The Most Dangerous Clients Don’t Look Dangerous at First

Culture-driven leaders: Want a competitive edge? Learn to spot the quiet rot of narcissism in your competitors' culture.

It's fairly easy to identify narcissism in leadership and a company's organizational culture.

Last summer, I advised a national staffing agency that had placed me on a temporary assignment. I warned them that their new client, less than a year old, exposed them to a multitude of reputational risks, including the potential for negligence and fraudulent misrepresentation, due to the client's sixteen-year history of suppressed, unethical, illegal, and exploitative business practices. These practices were created and upheld by the company's narcissistic leadership and board of directors.

The level of dysfunction I witnessed rose to the threshold of modern slavery and included multiple violations of federal and state labor and business laws.

I also explained how their client's maladaptive behaviors were actively worsening the risk, specifically:

• No procedures or safety policies for employees during real, active shooter situations, due to leadership's chronic incompetence and mismanagement, a common byproduct of narcissistic leadership

  
  

• Openly colluding with other leaders to violate employee labor and human rights, within earshot and eyesight of other employees and clients

• Triangulating employees to divide them against one another for power and control

• Creating a work environment that enables employees to secretly record leaders and colleagues committing unethical, illegal, and exploitative acts to leak or report

My investigative research after the assignment revealed even more:

• The company hadn't held workers' comp insurance in five years

• They lacked the proper licensing to run their business

• They publicly misrepresented the nature of their work

And despite this, they had long-standing partnerships with:

• Local government

• Two school districts

• Top executives from a major children's media company

• A well-known global consulting firm

Company leadership was even featured and praised for its leadership style in a well-known, prestigious business publication.

During my final conversation with the staffing agency, they ended up blacklisting the client. They also shared how difficult it can be to assess whether a new client (less than a year old) has a toxic organizational culture that could harm their brand or expose them to legal liability.

It took me less than 30 minutes of engaging with the CEO and one hour observing the board of directors to identify narcissistic personality patterns and structural dysfunction.

In Part Two, I'll show you how to identify hidden dysfunction in your prospective client and partner relationships, so you can protect your integrity and avoid reputational risk.