Time Out

Understanding from the inside out.

by Renee Garfinkel, Ph.D.

Occupational Hazard: The Arrogance of Power

What caused General McChrystal's poor judgment?

Published on June 25, 2010 by Renee Garfinkel, Ph.D. in Time Out

We all watched General Stanley McChrystal succumb to an occupational hazard common to high-level leadership in fields ranging from politics to business to religion. Powerful leaders are susceptible to the arrogance of power.

People who become leaders often start out with personalities that have more than the average share of narcissism. This is particularly the case for politicians, who first must believe that of all citizens, they are the best-suited and most qualified for leadership. Aspiring politicians then spend months - and in the case of the presidency, years - convincing large numbers of voters to agree.

Military leaders do not have to promote themselves in quite the same way. Instead, they grow and develop their leadership roles within an authoritarian organization that serves as a kind of hothouse for narcissism. Beginning with basic training, the military instills the sense of pride and honor on which it depends. Often, these qualities slip over the boundary and mutate into a sense of superiority and exclusivity. "Proud to be army" becomes "we're so much better than those civilians." The very factors that help create a new identity for the individual soldier, an identity that bonds him to his buddies, and to the service as a whole, can become a problem. This may be what happened with McChrystal and his staff. Psychologically speaking, "Us & Them" thinking is probably appropriate, even desirable, when facing an enemy on the battlefield. But it can only be destructive when applied to fellow citizens.

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When threatened - whether with physical injury and death, or with failure or humiliation - people tend to draw closer to their own, and become more hostile and suspicious toward "outsiders." These dynamics may have also played a role in bringing McChrystal down.

Powerful people in every sphere tend to be surrounded by approving and admiring subordinates. Powerful people are seldom criticized or challenged. Their lives are lived in a bubble of shared perspective and agreement, a perfect medium for growing arrogance.

Ideally, other perspectives get through to civilian leaders through contact with people outside of their work world, who do not necessarily share the same assumptions. Civilian leaders hear from their husbands, wives, parents or children. They hear from their constituents, or their clients and customers. And some of their work may be open to scrutiny. Lacking the constant exposure to these relationships, the risk of arrogance looms even larger for military leaders. They tend to live and socialize in an all-military world, as if breathing their own recycled air.

Military leaders are deprived of the fresh air generously provided to politicians (who may not always appreciate it!) - by reporters, pundits, and the next elections.