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KEITH MORRISON AUTHOR AND EDUCATIONIST -
kmorrison.iium@gmail.com
I love me M
leaders if it is to prosper. Let me tell you a story of
leadership. Once upon a time there
was a middle manager. He thought he knew everything. His self-importance was staggering and he would brook no disagreement, even when he talked nonsense. He trumpeted his own exaggerated achievements in every area. He had done everything, knew everything and everyone, achieved everything, been everywhere, beaten everyone and so on. He would preface his
email with details of what he had done and what successes he had achieved, believing that it made him famous or admirable. Indeed what most people would
see as humdrum in their lives, he saw as remarkable in his. He considered himself as only answerable
to the big bosses of the organisation and he answered only to them. He dismissed everyone else as contemptible, lower minions, incapable of understanding his high-level thoughts or unworthy of receiving them. Sadly, he really thought that he was unrivalled, that nobody
else could match him, that nobody else had ideas as good as his, and that his brain power was of unequalled and unlimited brilliance. He demanded special treatment and special attention from his superiors and subordinates alike.
No emotional control His emotional intelligence and empathy were almost zero. Emotionally challenged, he had a childlike inability to control his emotions. He was unable to see a situation through other people’s eyes or even to concede that there just might be an alternative, worthwhile view of a situation. He was the paragon of arrogance but emotionally frail,
OCTOBER 2010
DYSFUNCTIONAL LEADERSHIP IS ALIVE IN MACAU AND SPOILING EVERYTHING IN SIGHT
acau needs better leaders in business, administration and politics. Recent newspaper reports have carried criticisms of our deadbeat, arrogant, irrational, self-
protecting, power-wielding, under-qualifi ed leaders. The criticism came to a head with a corrosive attack on Macau’s current leaders by the former President of Macau’s Legislative Assembly Susana Chou. Macau must rid itself of dysfunctional
for, if challenged, he would throw a histrionic tantrum, either during a meeting or metaphorically by email. Indeed anything could trigger a disproportionate, vitriolic and abusive response. He was true to the saying “if all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail”. He was viscerally incapable of apologising for his grotesquely bad behaviour. Here was a spoilt or emotionally damaged child trapped
inside the body of an adult, constantly seeking to be the centre of attention at any price. He demanded adulation, which, understandably, he never received. He was obsessed with power and control, and unable to work with people, only against them. The staff turnover in his department was colossal. Being highly competitive and needing to win every
competition, he was constantly watching out for others, just in case they were trying to be better than him or, as he imagined, to do him down. He displayed monstrous envy if others were praised in his presence. It was paranoid behaviour.
Delusions of grandeur He was clearly delusional and unhinged. A simple question was seen as a challenge to his authority. Even a normal conversation was seen as a battle that he had to win. Like a dog with a bone, he could not let another person even try to win a disagreement, even when this led to protracted exchanges of endless emails. Clinically, he was
perseverating or repeating himself uncontrollably. He was unable to
solve the problems he had caused; his appalling
behaviour provoked responses from his colleagues, which
then prompted a yet more violent, petulant response from him, and so
on endlessly, unless people simply walked away from him. He could not see that, actually,
his behaviour was the problem. It was impossible to have a rational conversation or
correspondence with him, as rationality was not in his dictionary. Do you recognise such a person in your organisation? It is called Narcissistic Personality Disorder and it’s
pathological; a classifi ed mental/borderline personality disorder. The syndrome is well documented and is largely incurable except by prolonged therapy but it is unlikely that anyone suffering from the disorder would put themselves in the position to seek help. Sufferers are typically unstable and impossible to work
with. They are toxic in any organisation and yet we fi nd them in positions of power thanks to their ability to manipulate their way upwards. This isn’t a made-up story. It’s true and alive in Macau. Leadership? They can only lead slaves.
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