Crain's New York Business, December 31, 2010, Friday

Crain's New York Business

December 31, 2010, Friday

Crain's New York Business

This year, tame your office narcissist

By Anne Fisher

Most workplaces have a few of them, and some have several: people who are, in Jack Goncalo's words, "self-loving, self-aggrandizing and self-absorbed." Maybe it's a partner, or a colleague, or even (perish the thought) you. If one of your New Year's resolutions is to tame someone's out-of-control ego, here's encouraging news. According to Mr. Goncalo's research, narcissists can be quite valuable to a business. Says he, "You just have to make sure that they're in the right jobs."

Mr. Goncalo, a professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, also teaches seminars on creativity at Cornell's Institute for Workplace Studies at Madison Avenue and East 34th Street.

He and two colleagues set out to determine whether there really is a connection between narcissism--"as a personality trait, not a mental disorder," he explains--and innovative thinking.

It turns out that creative people aren't as narcissistic as many people think, he notes. The myth may persist because of examples like Pablo Picasso. "God is really an artist, like me," Mr. Picasso once said. "I am God."

OK, so maybe your office egotist doesn't put himself on a par with the Almighty, or at least doesn't say so out loud. Still, if you're putting up with someone's outsize ego because he or she comes across as a font of terrific plans and suggestions, the question is worth asking: Do narcissists really have better ideas than their more modest and self-effacing peers?

In general, the answer is no. But supersize self-regard does have its uses. "What we found is that people who got very high scores on a standardized test for narcissism did not, when their ideas were evaluated objectively, actually produce better ideas," says Mr. Goncalo. They were, however, far better than average at persuading others that their ideas were terrific.

"The narcissists we studied impressed independent judges as more enthusiastic, confident and charismatic than the test subjects whose narcissism scores were low," he says. "Because they truly believe their ideas are superior, they're much more effective at pitching them to others." The implications for business are clear, Mr. Goncalo adds: "Narcissists make great salespeople."

And that's not all. If you want to kick-start creativity on a team project, make sure the team includes at least one or two outsized egos--but not more than one or two. In a fascinating study called "Are Two Narcissists Better Than One? The Link Between Narcissism, Perceived Creativity and Creative Performance," Mr. Goncalo and his colleagues found "evidence of a curvilinear effect:" Having a few narcissists around is "better for generating creative outcomes"--in part because narcissists bubble over with innovative suggestions as a way of calling attention to themselves--but "having too many provides diminishing returns."

"On a team that's overloaded with narcissists, there will be too much conflict," explains Mr. Goncalo. "Nothing will get done."

Based on his research, Mr. Goncalo believes that the biggest business risk posed by your office narcissist is that "better ideas from quieter, less persuasive people may get overlooked. Be careful not to judge an idea by who's presenting it." Noted.

How do you deal with self-absorbed colleagues or employees? Do you agree that egotism and charisma go hand in hand? Tell us at www.crainsnewyork.com/execinbox.