The unwanted self: Projective identification in leaders' identity work, Part 2

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The unwanted self: Projective identification in leaders' identity work, Part 2

The unwanted self: Projective identification in leaders' identity workThe unwanted self: Projective identification in leaders' identity work, Part [1]2

1: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0170840612448158

2: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0170840612448158

3: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0170840612448158

4: https://narcissismresearch.miraheze.org/wiki/AIReactiveCodependencyRageDisclaimer

5: https://narcissismresearch.miraheze.org/wiki/AIReactiveCodependencyRageDisclaimer

1. Aldo‘s identity as a moral authority stood in sharp contrast to his business conduct. Under his leadership, millions of dollars in taxable revenues were ―siphoned to offshore companies under a system of false invoicing‖ (Forden 2000: 86). The problem came to a head when an executive trained in the law discovered ―massive fraud‖ at every level of the company (Forden, 2000: 106). When he tried to persuade Aldo of the gravity of the situation, the latter responded that, because he had built up the company, he ―deserved to get something back. (Forden 2000: 107).

1. Sustaining these identities, however, required keeping his discrepant history and practices—and the identities they implied—at bay. We suggest that Aldo could persuade himself that he fit the desired ―aristocratic‖ and ―moral‖ identities, and could credibly enact them, because he had disowned those much less appealing, hence unwanted, identities and projected them into others.

1. In light of our theorizing, it may be argued that Aldo dealt with potential feelings of not being special—highly discordant with an ―aristocratic‖ self—by projecting them into other people. In public, for example, he often referred to his first son Giorgio as ―the black sheep of the family (Gucci 2008: 87) and repeatedly told his wife that she was ―a nobody, a nothing‖ (Gucci 2008: 82). Aldo may also have been able to sustain his ―moral‖ self by projecting the most controversial aspects of his practices into others.

1. In addition, Aldo sent to the Italian chief prosecutor, fiscal police, tax inspection office, and Ministries of Justice and Finance, documents purporting to reveal how Maurizio financed the purchase of his yacht with illegal funds (Forden 2000: 126). In short, we suggest that constantly finding and eliciting the ―nobody‖ and ―criminal‖ among close others was instrumental to sustaining Aldo‘s ―aristocratic‖ and ―moral‖ identities. This may have bolstered his leadership, but at a price.

1. As we described earlier, the process of projective identification is likely to be unconscious and the consequences significant—especially if the recipients do not recognize that they are being used as a character in the leader‘s drama, or the leader is close to them, or the projections resonate with aspects of their own identity. In some cases, recipients may introject the projections and collude in enacting the leader‘s perception of them. In others, particularly when projective identification triggers anxieties about their own identities, recipients may feel compelled to get rid of the projected elements and ―return‖ them to their source.

1. Aldo had been forceful in painting his son as starkly different from himself, calling him a ―son of a bitch‖ and ―crazy (Forden 2000: 83), firing him repeatedly, and claiming that his ventures were illegal. Paolo could thus be understood to have retaliated by returning the undesired criminal identity into his father while claiming to be above illegal activity and highly ―moral‖ himself. Hence, claiming to be a better fit for leading the firm.

1. The recipients of projective identification may not just introject or ―return‖ the leader‘s projections but may also become inclined to project into others. This can fuel a destructive cycle that impacts an entire organization. Through emulating leaders, projective identification may become the prevalent means of making sense of self and others at all levels of the organization. This can result in a toxic culture in which anyone‘s identity is bolstered through the manipulation of someone else. All contact is then experienced as poisonous, with trust and collaboration becoming all but impossible.

1. For example, he objected to his son‘s choice of Patrizia as his wife, calling her ―a social climber‖ (Forden 2000: 42) who was not of their class. This toxic culture also affected the relationship between Paolo and Maurizio, the latter of whom told investment bankers that Paolo was ―a complete liability‖ and his other cousin, Giorgio, was ―totally hopeless‖—describing them as ―Pizza brothers‖ (Forden 2000: 141). For his part, Paolo did his best to expose Maurizio‘s illegal activities.

1. Maurizio retaliated by sending the police to break up the launch party for Paolo‘s ―P.G.‖

brand (Pergolini and Tortorella 1997: 120). The acrimony of these encounters led to a

downward spiral that precluded the possibility of effective work.

1. Such toxicity was by no means confined to family members. Gian-Vittorio Pilone, Maurizio‘s chief adviser (McKnight 1989: 199), was centrally implicated in Maurizio‘s conflict with his wife Patrizia and his cousin Paolo (McKnight 1989: 114, 189). Another nonfamily member, Domenico De Sole, was appointed by Maurizio as head of Gucci US (Forden 2000: 111) and ended up vehemently antagonizing Aldo, whom he claimed was guilty of ―massive fraud … [and would be] ... going to jail‖ (Forden 2000: 106). Later, when Maurizio removed him from Gucci US (Forden 2000: 111), De Sole took Maurizio to court (Forden 2000: 217). On occasion, even Gucci employees treated customers contemptuously. New York Magazine, for example, ran an article about the Gucci shop assistants ―drop-dead put-down‖ under the title of ―The Rudest Store in New York‖ (Forden 2000: 66). As Forden (2000: 66) put it, ―[M]y- Gucci-story-is-more-outrageous-than-yours‖ became a familiar discussion point in elite New

1. These examples, which we use to illustrate our conceptual framework of projective identification in leaders‘ identity work, could also be interpreted through other lenses. One alternative explanation is that, rather than exchanging projections of unwanted aspects of themselves, Gucci members simply voiced accurate views of each other‘s character. Besides denying the social nature of identity, this reading does not account for the attempt to deny those identities in oneself, which was widespread in this case. York circles.

1. Among psychodynamic theories, an alternative explanation for the dynamics describe above is that they were manifestations of siblings rivalries and Oedipal conflicts in a dysfunctional ffamily (Kets de Vries at al. 2007).

1. Had Aldo simply aimed consciously to deceive others about his humble origins, he would not have needed continuously to diminish others. Had he just consciously tried to cover up his illegal financial activities, he might have been better served by turning a blind eye on supposed wrongdoing in other parts of his firm.

1. While relationships in the family and firm became increasingly acrimonious and damaged the Gucci organization in various ways, it seemed difficult for anyone to leave or break the cycle. Even while family members accused each other over the approaching demise of the firm, they did not leave or sell their shares when they were still worth a fortune. We suggest that one reason for their reluctance to do so was that their identity was inexorably linked with, and dependent on, both the rewards of their leader identities and the projection of unwanted selves into others, of whom they then could not let go.

1. Organizational scholars have generally sidestepped exploring personalized relationships at work (Sluss and Ashforth 2007) and called for more research on the dynamics underpinning harmful work relationships (Gersick et al. 2000).

1. We propose a link between negative interpersonal identification, sustained by projective identification, and positive organizational identifications. Specifically, we argue that to craft an identity that befits a coveted leadership role, individuals are likely to unconsciously develop problematic relationships with people who embody their unwanted selves. Hence, the more identified a leader becomes with an

organization, the more likely he or she will be to engage in projective identification to reduce the gap between his or her personal and organizational identities.

1. This expands views of overidentification as a pathology of organizational identification. Dukerich et al. (1998) highlighted the negative consequences of overidentification for the individual, such as diminished willingness to question organizational practices and take responsibility and/or increased vulnerability to identity threat.

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