Why are there so many jerks in business?

Corporate jerks come in a variety of forms, ranging from those high in the personality traits of narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism (the Dark Triad) to garden variety a*holes who make our work life very unpleasant.

Now, there is no clear empirical evidence for a causal link between corporate jerks, such as the ones with Dark Triad traits, and corporate success. Nevertheless, we see so many of them in high positions that we wonder how they even got there. If emotional intelligence is important for success, then why do these people who lack it do so well?

While there are many reasons, one interesting explanation came in a fireside chat I conducted last week at Indian School of Business Mohali with Nitin Paranjpe, the chairman of the HUL Board. He said that one possible reason was the lack of enough good people with the energy to counteract the drive of such “active jerks”.

Beingfulness provides a framework for understanding this phenomenon more clearly.

In beingfulness, which is deeply influenced by Vedanta, the dimension of being represents the universal values of the witness self (sakshi) while the dimension of doing represents the active energy of the ego self (ahankara). Our goal at work is to align our ego-driven actions with our witness-driven universal values.

Each dimension of being or doing can range from low to high, with many of us falling in the middle. If we plot these dimensions on a 2x2 grid, we get the following managers:

1. Passive Spectator: Disengaged, mostly about oneself (low doing, low being),
2. Silent Supporter: Lacks initiative but cares for others (low doing, high being),
3. Active Jerk: High energy but mostly about oneself (high doing, low being),
4. Force for Good: High energy and cares for others (high doing, high being).

The answer is straightforward. If we want fewer corporate jerks in high places, then we need to enable more people who are forces for good at work.

Better yet, we ourselves could aspire to become such a force for good at work.