Joseph Campbell was an American professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College in New York who is best known for his work, "The Hero with a Thousand Faces", in which he proposes that all mythological hero stories share the same structure. He called this structure a "monomyth", or hero's journey. Cambell described a number of stages on this hero's journey:
1. The hero's adventure begins in the ordinary world.
2. The hero must depart from the ordinary world and receives a call to adventure.
3. With the help of a mentor, the hero will cross a guarded threshold, leading to a supernatural world.
4. The hero will embark on a road of trials.
5. Sometimes the hero is assisted by allies.
6. The hero eventually is faced with the greatest challenge or ordeal.
7. The hero passes the challenge and receives a reward.
8. The hero returns to the ordinary world. The reward will help the hero to improve the ordinary world.
Does any of this sound familiar? If you have ever watched the original Star Wars movie trilogy, it should. Apparently George Lucas, who created the Star Wars universe, was greatly influenced by Campbell's theories. The Star Wars trilogy had all of these elements and more. Perhaps that is why these movies are still popular even today. As it turns out, we can learn a lot about leadership by enjoying these movies!
When Anakin Skywalker succumbed to the Dark Side of the Force, he became the trilogy's supervillain Darth Vader. As it turns out, leadership has its own dark side too. The three personality traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy comprise what has come to be called the Dark Triad. Importantly, every one of us have varying degrees of these three personality traits, some more than others. And a number of studies have linked these three traits with leadership (see the Harvard Business Review article, "Why Bad Guys Win at Work").
Psychopathy (also known as sociopathy) is not a trait that immediately comes to mind when you think of good leaders. Psychopaths in general more bold, egocentric, reckless, and remorseless than the rest of us. Machiavellianism is related to superficial charm ("fake" charm), deceit, ruthlessness, and impulsivity. Individuals who score high on this trait would suggest that "the ends always justify the means" and "it is hard to get ahead without cutting corners." Finally, narcissism is characterized by an inflated, grandiose sense of self-worth and an overabundance of pride.
Most studies would suggest that these three personality traits develop early in life. In what is perhaps the best study of all time ("The making of Darth Vader: Parent-child care and the Dark Triad"), one group of investigators surmised that Anakin Skywalker (who scores high on all three of the personality traits that comprise the Dark Triad) became Darth Vader because of the loss of his mother. If you've watched the Star Wars prequel trilogy, that should come as no surprise.
Here's where things get really interesting. As Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic wrote in the aforementioned HBR article, "there is clearly a bright side to their dark side." A number of studies have suggested that individuals who score high on the psychopathic, narcissistic, or Machiavellian traits often end up in positions of leadership. Several investigators have used biographical data to rate the U.S. Presidents from Washington to Reagan on the three traits that comprise the Dark Triad. In general, Presidents scoring high on narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy are the ones that are more often rated to be among the nation's most successful Presidents.
There are clearly advantages to having some degree of the Dark Triad traits. But at what cost? I would argue that Darth Vader was a great leader (as others have also done). Perhaps the character Ollivander in the Harry Potter movies said it best when he said that Voldemort (who has a similar personality profile to Darth Vader, I might add) did "great things - terrible yes, but great." And there is a tremendous down side to narcissistic, Machiavellian, and psychopathic leaders - they are often associated with job dissatisfaction, turnover, absenteeism, and even lower productivity (not to mention the associations with embezzlement, fraud, and corruption).
I will leave this discussion with where I started - with a quote by Joseph Campbell. He said, "Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging." He followed with, "If the path before you is clear, you're probably on someone else's." Perhaps those are the best leadership lessons of them all.
No comments:
Post a Comment