What is the relationship between narcissism and success?

It is very likely that you have heard the story of Elizabeth Holmes and her company, Theranos. Recently there are dozens of articles, books, documentaries even films dealing with Mrs. Holmes colossal scam and the fake company she named Theranos.

For those not familiar with the story, Elizabet Holmes at the age of 19, dropped out of the college she was attending and founded her own company, Theranos, with the objective to create a coffee-machine sized device that would be able to conduct a full health check using a single drop of blood, something that with current technology requires analyses in specialized laboratories. This revolutionary technology of course was nothing more but a creation of Mrs. Holmes’ vivid imagination and Theranos was proven one of the greatest financial frauds ever.

From the first moment it was obvious that it was a fairytale, she never presented the fabled device, nor any data about the technology she had allegedly invented, in fact she did not even have a production plant for the alleged devices, however the charismatic Mrs. Holmes managed to convince major investment firms to give her huge amounts of money and some of the most prominent personalities in the US, such as Henry Kissinger and William Perry, to participate in Theranos’ board of directors and to speak with admiration about her.

Mrs. Holmes is a classic example of a person suffering from narcissism and delusions of grandeur. This is not the first and will not be the last time where a young person suffering from narcissism and possessing no other substantial skill, has managed to mislead some of the most reliable people. Another recent example is that of Billy McFarland, who managed to convince dozens of prominent Americans to travel to the Bahamas in order to attend something that would be the greatest festival ever. When the guests arrived found nothing but an abandoned place.

Social psychologist Tomas Chamorro, after conducting a research, concluded that people tend to conflate confidence with actual skills. People are easily influenced by persons that demonstrate confidence or even narcissism and most of the times they assume these persons are particularly skilled.  Subsequently, said persons are usually promoted and obtain leadership positions, regardless of their actual value.

However, in the cases of Elizabeth Holmes and Billy McFarland confidence was not accompanied by actual skill and this ended costing dearly to those who followed them.