While Donaldson-Pressman and Pressman are focusing on the family system, they do have a few things to say initially about the narcissistic personality. I will use some of my own language to describe three different categories of individual narcissism – building on the descriptions offered by Donaldson-Pressman and Pressman. I wil then turn to the characteristics of the narcissistic organization. The Flagrant (Overt) Narcissist This is the person who is always talking about themselves and engaging in activities that brings attention to them. Their apparent “love” for other people is actually love reflected back onto them. The flagrant narcissist...
Functional organizations are not places of the body and mind. They are places of spirit and soul. There is no such thing as a “secular” organization—for all contemporary models of organizational life are deeply embedded to the framework of ancient religious practices and have been nurtured in the soil of communal life and traditional societies. Functional and effective leadership requires a movement to soulfulness and spirit—terms and dynamics that are not easily understood or embraced in our 21st Century postmodern society. Don Quixote and Narcissism We must further look to a shift from the modern organizational emphasis on goal-setting...
