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Paranoia helps people climb the professional ladder. This is what Dr. Niels Van Quaquebeke, a professor at Kühne Logistics University (KLU) in Hamburg, finds support for in a recent study. High levels of distrust of others goes hand in hand with the constant awareness of potentially disadvantageous situations, helping paranoid people to ascend the corporate ladder faster.
What do people need to get ahead at their companies? Degrees and experience are not the only things that play a role. Specific character traits are also important. “You have to be able to dance on the social parquet,” says Van Quaquebeke, listing one of the requirements. In his view, people with paranoid personalities have an advantage in this domain.
“One of the paranoid personality’s traits is the feeling of being deceived and exploited. Hence, those affected think that most people in their surroundings are hostile towards them. In response, paranoid people make an effort to manage relationships in a way that exposes as few of their weak spots as possible. This makes them, for instance, constantly examine their social environment and respond with frequent changes as to whom they consider friend and foe.” According to Van Quaquebeke, that helps their careers. “It is important to avoid situations that could damage your career. People with paranoid tendencies are very good in that.”
In his study, Van Quaquebeke surveyed 441 employees in different departments over a 6-month period. They answered questions about their positions in the company, how many employees they were managing, and also completed a questionnaire on paranoid ideations. The results revealed that higher scores on paranoid cognitions were indicators of success at climbing the corporate career ladder over time.
“A paranoid tendency doesn’t have to be a negative character trait for managers,” explains Van Quaquebeke. “Paranoiacs always expect the worst and develop protective strategies.” This can refer to the behavior of employees and colleagues, the intentions of business partners, and even supposed attempts at sabotaging the company or its products. Van Quaquebeke mentions Andrew Grove, Intel’s former boss, as an example of a business executive with a paranoid personality. Grove was constantly worrying about the quality of his company’s products, the factory’s ability to perform, his employees’ work ethic, and the plans his competitors were making. And that drove him to make advance preparations for many situations. “The business world is becoming more and more uncertain,” says Van Quaquebeke. “We are being faced with economic crises, global competition, and new, disruptive technological developments. Managers with paranoid characteristics may often be better prepared for challenges like these because they have already played out all the scenarios in their heads.”
The article "Paranoia as an Antecedent and Consequence of Getting Ahead in Organizations: Time-Lagged Effects Between Paranoid Cognitions, Self-Monitoring, and Changes in Span of Control" was published in Frontiers in Psychology, one of the most widely cited scientific journals of psychology.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01446
Professor Niels Van Quaquebeke, KLU
Quelle: Photo: KLU
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Professor Niels Van Quaquebeke, KLU
Quelle: Photo: KLU
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