Think Again!

Appendices • 181

but it simultaneously pronounces the patient unfit to manage his own life and delivers him into the hands of a specialist. As therapeutic points of view and practice gain general acceptance, more and more people find themselves disqualified, in effect, from the performance of adult responsibilities and become dependent on some form of medical authority” (p. 230).

II. The following are selected quotes from Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership , Gary L. McIntosh and Samuel D. Rima. 87

A. “For the narcissistic leader, the world revolves on the axis of self, and all other people and issues closely orbit them as they get caught in the strong gravitational pull of the narcissist’s self-absorption. Narcissistic leaders ‘present various combinations of intense ambitiousness, grandiose fantasies, feelings of inferiority and over dependence on external admiration and acclaim.’ At the same time a self-absorbed leader is chronically uncertain of himself and experiences dissatisfaction with his accomplishments, which he tries to overcome by exploiting others in ways that will help elevate his self-image. In addition, narcissistic leaders have an overinflated sense of their importance to the organization and have an exhibitionistic need for constant attention and admiration from others, especially those they lead and any person or group to whom they report. In spite of their drive to achieve greatness, their restless ambition is rarely satisfied in a way that enables them to enjoy their accomplishments. Another characteristic is their ‘interpersonal exploitiveness,’ in which others are taken advantage in order to indulge [their] own desires or for self-aggrandizement.”