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Narcissistic Leadership Assignment
Brayden Aysta
Liberty University
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Tuppince, Yuri
15 June 2025
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Abstract
This essay looks at the difference between narcissistic leaders and covenant ones. It first begins
by discussing what narcissism is, and how the term, “Narcissist,” came from a Greek myth. It
also looks at the two types of narcissists, these being vulnerable and grandiose, and the many
traits that narcissistic people have. This article also looks at what a covenant is from a Biblical
standpoint, and some of the traits that covenant leaders have. This essay will also then talk about
if I took over as a police chief of a department that just recently had a chief who was extremely
narcissistic. I discuss some of the changes that I would make. I talk about the hundred stay
evaluation period that new police chiefs have, similar to that of new presidents, that allows for
me to quickly make my changes to the department knowing that in that short time there would be
an evaluation to see how I am doing, and the connection that I would try to make with my
officers, not just as a police officer but as a human being, as well as the leadership traits that I
would try to display. I also talk about how I would try to be the opposite of everything that the
old chief was. However with this, I talk about how there could be a downside to this as well as
officers might have liked how the old chief was running things and how serious he was when it
came to his views of the department.
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What is narcissism?
Narcissism is seen as having a high regard for oneself. Narcissism, as described by the
article, “Affective Contingencies of Narcissism,” as, “A personality trait marked by a sense of
grandiosity, superiority, and entitlement to special treatment” (Grapsas, Brummelman, Dufner
and Dennisen, P. 1). The history of narcissism is based on the Greek myth character named
Narcissus, who ended up falling in love with oneself.
A lot of people who display this might often go into leadership roles, not for the good of
the organization that they serve, but to better perfect their image. “Grandiose Narcissists and
Decision Making: Impulsive, Overconfident, and Skeptical of Experts- But Seldom in Doubt,”
talks about this and states, “This research has shown that grandiose narcissists often seek out and
attain positions of leadership in organizations, but their propensity to pursue their own interests
at the expense of the collective can jeopardize the organizations and institutions they lead”
(Reilly and Hall, P. 1).=
= The essay, “Narcissistic Leaders- Promise or Peril? The Patterns of Narcissistic Leaders’
Behaviors and Their Relation to Team Performance,” by Ellen A. Schmid, Kristin Knipfer and
Claudia V. Peus discusses narcissism and states, “Nowadays, it is defined by the American
Psychological Association as a set of behaviors described by predominant patterns of grandiosity
along with a need for admiration and lack of empathy. Narcissists have been characterized by a
sense of personal superiority, grandiosity, and dominance, as well as being assertive, desiring
power, and longing for attention and confirmation of their superiority” (Schmid, Knipfer and
Peus, P. 2).=
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Narcissists can display a range of traits. “Narcissistic Leaders,” discusses how narcissists
can be when people first meet them, and describes them as being, “Interesting, charming, and
interpersonally skilled” (Schmid, Knipfer and Peus, P. 2). This can start off by giving people a
false image by thinking that their leader is a charming person before they discover the real truth.
Other traits that they can display are disagreeableness, self-importance, and entitlement.=
The two types of narcissism are vulnerable and grandiose. “Those Who Gift Only
Themselves: An Analysis of Gifted Narcissists as Ultimate Self-Transactionalists” discusses
these two types and states, “Grandiose narcissism is characterized by high self-esteem and
maintaining positive illusions about oneself, whereas vulnerable narcissism is characterized by
low self-esteem and a high need for recognition or insecurity, among other traits” (Desmet and
Sternberg, P. 2).=
Leaders who display narcissism can often display little care for their subordinates. The
article, “Don’t Go Chasing Narcissists: A Relational-Based and Multiverse Perspective on
Leader Narcissism and Follower Engagement Using a Machine Learning Approach,” states,
“Narcissistic individuals often engage in self-enhancing and self-promoting behavior, which can
result in initially being perceived as charming. However, these positive attributions tend to be
short-lived, and long-term interactions with such individuals usually result in describing
individuals as untrustworthy and uncaring about others” (Gruda, Karanatsiou, Hanges, Golbeck
and Vakali, 2023).=
This leads to another trait which is selfishness. A narcissistic leader might not care about
what their followers are going through. All they care about is the job, and whether their followers
are getting the job done or not. What they might not realize is that if their followers are not doing
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well, it can allow them to not be able to focus and concentrate on the job. They might fail to
realize that their followers are people too and have lives outside of the workplace.
One of the pitfalls of narcissism in a workplace is that it can create a toxic workplace as
people are not going to feel attached to a leader who is uncaring about them. When a leader
views themselves to a high degree, they might oftentimes make decisions to only help their
careers, and not be doing them for the good of the organization that they run. This is associated
with the trait of self-gain as narcissistic leaders might only make decisions to help themselves.=
In the Bible, 2 Timothy 3:1-17 does not necessarily use the term, “narcissism,” but
discusses warning signs of the end times, and mentions loving oneself as one of the signs. This
verse states, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For
people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their
parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not
loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of
God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”=
Another big trait in leaders who exhibit narcissism is anger. Although anger is a natural
human emotion, it can cause problems in the workplace. Leaders who are narcissists might find
themselves easily getting angered when they feel like things don’t go their way.=“Take Your
Ethics and Shove It! Narcissists’ Angry Responses to Ethical Leadership,” discusses this and
states, “Further, we suggest felt anger by narcissists prompts them to engage in withdrawal
behaviors when working for an ethical leader” (Fox, Smith and Webster, P. 2).
Another trait is lack of empathy. As a leader, we oftentimes need to put ourselves in the
shoes of our subordinates. When leaders lack empathy, they might often care less about how one
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of their employees is doing that day or what is going on in their personal lives that might be
creating a burden for them, and instead care on the job performance at hand. Narcissistic leaders
might display an attitude of, “I don’t care. Get back to work,” when they see one of their
employees is slacking due to something occurring in their lives.
Another trait is self-views. This is someone who is not open to interpretations from other
people, but only focuses on their ideas. However, although there are negatives to leaders who
display narcissism, sometimes there can be positives to it. People who display narcissism might
sometimes feel like they need to lead, and every organization needs to have a strong leader.
“Different Forms of Narcissism and Leadership,” states, “For instance, grandiose narcissists
might strive for leadership positions, as they like to have authority over others and see
themselves as born leaders” (Gauglitz, P. 1).
One of the biggest pitfalls of narcissistic leadership is the downfall of a company. There
are lots of times when companies fail due to the leadership running them. Leadership can be
what either makes or breaks a company. With this, an organization needs people for it to run
successfully, and if people feel like they are not being appreciated then it can cause them to
leave. This can cause organizations struggling to find potential new employees.
“Different Forms of Narcissism and Leadership,” touches on this with, “Leading also
requires relationship-building with followers, something grandiose narcissistic leaders might not
be good at because they are not interested in close and warm relationships. Instead, grandiose
narcissistic leaders might exploit their followers due to their selfishness, which might turn into
destructive leadership or abusive supervision” (Gauglitz, P. 1-2).
What is covenant leadership?
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We often hear the term, “Covenant,” in a Christian setting, but it does have a lot of
impact when it comes to political and leadership power as well. A covenant relates to having a
long-standing agreement, in Christian terms this being between the Lord and the people. The
essay, “A Biblical/Covenantal Perspective,” discusses the definition of covenant. “A
Biblical/Covenantal Perspective,” states, “A covenant is a morally informed agreement among
various parties to ratify and establish a long term, mutually-affirming relationship” (Fischer, P.
2).=
The article, “‘We the People of Israel’: Covenant, Constitution, and the Supposed Biblical
Origins of Modern Democratic Political Thought” states, “Subsequent biblical interpretation
imbued covenant with theological meaning and religious authority, demonstrating the long-
intertwined history of politics and study of the Hebrew Bible. While less popular today, the
concept of covenant is still used in modern political and legal theory to denote an agreement or
compact” (Johnson, P. 2).=
A covenant leader might oftentimes be found in a leader who has a personal relationship
with the Lord and can allow people to see God through them. An important trait of a covenant
leader is obligation. Subordinates want a leader who will go to great lengths for them. “A
Biblical/Covenantal Perspective,” states, “In Scripture, love and duty are intertwined and it is
related to what Christ said when He told His followers to go ‘the extra mile’ in serving one
another” (Fischer, P. 2). When followers know that their leaders will go the extra mile for them,
they might then do the same for their leaders as well.=
Another important trait is federalism, which means dividing power among an
organization. Leaders need to help distribute power and decision-making abilities among their
subordinates. In a company for instance, a CEO should not have to carry the weight of making
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every single decision to how that company is run. Although that CEO most likely might be
making some of the most important ones, they often don’t have to decide everything that occurs
on a day to day basis. This ability needs to be disseminated out among leadership and decided as
a group effort.
Perhaps the biggest trait of a covenant leader is faithfulness. Followers want a leader who
is going to be faithful to their people and to the organization that they run, even to people .
“‘Children of the Prophets and the Covenant’: A Post-Supersessionist Reading of the Luke-
Acts,” touches on faithfulness in the Bible and states, “In brief, I argue that Luke-Acts narrates
Israel’s God maintaining covenant faithfulness to the Jewish people by bringing salvation to
Israel and the nations through Jesus” (Moraff, 2023).
Role as a Police Chief
If I took the position as a new police chief after the department just experienced one who
displayed a high amount of narcissism, one of the first things that I would do would let my
officers know that they should not expect the same behavior out of me that they had from their
old chief, and that I am there to make a change. Instead of presenting myself as the type of leader
who is like, “I am the chief, you all work for me,” I would present myself as, “I am the chief, and
I am excited to work with you all.”=
As a police chief, you are leading an organization where you all work together as a team.
I did not accept the role as the chief of police to better myself and give myself a good image, but
rather to work for the good of the department, as well as do everything in my power to help keep
the community safe. I would call for a meeting with my leadership, ranging all the way from the
sergeants, lieutenants, captains, and assistant chief, and allow them to open up the floor and tell
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me what their biggest complaints with their old chief was and how it impacted the department.
Before the meeting, I would allow them the chance to have their officers leave anonymous
messages on how they think the department could be improved and how they felt about the
former chief, and allow the leadership to bring these to the meeting. This would help me see
what type of leader not only would I try to avoid being after seeing the impact it had on officers,
but also be the opposite of.
One of the most important things that I would try to keep in mind is I would try to be the
type of chief that I would want to work under. Leaders need to think about if a situation was
reversed what kind of leader they would want to have if they were a subordinate. With the topic
of narcissism, no subordinates are going to want to work for a leader who always admires
themselves. They are not going to want to have to be reminded of how great their leader
is.=Although I might be the chief, at the end of the day I am still a sworn officer just like every
other officer is and still oblige by the same oath everyone took at the end of the academy.
Similar to the election of a new president, the first hundred days are vital to see the
progress that a new chief is making in their department. The article, “Pandemic, Protest, and
Unrest: Lessons Learned from a New Chief’s First 100 Days,” states, “In the law enforcement
world, the first 100 days for police chiefs are very significant. In many cases, new chiefs are new
to not only the agency but also the city and have no established relationships or partnerships in
the community. Therefore, the 100-day standard is used not only to evaluate their success
internally, within their agency, but also to gauge the extent to which they are able to successfully
integrate externally, into the community they serve” (Cohene and Fortune, P. 1).=
With the trait of federalism, as a police chief I would want to make sure that I would not
be responsible for making all the decisions in the department. I would want my leadership to
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help feel like they are making changes in the department as well. Before making any big
decisions in the department, I would try to discuss these changes with my leadership to see if
they are all on board, and not have the image of making decisions without seeing how my
officers feel about it first. Environments where leadership makes rapid changes without thinking
about the impacts they will have on regular staff can cause discomfort and frustration.
With lack of empathy as discussed with being one of the traits of a narcissistic leader, I
would display empathy for my officers. Even though we are sworn police officers with a duty to
protect and serve, ultimately at the end of the day we are all humans going through some sort of
challenges that not everybody can see. I would try to have an open door policy for my officers to
come speak to me if they have something serious going on. Although in an organization we
follow a chain of command, I would not want my officers to reach out to me with an on-duty job
question that they can ask their immediate supervisor. However, if there is something more
serious going on that they feel like they cannot talk to anybody else about and they want to talk
to the chief, I would allow that open door policy for them to come talk to me.
When it comes to the mission of the department, if the department had a specific mission
motto that they had been using for years, I would try to not necessarily change it because
oftentimes when a new leader changes the mission motto, it might cause people to feel that they
are changing it to their own version. Instead, I would remind people of the motto and remind
them that we are all in together to uphold it. For example, we have all likely heard the mission
motto that is used by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) which is, “To protect and
serve.” Let’s say I took the position as the new chief of the LAPD, upon taking chief, I would tell
my officers in my speech, “I am here to protect and serve with you all here, together.” This
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would remind them that although I am the newly appointed chief, I am here to apply the same
work as every other officer in the department.
However, there are always potential pitfalls within any organization. There might be
officers who liked the way that the old chief was running the department. Even though he
displayed narcissism, some officers might have liked some of the values that he exhibited and
was trying to establish throughout the department. Narcissists might feel very strongly about
making sure that their ideas and values are used through the department, and some officers might
like what he was doing. They might have even liked how strongly he felt about them.
Ultimately, as the chief I would try to run my department in a professional manner where
every officer feels like they have a voice and they will be heard, and know that I will do
something if any of them ever needed it.
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Works Cited
Cohen, Galia. Fortune, Brad G. “Pandemic, Protest, and Unrest: Lessons Learned from a New
Chief’s First 100 Days.” (2022) PAR- Public Administration Review.
https://research.ebsco.com/c/r3w5i4/viewer/pdf/mifowb3xdf?route=details
Desmet, Ophelie A. Sternberg, Robert J. “Those Who Gift Only Themselves: An Analysis of
Gifted Narcissists as Ultimate Self-Transactionalists.” (2024) Routledge Taylor &
Francis Group. P. 2.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/02783193.2023.2285042?
needAccess=true
Fisher, Kahlib. “A Biblical/Covenantal Perspective.” (2021) Liberty University Helms School of
Government. P. 2. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1032&context=gov_fac_ped
Fox, Faith R. Smith, Mickey B. Webster, Brian D. “Take Your Ethics and Shove It! Narcissists’
Angry Responses to Ethical Leadership.” (2023) ELSEVIER. P. 2.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886922005372?via%3Dihub
Gauglitz, Iris K. “Different Forms of Narcissism and Leadership.” (2021) Department of
Psychology, University of Bamberg, Germany. P. 1.
https://research.ebsco.com/c/r3w5i4/viewer/pdf/vv34pp5in5?route=details
Grapsas, Stathis. Brummelman, Eddie. Dufner, Michael. Denissen, Jaap J. A. “Affective
Contingencies of Narcissism.” (2022) American Psychological Association, P. 1.
https://research.ebsco.com/c/r3w5i4/viewer/pdf/cps6a5ufrj?route=details&auth-
callid=92f9c9f2-421e-4ef0-9e60-b537ef9e09f9
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Gruda, Dritjon. Karanatsiou, Dimitra. Hanges, Paul. Golbeck, Jennifer. Vakali, Athena. “Don’t
Go Chasing Narcissists: A Relational-Based and Multiverse Perspective on Leader
Narcissism and Follower Engagement Using a Machine Learning Approach.” (2023)
SAGE Journals. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/01461672221094976
Johnson, Sophia R.C. “‘We the People of Israel’: Covenant, Constitution, and the Supposed
Biblical Origins of Modern Democratic Political Thought.” (2021) De Gruyter Bill. P. 2.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2597592034?accountid=12085&pq-
origsite=summon&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals
Moraff, Jason F. “‘Children of the Prophets and the Covenant’: A Post-Supersessionist Reading
of Luke-Acts.” (2023) MDPI. https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/1/120
O’Reilly, Charles A. Hall, Nicholas. “Grandiose Narcissists and Decision Making: Impulsive,
Overconfident, and Skeptical of Experts- But Seldom in Doubt.” (2021) ELSEVIER. P. 1.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886920304694?via%3Dihub
Schmid, Ellen A. Knipfer, Kristin. Peus, Claudia V. “Narcissistic Leaders- Promise or Peril? The
Patterns of Narcissistic Leaders’ Behaviors and Their Relation to Team Performance.”
(2021) Frontiers in Psychology. P. 2.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8273342/pdf/fpsyg-12-660452.pdf
The Holy Bible- English Standard Version. “2 Timothy 3:1-17.” OpenBible.info.
https://www.openbible.info/topics/narcissism
