Level 5 Leadership and

Narcissistic Leaders
(Module 6)
Leadership and Change Management
Dr. Anuradha Chavali
(30/06/2024)
Learning Objectives
• Enlist the characteristics of Level 5 Leaders
• Explain the operating style of Level 5 Leaders
• Enumerate the characteristics of Narcissistic Leader
• Explain the operating style of Narcissistic Leader
Question
Jim Collins’s research found that the executives often talked about
“good luck”, a very common factor that played a role in an
organization’s success. When asked about how their organization had
such a great track record of making good decisions, an executive of
Nucor, a steel organization, answered: “I guess we were just lucky”. In
another instance, the CEO of Philip Morris refused to take credit for the
organization’s success. Instead, he said he was lucky to get good
successors, predecessors and colleagues who were responsible for the
organization’s success.
Identify the leadership characteristic of the said leaders.
Recap
Characteristics of Level 5 Leaders
• Fierce will
• Compelling humility
Question
Warren Buffett is known for great success, surrounding himself with people he
trusts. He uses this leadership style to make sure the people he works with can
do their jobs efficiently so he doesn’t have to worry about it, only intervening
when it’s absolutely necessary. Buffett is known for letting people make
mistakes so they can learn from them, a huge benefit for many. Identify the
operating style of Warren Buffett.
a. Have faith and face hard facts
b. Welcome arguments and debates
c. Learn from mistakes
d. Use red flags
e. Discipline vs. freedom
Question
In 2020, the founder and CEO of Zoom had apologized to the video
conferencing app's millions of users after coming under fire for a
host of privacy issues at a time when it has emerged as a vital social
and professional lifeline for many. "We recognize that we have fallen
short of the community's -- and our own -- privacy and security
expectations," Eric Yuan said and "For that, I am deeply sorry.“ Zoom
will stop adding new features for the next 90 days and instead focus
solely on addressing privacy issues, Yuan said.
Identify the operating style of Eric.
Recap
Operating Style of Level 5 Leader
• First who, then what
• Have faith, face hare facts- question and question, welcome
arguments, learn from mistakes, use of red flags
• Hedgehog concept
• Discipline Vs. freedom
• Adopting technology
Question
Musk, the SpaceX co-founder indeed, has an animating vision he’d like to see brought to
life. More specifically, he’s dreaming of a more energy efficient world. By opening Tesla’s
patents to rivals “for the advancement of electric vehicle technology,” and introduction
of a new line of solar-powered batteries for the home and office. However, he also has
another vision that is, quite literally, out of this world: the colonization of Mars making
the case for needing to safeguard mankind’s existence if “something catastrophic” were
to happen. Identify the narcissist leadership characteristic in Elon Musk.
a) Compelling Vision
b) Charisma
c) Manipulative
d) Emotionally isolated
e) Lack of Empathy
Recap
Characteristics of Narcissistic Leaders
• Compelling vision
• Charisma
• Emotionally isolated
• Lack of empathy
• Bad mentors
• Relentless and ruthless
• Workaholics
• Power hungry
Question
Known for tooting his own horn in public, the infamous football coach
Jose Mourinho once stated, “Please don’t call me arrogant, but I’m a
European champion and I think I’m a special one.” Identify the
operating style of Jose Mourinho.
Recap
Operating Style of Narcissistic Leaders
• Manipulative
• Control communication
• Control decision making
• Build empire
• Crave visibility
• Blame others for failures
Question
Tonya Echols, an executive coach and a member of Forbes, shared a coaching
strategy called ‘Check Your Biases and Triggers’. She said that a coach should
check his/her own judgment and biases. She added thatthe key to support
employees/client is to reflect on own perspective. Which way of balancing
narcissistic leader to avoid getting trapped in their own personality is shown in
the above information?
a. Take the help of an associate
b. Use psychoanalysis
c. Humorous
d. Detachedness
e. Manipulative
Question
Gyllenhammar, chairman and former CEO of Volvo, is popularly known for his
narcissistic leadership. He had an obsessive COO, Hakon Frisinger, to
emphasize on improving his quality, and also an obsessive HR director, Berth
Jonsson to track on implementing his vision. Which way of balancing
narcissistic leader to avoid getting trapped in their own personality is shown in
the above information?
a. Take the help of an associate
b. Use psychoanalysis
c. Good humoured
d. Detachedness
e. Manipulative
Recap
Balancing Narcissistic Leader
• Take the help of an associate
• Use psychoanalysis
Question
Larry Page, the co-founder of Google is described by staff at Google as brilliant, intellectually honest person with
an incomparable vision of the industry. In the super-secret operating committee meetings while the CEO, Eric
Schmidt was in control, Larry would be sitting in the middle of the table engrossed with himself, clicking away at
his lap top even as the meeting went on. In between Schmidt would ask Larry and Sergey (Other co-founder) to
focus on the point. Larry would do so and in no time grasp the issue give his opinion along with Sergey and a
decision would be taken, as quickly and smoothly as possible.
But on the other hand, many at Google called him an ego-maniac and a self-centred person. Larry is said to be
emotionally detached and preferred to be alone. He was considered empathetic and disregarded other’s
problems. A survey done in which the number of times in a short talk a person used the words: I, my, own, me
etc depicting focus on oneself revealed that Larry Page was well up on the scale of self-absorption. But then as
the founder and person involved in the growth of Google, he created billions of dollars of wealth for the
shareholders.
Based on the above caselet, answer the following questions:
• Is Larry Page narcissistic? Give two reasons to support your view.
• Discuss three personality traits of Larry Page which would be liked by his subordinates and three traits which
would be disliked by his subordinates.