered to have nar…

At scale, a clear identity is needed to get people to give you what it takes to pay the bills. An identity that is continuously refined becomes clearer. The act of refinement of the identity may then create an attachment to the identity, like an IKEA effect. Any protections of the identity also serve to make the identity clearer to others.

It feels like identity and personal branding. The Western perspective and the Eastern perspective definitely seem different.

Re: Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work

#15

Post by moezd »

Sometimes they are just too addicted to gossip by the water cooler. For all the information that flies in and out of different teams, departments and organisations, water cooler is probably the best place to learn enough to position yourself in the company. A narcissistic boss would be obsessed with that, naturally, and consider others who don't as outliers.

Re: Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work

#17

Post by hoppp »

It's evident that human tribes are organized to be led by narcissists.

It's easy to organize a tribe around neurodivergence and personality disorders if we think about them as genetic roles.

Typical people are highly social and efficient. They depend heavily on hierrarchy and social coherence to navigate the world and can take on any task as general workers.

Narcissistic people are a subtype of typicals who are the leaders of the tribe, they play the hierarchy games the best to raise to the top.

Adhd people are the explorers of the world, they are social but can leave the group to explore, they bring entropy to the system.

Autistic people are the engineers of society, the hierrarchy thinking is replaced by a systemizer view of the world. No scientific discovery happens without a high functioning autistic quietly working in the background. Their brain rewards them for learning and progress, not social games.

Dyslexic people are the other engineers of the tribe, they can live within hierarchy and have a view of the entire picture, so they can efficiently organize and build structures like housing.

The list goes on. It's all on purpose but the modern humans forgot it all, or maybe we never really knew our roles in the world, it all just "happens"

Re: Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work

#18

Post by danparsonson »

hoppp wrote: post #17

It's evident that human tribes are organized to be led by narcissists. It's easy to organize a tribe around neurodivergence and personality disorders if we think about them as genetic roles. Typical people are highly social and efficient. They depend heavily on hierrarchy and social coherence to navigate the world and can take on any task as general workers. Narcissistic people are a subtype of typicals who are the l…

https://complementarycognition.co.uk/

Re: Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work

#19

Post by hoppp »

danparsonson wrote: post #18
hoppp wrote: post #17

It's evident that human tribes are organized to be led by narcissists. It's easy to organize a tribe around neurodivergence and personality disorders if we think about them as genetic roles. Typical people are highly social and efficient. They depend heavily on hierrarchy and social coherence to navigate the world and can take on any task as general workers. Narcissistic people are a subtype of typicals who are the l…

https://complementarycognition.co.uk/

I'm happy it's a thing and not just my autistic ramblings :)

Re: Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work

#20

Post by ButlerianJihad »

All of my jobs until the last one were in-person, in-office, and toward the end of my schooling, some college courses were 100% remote/online, so I've developed a lot of thoughts.

At this point I would oppose remote jobs and opt for the in-person ones. Though my remote job was fantastic in terms of flexibility and the comfort of my own home, much was lacking.

It is far, far easier to collaborate with humans and rally around supervisors and leadership who are visible and tangible, and interact as humans not mediated. It was fine, in my silo, doing my solitary worker-bee work, and turning out productive results every day, but honestly it stopped feeling like "a job" or "work" but just one of those things I was doing online that happened to increase my bank balance. It wasn't functionally different from Wikipedia editing!

I think that in-person work fosters loyalty, it forms us in the corporate culture, and we grow fond of a good employer inside their walls and using their resources, rather than cleaning our own damn bathroom and the "break room" is our personal fridge, where we pay the electric bill. It is not wrong for subordinates to experience emotional attachment and devotion to our managers, supervisors, and executives, and within the bounds of corporate professionalism, there is nothing wrong with those emotional ties. Even if I must lament the demise of same-sex exclusive spaces and the increase in gender-based tensions or imbalances among office workers.

Nevermind the practical and financial WFH disadvantages but I don't call leaders "narcissistic" just because they enjoy being human and socialized.

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