Leadership disorders to watch out for.

Leadership types to watch out for.

This blog may seem to be a little negative and also seem to put church leadership in a bad light. However the blog comes from a very genuine question asked of me by a number of young leaders about a month ago. "Are there dangerous leadership personalities that we should watch out for?"

 The list below represents the type of leaders one MAY come across in churches.
WHAT I WANT TO EMPHASIS IS THAT WE ARE ALL HUMAN BEINGS AND HAVE A FALLEN NATURE! Read on.

Narcissistic leaders

 Narcissists are highly motivated people; they do this in order to gain the esteem of others. They want affirmation of their superiority. However these desires are driven by a need to compensate for repressed feelings of inferiority. Their self esteem is very fragile.

In their quest for admiration, it is not unusual for narcissists to seek out positions of leadership. Initially, their boasting, charm, and sense of entitlement can be charismatic and help them to rise into leadership positions, once in leadership positions; narcissistic leaders are not particularly effective.

Thus, while narcissists may view themselves as superior leaders, others will form the opposite conclusion.

Compulsive leaders.

Compulsive leaders could best be described as having a pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and control. A compulsive leader wants to maintain absolute power. The church is another area of his or her life that must be controlled. For this reason, compulsive leaders sometimes excel at those aspects of church structure that focus on the need for an attention to detail. Compulsive leader often become workaholics, devoting so much time to church, so much so that family, friendships and leisure activities are ignored. Their obsession with perfection can lead them to miss deadlines. They can be morally inflexible and overly judgemental of themselves and others. They often insist that things be done their way.

Paranoid leaders.

These leaders reflect a pattern of distrust and suspicion such that other peoples motives are interpreted as malevolent. People with a paranoid personality often misinterpret compliments as criticisms. What is more, they bear long grudges for these perceived insults and are quick to counterattack. Paranoid leaders are hostile toward anyone whom they perceive attempting to undermine them, and that may include many people. Despite the innocence of a remark or an action, the paranoid leader presumes that there are hidden intentions behind it.  The elders are always trying to take over the church.

Passive aggressive leaders.  

A leader with a passive aggressive, or negativistic, personality is characterised by the following;  the leader passively resists fulfilling routine social and occupational tasks;  the leader complains of being misunderstood and unappreciated by others;  the leader is sullen and argumentative; the leader unreasonably criticise and scorns authority;  the leader expresses envy and resentment toward those apparently more fortunate;  the leader voices exaggerated and persistent complaints of personal misfortune and the leader alternates between hostile defiance and contrition.

All I can say is that we ALL exhibit  these traits to a greater or lesser degree and "BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD GO I."

See Also: The Impact of Dark Leadership on Organizational Commitment and Turnover By Sara G. Weaver, Norfolk Iron & Metal and George B. Yancey, Emporia State University

Academic Citation: Sara G. Weaver and George B. Yancy, "The Impact of Dark Leadership on Organizational Commitment and Turnover," Kravis Leadership Institute, Leadership Review, Vol. 10, Summer 2010, pp. 104 - 124.