In a Fast Company Podcast, I was amused to listen to an episode titled: “The Dark Triad.”1 Who would not be interested in material with such a provocative title? I listened to it with great interest and fascination.
It starts with a definition of terms. The first one is narcicissism, defined as an admiration of oneself. The second is psychopathy – a mental disorder marked by egocentric and antisocial behavior. The third is Machiavellianism, rooted in the political theory of 16th-century Italian philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli, who pioneered the idea that achieving the desired end result is justified by any means necessary, no matter how unscrupulous the path.
Together, these personality traits are known as the dark triad, a sinister set of behavioral leanings often observed in people who are callous, manipulative, nasty, or otherwise notably offensive. According to a new study from a quartet of US universities, published in the Journal of Marketing, the dark triad makes for a darn good salesperson or a conniving snake in the American vernacular. The study notes that salespeople score higher on these dark traits than all other professions, except CEOs, lawyers and celebrities.
To anyone familiar with the rampant verbal abuse of the real estate hawks in the 1992 movie Glengarry Glen Ross’ “Coffee’s for Closers,” as brilliantly portrayed by Alec Baldwin, it probably comes as no surprise that the sales industry is brimming with darkness. Although it may be less obvious when you think of the jolly Girl Scout Brownie troop peddling cookies on your doorstep.
Most academic research on sales teams is focused on positive traits such as self-motivation, adaptiveness, and extraversion, but as the new study notes, the importance of the negative characteristics can not be ignored. That doesn’t mean the bad guys come out on top. The study’s findings also caveat the success of dark triad personalities in the long-term. In the short-term, dark salespeople can mask the dysfunctional aspects of their personalities. Personality traits such as callous self-interest with more functional ones such as charisma, thus getting hired at firms that would hardly seek out a cutthroat colleague, or they might even rapidly scale the corporate ladder by trampling on those around them.
But narcissism and psychopathy often result in a fall from grace; the antagonistic behaviors associated with the dark triad can ultimately undermine relationships with coworkers and diminish social capital, thus collapsing their sales performance. This happens more quickly in businesses where corporate culture is better structured to unmask dark personalities versus in workplaces that obscure the misdeeds of a dark salesperson. However, while the study suggests that the narcissistic and psychopathic often get their comeuppance, the same does not hold true for the Machiavellian, who might soar in the long term. And while the reasoning behind this is unclear, Machiavellian types have been known to, for example, cut corners at work to significant effect.
The bottom line is that the sales world can not be blind to the dark triad, the study writes, at least not if it wants to weed out the rotten apples, because who wants to buy those? And this is an actual episode from the Fast Company Podcast.
I am happy and relieved that we do not have many “Dark Triad” salespeople in our country. There are a rotten few, perhaps, but they are usually more of an exception rather than a rule. And they do not get to last too long anyway.
As the term implies, many of our sales professionals are very professional, respectful, and mindful of what they do and how they do it. They have been trained to value relationship-building as more important than just selling stuff. They also have good leaders trained with leadership skills who guide them and influence them to do good, become better people, and put more dignity into the selling profession. I should know because I work with many of them in different industries.
Many business personalities in the “Dark Triad” category cannot sustain their success, and many are not around today. But the successful ones today are doing very well, and they have the respect and admiration not only of the people they lead but also of the people they do business with. The end does not justify the means. The principle is “Whatsoever you sow, you shall reap.” Let me add another: “The end does not also justify the mean-ness.” Another principle is “There is a difference between being cool and being a jerk. And if you are a jerk, you’re not cool (period). Just buy a cooler.”
(Francis Kong’s “Inspiring Excellence” podcast is now available on Spotify, Apple, Google, or other podcast streaming platforms.)