Selfish leaders are everywhere and all they want is to highlight their performance riding on others’ achievements and commonly fake who they are. You must pay close attention to identify selfish leaders because they exist everywhere, in politics, business, education, entertainment, and in every part of society.
They are very astute to do evil things in subtle ways; this is one of their main traits. They can be charming or well-mannered and likable leaders because they are good at manipulating people. They want it all for themselves and they will go to extreme lengths to get it. Especially, when they are in high positions they use their title and seniority to suppress others and claim others’ wins. And mostly they do nothing but simply walk around or sit at the desk giving instructions to other people.
However, these leaders fall into their own traps sooner or later. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”
Selfish leaders are less concerned about cost. They like to keep assistants around them to carry their luggage, laptop and documents. Selfishness is a psyche of superiority so it’s natural that such leaders like to show-off to position themselves above others. Such leaders are built by default in some situations. When the top management does not have a scientific way of measuring someone’s real abilities and promotions are given based on qualifications, it can naturally create selfish leaders. You know well that we have well qualified leaders who even don’t have common sense, hence unable to read and react to a very simple question in the right context.
These leaders do not allow their subordinates to get due credit due to the fear of losing the unsubstantiated esteem. Since selfish leaders excel at manipulating people, it may be hard to identify them easily. It may take years of powerful observation to clearly identify and take remedial action. These types of leaders are exposed to who they truly are by their own words and actions as they can’t keep up with their lies forever.
No straight and clear answers
Egoistic and selfish leaders put themselves first and are only concerned with self-advancement by using what you know and what you possess. Such leaders do not give you clear and straight answers when they are questioned about something.
They usually don’t look you in the eye and alter the information they share with you or keep changing the subject. They do not commit to anything: Selfish leaders always think in terms of “What is it in for me?” and how they can benefit from you and others. They have minimal intentions in doing anything for the larger organisation to benefit without having ulterior motives.
They are rarely interested in collaborating with other team members for organisations progress but rather disguise the hierarchy at meetings with claims that they have not contributed to.
Some selfish leaders speak eloquently to make you feel important, and also tell you how they can be of help to you. They use this deceptive tactic to get you to help them and trust them, not the other way around. Selfish leaders are not generous with their knowledge, time, support, resources, in general. They idolise their position and material possessions and always think about how to get more things for them, not for you.
Selfish leaders lack the courage to face and rectify the negative consequences of their actions. They know when they have done something wrong to you and opt to disrespect you by pretending that nothing happened. These leaders are arrogant and give little or no importance to the way you feel as a result of how they have hurt you. They resort to lies and think that you are inferior to even consider apologising to you.
If you have such leaders made by default or by design, put them under a proper microscope, give them well-defined goals to be performed individually. Measure performance scientifically and give the feedback he or she actually deserves. Place them at the right position or lay them off
Never fear to let go of such leaders as they do more harm than good though they may have paper qualifications or a long history with the company. What matters is the value one creates and not the qualifications or the experience. What matters is words, actions and true tangible performance and nothing else. When a leader’s words are not aligned with his actions, you must be careful. Remember to practise observation. The truth always comes to light and selfish leaders fall into their own trap because they can’t remember everything they’ve said and done. Don’t waste your time and effort by entertaining such problem creators and allow bad influence on good leaders.