Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
DARK SIDE PERSONALITY AND
EXTREME LEADER BEHAVIOR
Implications for Practice
Rob Kaiser
rob@kaiserleadership.com
Dark Side Traits and Ineffective Leader Behavior:
Empirical Support for a Reinterpretation of HDS Scores
Presented in Linking Personality and
360 Assessments to Coach and Develop
Leaders. Symposium at the28th Annual
SIOP Conference, April, 2013
Derailment Research
1970-1985
1983 to present
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
1
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
Personality Flaws
“To a person, each of the failed executives
had an overriding personality defect.”
Bentz
“Most frequent cause for derailment was
insensitivity to others. Under stress…
derailed managers became abrasive and
intimidating.”
McCall & Lombardo
Bentz (1985) A view from the top. APA conference
McCall & Lombardo (1983) How and Why Successful Executives Get Derailed. CCL
Strengths
can become
weaknesses
McCall & Lombardo (1983) How and Why Successful Executives Get Derailed. CCL
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
2
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
Strengths become
weaknesses
Personality
flaws
Derailment, Personality,
and the Dark Side
Hogan, Raskin, & Fazzini, (1990) The dark side of charisma. Measures of Leadership (CCL)
Hogan, Curphy, & Hogan (1994) What we know about leadership. American Psychologist
Hogan & Hogan (2003) Assessing leadership: View from the dark side. Int’l Jrnal of Selection & Ass’t
Hogan, Hogan, & Kaiser (2010) Managerial derailment. APA Handbook of I/O Psychology
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
3
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
Bright Side
Dark Side
Social behavior when
we are “at our best”
Social behavior when
we are “at our worst”
•
•
•
•
•
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Emotional Stability
Openness
•
•
•
Resemble bright side in
extreme form
Manifest when tired,
stressed, not vigilant
Flawed strategies for
getting along and ahead
The Dark Side
•
Part of normal personality, we all have one
•
Serves needs for self-protection and selfenhancement
•
Involves selfish attempts to manipulate others
•
Social skill can conceal its selfish intent, and it
can produce short-term benefits
•
Over time, it disrupts relationships and
corrupts judgment – Derailers
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
4
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
Axis II
Dimension
Borderline
Excitable
Scale
Definition
Moody; intense but short-lived enthusiasm for
people, projects, and things; hard to please
Strengths
Weaknesses
Paranoid
Skeptical
Cynical, distrustful, & doubtful of others' true
intentions
Politically astute
& hard to fool
Mistrustful &
quarrelsome
Avoidant
Cautious
Reluctant to take risks for fear of being rejected or
negatively evaluated
Careful &
precise
Indecisiveness &
risk-averse
Schizoid
Reserved
Aloof, and uncommunicative; lacking awareness and
care for others' feelings
Stoic & calm
under pressure
Uncommunicative
& insensitive
PassiveAggressive
Narcissism
Leisurely
Casual; ignoring people's requests and becoming
irritated or excusive if they persist
Relaxed &
easy going
Indirect &
noncommittal
Bold
Extraordinarily self-confident; grandiosity and
entitlement; over-estimation of capabilities
Confidence &
charisma
Arrogance &
entitlement
Antisocial
Mischievous
Enjoy taking risks and testing limits; manipulative,
deceitful, cunning, and exploitive
Risk tolerant &
persuasive
Impulsive &
manipulative
Histrionic
Colorful
Expressive, animated, and dramatic; wanting to be
noticed and the center of attention
Entertaining &
engaging
Melodramatic &
attention-seeking
Schizotypal
Imaginative
Acting and thinking in creative but sometimes odd or
unusual ways
Creative &
visionary
Eccentric & fanciful
thinking
ObsessiveCompulsive
Dependent
Diligent
Meticulous, precise, and perfectionistic; inflexible
about rules and procedures
Hard working &
high standards
Perfectionistic &
micromanaging
Dutiful
Eager to please; dependent on approval from others;
reluctant to disagree , especially authority figures
Compliant &
deferential
Submissive &
conflict avoidant
Passion &
enthusiasm
Outbursts &
volatility
Hogan & Hogan (2003) Assessing leadership: View from the dark side. Int’l Journal of Selection & Ass’t
Hogan, Hogan, & Kaiser (2010) Managerial derailment. APA Handbook of I/O Psychology
Higher-order Factors
I
Intimidation
•
•
•
•
•
Excitable
Skeptical
Cautious
Reserved
Leisurely
II
Seduction
•
•
•
•
Bold
Mischievous
Colorful
Imaginative
III
Compliance
• Diligent
• Dutiful
Anxiety
Hysteria
Obsessive-Compul.
Moving away
Moving against
Moving toward
Kaiser & Hogan (2007) Dark side of discretion. Being There Even When You Are not There
Furnham, Trickey, & Hyde (2012) Bright aspects to dark side traits. Personality and Individual Differences
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
5
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
When do you get the bad stuff?
•
The higher the dark side score, the more
likely the counterproductive behavior
•
When you feel threatened
•
When you are not self-monitoring or
regulating your behavior
 Low self-awareness (blind spot)
 Low resources (cognitive load, stress, fatigue)
 Low motivation (no accountability)
Managerial jobs are demanding, complex, and have less oversight
Personality and Leader Behavior
Employee
Attitudes
Leader
Personality
Leadership
Behavior
Organizational
Performance
Team
Dynamics
Hogan & Kaiser (2005) What we know about leadership. Review of General Psychology
Kaiser, Hogan, & Craig (2008) Leadership and the fate of orgs. American Psychologist
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
6
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
Measuring “strengths that become weaknesses”
The right
amount
Too little
-4
-3
-2
Much
too little
-1
Barely
too little
0
Too much
+1
+2
Barely
too much
+3
+4
Much
too much
U.S. Patent 7,121,830. Copyright 2012. Kaiser Leadership Solutions. All rights reserved.
Item:
"Pays attention to detail—
has a finger on the pulse
of day-to-day activities.”
Average subordinate ratings for 107 executives.
Kaplan & Kaiser (2003) Rethinking a classic distinction in leadership. Consulting Psychology Journal
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
7
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
Leader Behavior Model
How You Lead
Forceful Leadership
Enabling Leadership
taking the lead and driving
for performance
creating conditions for others
to contribute
• Takes charge
• Empowers
• Declares/decides
• Listens/includes
• Pushes
• Supports
What You Lead
Strategic Leadership
Operational Leadership
positioning the organization to be
competitive in the future
focusing the organization to get
Things done in the near term
• Direction
• Execution
• Growth
• Efficiency
• Innovation
• Order
Research Agenda
Employee
Attitudes
Leader
Personality
Leadership
Behavior
Organizational
Performance
Team
Dynamics
Leader
Personality
Leader
Behavior
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
8
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
Study 1
Employee
Attitudes
Leader
Personality
Leadership
Behavior
Organizational
Performance
Team
Dynamics
Hogan
Personality
Inventory
Kaiser & J. Hogan (2011) Personality, leader behavior, and overdoing it. Consulting Psychology Journal
Study 2
Employee
Attitudes
Leader
Personality
Leadership
Behavior
Organizational
Performance
Team
Dynamics
Hogan
Development
Survey
Kaiser, LeBreton, & J. Hogan (in press) Dark personality and ineffective leadership. Applied Psychology
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
9
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
The Dark Side…
How You Lead
Forceful Leadership
Enabling Leadership
taking the lead and driving
for performance
creating conditions for others
to contribute
DISRUPTS
RELATIONSHIPS
• Takes charge
• Empowers
• Declares/decides
• Listens/includes
• Pushes
• Supports
What You Lead
Strategic Leadership
Operational Leadership
positioning the organization to be
competitive in the future
• Direction
focusing the organization to get
Things done in the near term
CORRUPTS
JUDGMENT
• Execution
• Growth
• Efficiency
• Innovation
• Order
Predictions
Strategic
Operational
Too little
Too much
Bold
Too much
Too little
Mischievous
Too much
Too little
Colorful
Too much
Too little
Imaginative
Too much
Too little
Excitable
Forceful
Enabling
Too much
Too little
Too little
Skeptical
Cautious
Too little
Reserved
Too little
Leisurely
Too little
Diligent
Dutiful
Too little
Too little
Too little
Too much
Too much
Too little
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
10
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
Sample
• 320 managers from U.S. and E.U. firms
 71.4% male
 Avg 42 years old (SD = 6.30)
 Avg 14.8 years mgt exp (SD = 7.42)
 Avg tenure 2.89 years (SD 3.41)
 62% in public co., 28% private, 4% gov’t
 34% excs, 38% directors, 28% middle mgt
• Rated by 4,906 coworkers
 Mdn 2 superiors, 5 peers, 5 subordinates
Results – correlations
HDS scale
Forceful
Enabling
Strategic
Operational
Excitable
.14
-.19
.01
-.04
Skeptical
-.02
.02
.00
-.04
Cautious
-.15
.04
-.16
.12
Reserved
-.14
.06
-.02
.05
Leisurely
-.10
.07
-.06
-.08
Bold
.07
-.02
.13
-.16
Mischievous
.07
-.07
.16
-.23
Colorful
.16
-.09
.25
-.25
Imaginative
.08
-.08
.20
-.35
Diligent
.11
-.07
.02
.15
Dutiful
-.14
.10
-.16
.08
“too much”
7 / 8 sig.
“too little”
10 / 13 sig.
Not predicted
2 / 23 sig.
38 / 44
Correct
87%
hit rate
|r| > .11, p < .05
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
11
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
Results – predicting “too little” and “too much”
Too Little
F = 61%
E = 73%
S = 86%
O = 64%
Too Much
F = 39%
E = 27%
S = 14%
O = 36%
The right
amount
Too little
Too much
LVI Behavior
Results – multivariate binary logistic regression
Nagelkerke
Forceful
b Wald
p
Excitable
2.97 8.85 .003
Cautious
-2.82 7.95 .005
Reserved
-.18 .03 .857
Leisurely
-.97 .94 .332
Dutiful
-1.95 3.65 .048
Model: c2(5, N = 320) = 23.20, p < .001
R2
.10
Strategic
Nagelkerke
Enabling
b Wald
p
Excitable
-2.68 7.19 .007
Skeptical
-.79 .63 .427
Reserved
1.51 2.29 .130
Diligent
-1.58 2.49 .114
Dutiful
2.43 5.93 .011
Model: c2(5, N = 320) = 15.03, p < .01
R2
.07
Operational
Cautious
-1.88 3.53 .050
Bold
.43 .19 .665
Mischievous
1.15 1.32 .251
Colorful
1.51 2.28 .131
Imaginative
2.18 4.75 .029
Dutiful
-1.45 2.11 .146
Model: c2(6, N = 320) = 18.79, p < .01
.10
Cautious
.41 .17 .684
Bold
-1.10 1.20 .272
Mischievous
-1.59 2.54 .111
Colorful
-.41 .17 .682
Imaginative
-4.49 20.14 .000
Diligent
1.89 3.59 .049
Model: c2(6, N = 320) = 35.56, p < .01
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
.14
12
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
Results – hit rates
Base Rate
Classification
Increase
61%
39%
71%
54%
+10%
+15%
Enabling
Too little
Too much
73%
27%
84%
44%
+11%
+17%
Strategic
Too little
Too much
86%
14%
94%
36%
+8%
+22%
Operational
Too little
Too much
64%
36%
73%
58%
+9%
+22%
Average
Too little
Too much
71%
29%
80%
48%
+9%
+19%
Forceful
Too little
Too much
Results
Interpreting level of dark traits related to “too little” and “too much”
100
90
80
75th
HDS Scale
70
60
50th
50
40
30
25th
20
10
0
-2
-1
Too little
0
The right
amount
+1
+2
Too much
LVI Behavior
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
13
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
100
100
90
90
80
80
Excitable
60
50
40
Cautious
70
HDS Scale
HDS Scale
70
Dutiful
30
60
50
40
30
20
20
Dutiful
10
Excitable
10
0
0
-2
-1
Too little
0
The right
amount
+2
+1
-2
Too much
0
The right
amount
-1
Too little
Forceful
Enabling
100
Imaginative
90
90
80
80
70
70
HDS Scale
HDS Scale
100
+2
+1
Too much
60
50
40
30
Diligent
60
50
40
30
20
Cautious
20
10
10
0
0
Imaginative
-2
-1
Too little
0
The right
amount
Strategic
+1
Too much
+2
-2
0
The right
amount
-1
Too little
+1
+2
Too much
Operational
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
14
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
Results Summary
•
Dark side traits systematically related to ineffective
leader behaviors (87% hit rate)
•
Dark traits accounted for between 7% and 14% of
differences in “too little” and “too much” behaviors
•
Dark traits more strongly related to organizational
what (12%) than interpersonal how (8%)
•
Dark traits better at predicting “too much” (+19%)
than “too little” (+9%)
•
Both high and low HDS scores associated with
ineffective leader behavior
•
Average HDS scores related to optimal behavior
Implications
1. Dark side assessment and 360 feedback provide
complementary and convergent insight into extreme
leader behavior – powerful and efficient tools for selfawareness-based development and prevention of
derailment
 Caveat: feedback should distinguish “too little”
from “too much”/strengths overused
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
15
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
Application models
Who you are
What you do
is how you lead
why you do it
Implications
1. Dark side assessment and 360 feedback provide
complementary and convergent insight into extreme
leader behavior – powerful and efficient tools for selfawareness-based development and prevention of
derailment
 Caveat: feedback should distinguish “too little”
from “too much”/strengths overused
2. We need to rethink the interpretation of HDS scales
 both high- and low scores are a risk for derailing behaviors
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
16
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
Interpreting HDS scores
Current view:
10
20
30
NO RISK
40
50
60
LOW RISK
70
80
MODERATE
RISK
90
HIGH RISK
Risk for Derailing Behavior
Emerging view:
10
20
HIGH RISK
30
40
MODERATE
RISK
50
60
NO RISK
70
80
MODERATE
RISK
90
HIGH RISK
Risk for Derailing Behavior
Risk for Derailing Behavior
Kaiser, LeBreton, & J. Hogan (in press) Dark personality and ineffective leadership. Applied Psychology
Interpreting HDS scores
10
20
HIGH RISK
30
40
MODERATE
RISK
Risk for Derailing Behavior
Get you
overlooked
50
NO RISK
60
70
MODERATE
RISK
80
90
HIGH RISK
Risk for Derailing Behavior
Get you
fired
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
17
Presented in Linking Personality
and 360 Assessments to Coach and
Develop Leaders. Symposium at
the28th Annual SIOP Conference,
April, 2013
A bi-polar reinterpretation
Low Score
Dispassionate
and apathetic
Gullible and
naïve
Overconfident
and hasty
Innappropriate
self-disclosure
Uptight and
anxious
Self-doubting and
unassertive
Risk averse
and boring
No presence;
flat affect
Dull and
literal-minded
Low standards and
inattention to detail
Defiant;
authority issues
Dark Side
Dimension
Excitable
Skeptical
Cautious
Reserved
Leisurely
Bold
Mischievous
Colorful
Imaginative
Diligent
Dutiful
High Score
Outbursts
and volatility
Mistrustful
and quarrelsome
Indecisive
and risk-averse
Uncommunicative
and insensitive
Indirect and
noncommittal
Arrogance
and entitlement
Impulsive and
manipulative
Melodramatic and
attention-seeking
Eccentric and
fanciful thinking
Perfectionistic and
micromanaging
Submissive and
conflict avoidant
Deck available at
www.kaiserleadership.com
© 2013 Kaiser Leadership Solutions
18