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The Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is characterized by a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, a need for admiration, and a lack of empathy.32 Individuals with a NPD exhibit most of the following traits: an exaggerated sense of self-importance; a preoccupation with unlimited power or success; a belief that he or she is "special" and should only associate with other high-status people; a demand for excessive admiration; a strong sense of entitlement (i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations); interpersonally exploitative; lacking in empathy; envious of others (or beliefs that others are envious of him or her); arrogant and haughty behaviors and attitudes.33 Individuals with a NPD are characteristically highly motivated to gain the esteem of others to receive affirmation of their superiority, and consequently often seek out positions of authority.34 Their use of superficial charm, coupled with their sense of entitlement, can help persons with a NPD to ascend into a leadership position. Once in a leadership position, the tactics that narcissists often deploy to gain admiration and affirmation from others can be very destructive to an organization. For example, because narcissists view other people as inferior and are insensitive to the concerns of others, they are frequently given to derogating people, and thus undermine interpersonal relationships.35 While narcissists generally regard themselves as superior leaders, they can be hyper-alert to perceived or imagined threats, which they frequently discover in their surroundings, and to which they often respond aggressively.36 Individuals with high levels of narcissism experience anger more frequently, and are more likely to express their anger by engaging in counterproductive work behavior, than other people.37 Lamentably, no effective method of coaching narcissists to become productive team players in the work place has been identified.38
Persons with Asperger's Syndrome may show a lack of social or emotional reciprocity; may have a marked impairment in the use of nonverbal behaviors to regulate social interaction; may fail to develop peer relationships appropriate to their developmental level; and may demonstrate a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interest or achievements with other people.39 An employee with Asperger's Syndrome may be innately unable to gratify and fulfill the needs for excessive admiration and affirmation of superiority that a supervisor who has a NPD may have. The employee with Asperger's Syndrome may find the supervisor's consequent aggressive response to be perplexing and terrifying. In her proposal to remove me from the federal service, my supervisor wrote: "The Critical Element 5 sub-element Understands Role in Organization has also been a serious problem. I have made considerable effort to ensure that you understand your role in the organization: we have reviewed in detail your Position Performance Plan; l have repeatedly counseled you about the duties and responsibilities of your position. We have met at least once a week and communicated via e-mail almost daily. Rather the problem has been your failure to assume that role and to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of your position."40 I certainly did listen to my supervisor talk quite a lot during my "Performance Improvement Period"--sometimes in her office for several hours after everyone else had gone home, whenever the spirit so moved her. My supervisor's "counseling" consisted of abundantly carping at me and criticizing me. Everything that I did or tried to do she deliberately construed in a negative light. During our "counseling sessions", my supervisor frequently made inappropriate but confidential remarks to me about other employees, particularly about people who were of the same formal bureaucratic rank (one of whom she considered "clueless"), whom she may have regarded as rivals. She did, however, speak admiringly about her immediate supervisor (except on occasions when the topic of conversation turned to her immediate supervisor's presumed sexual orientation) and quite glowingly about other higher-ranking staff members. My supervisor would occasionally speak in a positive way about lower-ranking employees, but usually when her purpose was to take the opportunity to point out some aspect, quality or accomplishment in which she found me inferior in comparison. Although I did my level best to humor her, I was never able to fathom what my supervisor thought my role in the organization should have been, other than that I should be removed from the federal service. My supervisor’s efforts were very costly to the DMDC in terms of the hours required to document her criticisms and accusations, discouraging innovation, and ultimately responding to her proposal to remove me from federal service for unacceptable performance. She was very disrespectful towards me personally, and I found her contemptuous attitude to be enormously draining.
Although I had never previously been subjected to such intense calumny and abuse, particularly by a supervisor, being severely bullied is an all-too-common experience for people with Asperger’s Syndrome and other autism-spectrum disorders.41 A number of authors have examined problems associated with toxic leadership and workplace bullying.42 People with Asperger’s Syndrome are known to be particularly vulnerable to anxiety disorders.43 Bullying-induced anxiety, especially for someone who has Asperger’s Syndrome to begin with, can make it particularly difficult for a person in a position that requires considerable cognitive skills, such as lead statistical work, to function at all.