Coaching the Toxic Leader by Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries [HBR Apr 2014]

Manfred F.R.Kets de Vries, who teaches at French Business School INSEAD, contributed an interesting article to Apr 2014’s edition of HBR.  In Coaching the Toxic Leader, he identified four dysfunctional personalities and shared case studies on how he coached senior executives with those conditions.

The four dysfunctional personalities were:

·         The Narcissist

·         The Manic-Depressive

·         The Passive-Aggressive

·         The Emotionally Disconnected

The Narcissist

De Vries described narcissism as the most commonly manifested personality in senior executives.  He identified a narcissism case study subject he coached as “living in a binary world where people were either “for” or “against” him.”  Surprisingly, de Vries cautioned against being harsh to narcissists, explaining that their “confidence conceals a deep vulnerability”.   To me, that sounded like a school playground bully’s personality.

To coach a narcissist, de Vries pinpointed two aspects of how a narcissist related to other people: transference and competitiveness.  Despite succeeding with his case study (who was selected by the board to take CEO-ship), de Vries cautioned that “narcissist all too commonly regressed into their old ways, especially once they’ve achieved their ambitions.”

 

The Manic-Depressive

Surprisingly, manic depression, or bipolar disorder, according to de Vries, is a mental disorder that some senior executives suffer from.  De Vries’ case study subject had mood swings ranging from the very high to the very low with “no emotional middle ground”.  I’m surprised that instead of being treated medically, de Vries’ subject is treated via coaching.  Nonetheless, de Vries coached his subject by making him “confront the reality of his relationships with others and work with the people he affects to create a new structure in which he can operate safely.”  Laudably, after working with the subject for six months, during which the subject’s mental state stabilized, the subject resumed medical treatment for his bipolar disorder.

 

The Passive-Aggressive

According to de Vries, passive-aggressive senior executives display their resentment by deliberately delaying the delivery of their work.  I wonder how on earth they could progressed in their career if they appear to be sabotaging themselves like this.  De Vries explained that these people could still produce high quality work, when push came to shove.  De Vries worked with his case study subject through consistent confrontation, practicing better behavior and by involving the subject’s family members.

 

The Emotionally Disconnected

In de Vries’ words, senior executives who are emotionally disconnected “don’t exude the dynamism, inspiration, or vision that a high-performing organization needs, its’ hard for them to motivate ohers.  Having poor communication skills and being hard to read, they don’t get the best out of people….” De Vries suggested fixing immediate problems and describing the pain as part of his coaching work with his case study subject, a technical person who took up the CIO position in a private company from the government ministry.

 

De Vries contributed article to HBR is interesting, because he provided a glimpse into the mental demons that senior executives suffer from.  With their or their companies’ financial means, de Vries’ case study subjects could afford his services (I’m guessing the professor from INSEAD doesn’t charge a mass-market fee for his services) and improve their personal lives and career prospects.  Normal employees suffering from the same mental disorders might simply be dismissed as incompetent in their jobs or a mismatch with their positions.