Throughout the term I have learned various things about what it means to be a good leader. Of all the topics covered my biggest take-away is the success of narcissistic leaders and what makes them successful. Looking at myself, and being self-aware, I do have a very high capacity for narcissistic people. This is due to the certain level of narcissism I contain myself. This narcissism stems from growing up in an area with lots of wealth and being surrounded by affluent people. As a child I met adults who seemed to have everything they could ever want. It has driven the idea that I can also, someday, have anything I want. If I work hard enough for it. Not only that, but I also feel entitled to greatness. This sense of entitlement does not come from the fact that my parents were able to give me most things that I wanted as a child. It comes from the feeling that I am destined to do something great with my life. I preface with that because narcissistic leaders tend to have great visions and are highly competitive. They tend to care more about what they are doing than the people that they are doing it with. This resonates with me because when I know I am in a position to succeed I often lose sight of my better half and my narcissism gets the best of me. Learning about this throughout the term has given me an opportunity to not only control my narcissism, but also to use it to my advantage in life. Understanding that being narcissistic is not always a great path to making friends and lasting relationships I can reserve those traits when I am called upon to lead. This is especially relevant, when in today’s world, everywhere you look there is a narcissistic leader in some way or another.
