The heavy crown, shared throne: How coleadership tempers ego and sustains leader well-being

Authors

• Sam T. Hunter, University of Nebraska at OmahaFollow
• Ares Boira-Lopez, University of Nebraska at Omaha
• Alexis d'Amato, University of Nebraska at OmahaFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-31-2026

Publication Title

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Volume

19

Issue

1

First Page

94

Last Page

98

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2025.10056

Abstract

Mitchell and colleagues (Reference Mitchell, Haslam, Burke and Steffense2026) provide a well-reasoned, sound, and thought-provoking case for why HR practices can promote or discourage narcissistic tendencies in leaders. Acknowledging their contribution, we offer two points of pushback and one point of extension based on those areas of pushback. The first point of pushback is that counter to the authors, we contend that hypercompetitive selection methods that seek to identify the best leadership candidate, although not ideal, are necessary. Do such processes (e.g., head hunting, in-depth assessment centers) admittedly have the potential to inflate individual egos and promote narcissistic behaviors in leaders? Yes. Does leadership have a large impact and warrant very careful selection and extensive development efforts? Also, yes. (e.g., Hogan & Kaiser, Reference Hogan and Kaiser2005; Khuong et al., Reference Khuong, Thanh and Quoc2022).

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Comments

This article was published under the library's Cambridge University Press Open Access Agreement. 

Recommended Citation

Hunter, Sam T.; Boira-Lopez, Ares; and d'Amato, Alexis, "The heavy crown, shared throne: How coleadership tempers ego and sustains leader well-being" (2026). Psychology Faculty Publications. 358.
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/psychfacpub/358

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.