We sat down with Scot McKay of The Mountain Top Podcast to talk about so-called “jerks” at work and how the nature vs. nurture debate applies to leadership.

Is leadership really just a trait that some people are born with? Or is it a skill that can be learned and developed? (Do you think you’ll be surprised by our take on this?)

Our conversation led us to discuss the unconscious behaviors that cause employee entitlement and narcissistic leadership to result in organizational dissonance. We talked about the big difference between the entitled employee who reacts poorly to feedback, and the narcissistic boss who drives their own agenda without regard for the input of others. In both situations, unconscious actions can cause a leader to be judged as being a “jerk”, but there are significantly different reasons as to why those feelings are occurring…

We explored how self-protective behaviors do not mean that a person is acting from a place of malice. Most often, it’s the result of a leader or employee who is trying to do their best in a situation or position where they have yet to develop adequate skills to effectively handle what they are dealing with. And that’s okay, so long as they are willing to put in the work to develop the necessary skills that will allow them to achieve their leadership potential. (Can you tell where we landed on the leadership nature vs. nurture debate?)

We hope you’ll enjoy listening to the episode as much as we enjoyed talking with Scot!