Unless you have recently swapped places with Tim Peake and cut off all communication links with planet earth, you have almost certainly heard the news about the UK and the EU. Whatever ‘side’ you were on (shocked/sad v shocked/happy, or just generally shocked) you are probably hoping that things will turn out for the best, whatever that means for you.

What I think is important now, is to find the best way forward, whatever that might mean. I also think one thing that we all need to be aware of, is how important it is to look at things as logically as possible. Emotions will of course inevitably be involved, but if the emotional temperature runs too high, we risk being led by the unscrupulous in our midst.

In my opinion we need to be very wary of the so-called leaders who populate the landscape of what has been an extremely heated debate. To understand the dangers that we face, and the potholes to be avoided, I draw your attention to the dark triad. (And this has nothing to do with Star Wars! Unfortunately it concerns a planet not too far away at all).

The dark triad refers to three personality traits. These are the narcissistic type, the Machiavellian type, and the psychopath. The narcissistic type personality is often associated with someone who is a bit of an ego maniac, someone who has a grandiose opinion about their abilities and an inflated sense of their own importance. They often also have low empathy. This can be explained by the fact that you are simply not as special as them, and as such how could you possibly be deserving of any form of emotional connection other than disdain?

The Machiavellian type is associated with deceit, and is someone who generally has zero regard for ethics, morals, decency or anyone else’s feelings. Deception is the keyword here.

Psychopathy is associated with a lack of remorse, and a self-centred approach to life. The psychopath may well appear to be your best friend, and make you feel like you are the most important person in the room. They are interested in power, and power over you.

Interestingly some recent research has suggested that the best way to deal with a psychopath and avoid falling under their ‘spell’ is to communicate with them via email only. The reason for this apparently, is that one of the psychopath’s main charm offensive weapons of mass destruction, is their body language. This is used to wreak havoc on you by giving the impression of them being a really decent, great person…who doesn’t actually exist.

Imagine then the dark triad leader, where this individual has the delusion of superiority, and has absolutely zero empathy to inferior ‘others’ (and those ‘others’ will likely include you). Imagine also that that lack of empathy was being kept hidden by a Machiavellian web of deceit being spun around you. Not only that, but add into the mix that this individual is capable of convincing you that they are your new best friend. On your side. One of ‘us’.

So what can be done to protect against such leadership?

Well, I would suggest using some of the same types of questions that can be used to gauge leaders in business. These questions include:

Does this individual have an element of narcissism about them? Are they prone to hyperbole and do they veer towards the grandiose in demeanour and/or rhetoric. Do they talk about a group or a country as if they own it and/or do they tend to imply that they speak for everyone in that country/party/group?

Does this individual have a capacity to be conservative with the truth? Changing when it suits them, and only being found out when they forget what they said. Do you get a sense that they have a very fixed agenda, and that this isn’t necessarily the one which they currently appear to be talking about?

Does this individual have a tendency to show no real remorse? Often their emotional reaction can seem normal – but it is learned behaviour, and the ‘leakage’ of their facsimile emotions is often observed when something looks just a little bit ‘off’, a bit ‘peculiar’ or even just simply ‘wrong’.

And in one sense, the most important question of all;

‘Do you have a strong feeling that this individual wants power just for the sake of having the power?’.
My earlier point about thinking as logically as possible and not letting our emotions get the better of us is based on how depleted our ability to think rationally becomes when things become heated. All of those dark triad traits are harder to spot when strong emotions are at play. We tend not to spot the hidden agendas, or to notice questionable behavioural trends whilst in a very emotional state, as this tends to have quite a reductionist impact on our thinking.

I suggest that we should also be aware of the divide and conquer approach. Strong emotions can make us ‘tribal’, invoking a ‘them’ and ‘us’ mentality, as well as promoting very short term thinking. Politicians (and the media) are very well aware of this. Let them fight amongst themselves, let them be swept along on some simplified wave of soaring emotion which has as much genuine substance as candy floss – and is ultimately about as beneficial.

The way forward requires big picture thinking, with a keen focus on the subtleties and the nuances. I believe that we all have a responsibility to think for ourselves and to not abdicate that responsibility to some posturing caricature, whose main aim is to have power and prestige for the sake of the power and the prestige.

Take a big deep breath. Step well back. Consider the players and their motivations. Consider the individual over as long a period as you can. These dark triad people are often much more visible when viewed through the longer lens of time. And of course this does not apply solely to the UK. Far from it.

And keep a very open mind, because often who you think might fit into the dark triad personality type, is actually quite different to who actually does.

We have to be careful of avoiding these types of leaders both in business and in politics. They should be ‘unfollowed’ as soon as possible.

There will be creative ways to move forward that can benefit the country, but it will require an inclusive rather than a divisive mindset from us and our so-called leaders. There are of course some wonderfully talented and decent individuals who are doing their best and who are genuinely there to serve.

I will be looking to follow those leaders who are inclusive and who genuinely want to move things along, peacefully, intelligently, inclusively, and congruently.

Good luck to us all.

Best wishes
Mike

 

please find below a link to the latest podcast:

https://soundcloud.com/user-786911924/braver-leadership-podcast-at