IMAGINE THAT YOU ARE A FRESH-FACED YOUNGSTER, recently graduated from college and ready to take the corporate world by storm. This was me at age 22. Having taken my first job, I worked endlessly to make a good impression and prove my worth to the higher-ups. After about a year, a particularly difficult project came down the pike. One of my many bosses passed the project off to me, pitching it as an opportunity to advance my career. I worked harder than ever. Months later, I completed the project successfully, and I felt as if I'd put in some of the hardest and best work of my life. Proud of my accomplishment, I was eager to share the positive results with the rest of my company at our weekly staff meeting.

When the staff meeting began, my boss, who did virtually no work on the project, announced, "Yes, I've successfully completed this difficult project. It was hard work, but I got it done, and our client is very pleased." Angry and deflated, I later confronted this boss about taking credit for all my work in front of the entire office without so much as mentioning my involvement. "What are you talking about?" my boss replied, looking at me with a confused expression, "I did do all the work."

If the above sounds familiar, you may have dealt with a narcissistic leader or co-worker at some point during your career. Though the base rate of narcissism in its true form is relatively low, even one narcissistic individual in your organization can devastate morale, sometimes leading to turnover and other personnel-related issues. Because of this potential for creating problems, managers must have an understanding of what "narcissism" means, how to identify it, and how to cope with a narcissistic individual within an organization.

What is narcissism?

The term "narcissist" comes from Greek mythology's tale of Narcissus. Narcissus was a handsome young man who caught his reflection in a spring. He spent most of the day staring at the person he saw in the spring, and eventually, he decided to reach out and try to touch the beautiful figure. Upon reaching his hand out, instead of connecting with the person he saw, he fell into the spring and drowned, and his body was transformed into the yellow flower that now bears his name.

The study of narcissism as a psychological construct largely began with Sigmund Freud in the early 1900s. Freud showed great interest in the topic, and he described narcissism as the relationship between the libido and the ego. Today, pop culture tends to use the term "narcissist" loosely, bestowing the label on anyone who appears deeply vain or excessively arrogant. While elements of arrogance are involved in narcissism, the definition used in psychology goes much deeper. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association, used to identify and define a broad spectrum of psychological disorders and issues, states that those with narcissistic personality disorder are preoccupied...