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The Dark Side of Leadership

Featured Author:

Dan McCarthy

Dan McCarthy has been a practitioner in the field of leadership development for over 20 years. He’s currently the Manager of Leadership and Management Development at a Fortune “Great Place to Work”, “Training Top 125”, and “High Impact Learning” (HILO 80) company. Dan has a Master’s degree in Human Resource and Organizational Development and has held management positions in both HR and training. His award winning blog, Great Leadership, offers practical information and opinions about leadership development, leadership, and talent management.

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Unfortunately, sensitive behavioral feedback is often disguised as positive traits gone bad. That’s why reading between the lines of performance reviews or references is such an art. My favorite has always been “has very high standards of others”. Translation: “is always ticked off about coworkers”.

See the full Hogan HDS list below.

Again, these characteristics on the left can all serve us well – in moderation- just don’t get too carrier away with any of them, or your dark side just may show up and bite you in the rear.

1. Excitable: moody, easily annoyed, hard to please, and emotionally volatile

2. Skeptical: distrustful, cynical, sensitive to criticism, and focused on the negative

3. Cautious: unassertive, resistant to change, risk-averse, and slow to make decisions

4. Reserved: aloof, indifferent to the feelings of others, and uncommunicative

5. Leisurely: overtly cooperative, but privately irritable, stubborn, and uncooperative

6. Bold: overly self-confident, arrogant, with inflated feelings of self-worth

7. Mischievous: charming, risk-taking, limit-testing and excitement-seeking

8. Colorful: dramatic, attention-seeking, interruptive, and poor listening skills

9. Imaginative: creative, but thinking and acting in unusual or eccentric ways

10. Diligent: meticulous, precise, hard to please, and tends to micromanage

11. Dutiful: eager to please and reluctant to act independently or against popular opinion

I’m sure there must be more. Can you think of other strengths that when overused, can flip to the dark side and turn into a “tragic flaw”?

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