British Bank CEOs: Self-deceptive Narcissists?

I recently came across this article from Gill Corkindale about how British bank CEOs are failing to take responsibility for the failure of their banks and their banks’ role in bringing on the global financial crisis. When the British CEOs answered the questions of the parliamentary select committee last week, their lack of self-awareness was astounding. Says Corkindale:

There were apologies, but the careful scripts showed how forced their contrition was. They seemed strangely detached from reality, as if the crisis had somehow occurred of its own accord, with events overtaking them.

In our book Essence of Leadership, Nada and I categorised different types of leadership personalities. I believe that these bank CEOs are self-deceptive narcissists, which Nada and I described as:

Hold[ing] self-delusory and unrealistic beliefs, primarily created by their primary carers. A self-deceptive narcissist leader is likely to suffer from defficiencies in bonding in relationships, due to the unrealistic ideals given to them by their parental figures. As a result, on the one hand, self-deceptive narcissist leaders tend to look to others to provide structure to their lives, a result of not being given the opportunity to face up to criticism and take control of their lives during their development. On the other, they like to be liked.

Clearly it’s not fair to generalise, but the bank CEOs’ behaviour has not done them any favours. As Corkindale notes, it was very interesting to see these leaders outside the protection of their organisation and entourage. Hopefully they will learn from their continued losses, and take some responsibility for the role their organisations have played in starting this recession.