Whoa whoa! I know. "Crazy" is a bit judgemental. Let's reword it. "DO narcassists know there is something fundamentally wrong with them". According to Professor Sam Vaknin, yes they do. Whether or not if they seek help.....that's something else. Click here to listen to Professor Sam Vaknin's lecture about narcissism.
Being a business owner forces me to desire to understand people & their dysfunctional behavior. I need to understand what I'm looking at in order to produce an effective policy. Once I saw that YouTube video by Professor Vaknin I WAS BLOWN AWAY. Having dealt with people close to me as well as clients who exhibit that behavior, it was necessary for me to understand what I was looking at.
A therapist, psychiatrist and psychologist all went to school to study human behavior. So if behavior has to be studied, perhaps as a layman you should seek assistance understanding unhealthy behaviors through them. They are way more experienced in those subjects.
So yes. In my opinion they do know EXACTLY what they're doing. Professor Vaknin only confirmed my hypothesis of these types of people. After all he is diagnosed with Narcissistic personality disorder as well as a professor in the subject. He coined the phrase back in the 90s "narcissistic abuse ".
So my next question was "WHY?!?!?". It took me almost 40 years on this planet to understand why. It's very simple. Because they're solving a problem. Something happened in their youth to alter their problem solving skills. So instead of solving problems, they blame others and in actuality trick them into solving their problems for them.
For example in my 1st book I outline my 1st landlord who exhibited narcassitic tendencies. Problem: she can't keep the building occupied with tenants. Aka she wanted more money (Who doesn't ? lol) Unhealthy solutions:
●Trick the tenants into fixing her building. ●Trick the tenants into not needing salt treatment for icy conditions on the parking lot. ●Trick the tenants into not needing a mailbox key so you won't have to pay to have the locks changed when they flee.
●Make large political contributions so when laws are broken to scare tenants out, you won't be accountable.
A healthy brain would perhaps use the following tactics:
●Offer more amenities so that you can charge more rent & the tenants feel privileged to pay more because they feel they have a deal
●Hold events for the tenants (give aways, parties etc) so they tell other business owners therefore opening up referral possibilities
●Hire a property manager to handle day to day interactions so your tenants are at ease
● Work with local law enforcement to address the prostitution issue across the street.
It's NOT PERSONAL. They behave this way towards most people because it comes 2nd nature to them. It's an effective problem solving strategy. Unethical ? Yes. But it is effective. That's why many don't "pay" for the torment they cause until later on in life. Trust me. I've seen MANY elderly nasty people in my years working at the nursing home. They get it back
I could go on for days. That's why I made a podcast episode about it!
