Financial Times, The narcissistic world of the MBA student, November 7, 2010
Success requires ambition, drive and the persistence and resilience to overcome setbacks and to work constantly on weaknesses.
But, the current generation of business school students entering the workforce have
- a remarkable sense of entitlement
- a reluctance to face honest feedback and the consequences of one’s actions
- an unwillingness to acknowledge and engage in the competition that characterizes organizational life.
A recent meta-analysis found that between 1982 and 2009 there was a dramatic increase in narcissistic personality traits among MBA students – in part characterized by
- an inability to take the perspective of others
- a dependence on others for affirmation
- a tendency to value oneself regardless of real achievements
- a quest for constant praise.
Even if students didn’t arrive at the leading business schools already narcissistic, orientation activities would soon make them so.
One of the first things they are told is how accomplished and wonderful they are.
And the result of all of this coddling … criticism is as likely to beget quitting as any efforts to improve.
Business schools must make changes to affect the pernicious culture of entitlement and narcissism.
The Homa Files 
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