Love this book

After much search for answers, I stumbled upon the timely publication of "The Laws of Human Nature" by Robert Green in 2018. It opened my eyes to the toxic narcissism around us.

I started to read articles, quora discussions, books, selected research papers on the topic. Working with those leaders and coworkers in my day job helped me to digest the content and reinforce my understanding of how they think and act. At first it was difficult not to be emotionally affected in the "Devaluation" phase (Lookup "narcissistic abuse cycle" on Google Images) but as time passes, I approached the problem as rationally as I can, I learned not to take it personally aka Grey Rock Method.

To help you folks to quickly get started, assuming you can only read one book, I highly recommend "Don't You Know Who I Am?: How to Stay Sane in an Era of Narcissism, Entitlement, and Incivility" by Dr. Ramani Durvasula. It was published in the late 2019 and in my opinion, the best book by a licensed clinical psychologist.

The "The Laws of Human Nature" book is more of a heavy-read as it covers not just toxic narcissism.

For those who prefer more practical book and especially if you do not have the means to leave toxic relationships and workplaces, I recommend "How to Handle a Narcissist: Understanding and Dealing with a Range of Narcissistic Personalities" book by Theresa Jackson.

To add to the article, the overconfidence mentioned is actually just a fake display of what the narcissistic leaders want the world to perceive them. Behind the fake display is pathological insecurity or low self-esteem. The fake display is a form of defense mechanism. Those leaders are addicted to having "audiences" for their reality show or drama in which they are the center of everything.

Stealing the Corner office by Brendan Reid

Assorted works of Niccolo Machiavelli and Balatazar Gracian.

It will be hard to impossible to make transition even after reading these books, but at least you can detect and avoid problems at work. Or at best set up a firewall around you.

Lastly expecting goodness from people is wrong. The fact of the matter is people are bad and do what is good in their interests even if it hurts the whole world, be prepared, be ready and have means to take care of yourself.

My interpretation from the book: it's a perfectly natural feeling, but it doesn't mean you have to act on negative destructive instincts. There are ways to channel this energy into more productive behaviours (e.g. by using it to challenge yourself).

Also, Robert Greene's The Laws of Human Nature.

I would say morality is something that is ingrained in every human being. While it's true that some cultures had less of what you might call "modern morality" -- the fundamental things like forgiveness, compassion, empathy, love, etc. and finally the sense of what is right and wrong. These, I believe are ingrained in every human being. While some might choose to be more loving and compassionate, and other might choose not to -- the sense of one being good, and other being bad is crosses cultural and historic boundaries.

For more see Mere Christianity: http://www.amazon.com/Mere-Christianity-C-S-Lewis/dp/0060652...

Regarding the book: you can use Amazon's "Look Inside" feature to read the first chapter (The Law of Human Nature), which covers the question of right-and-wrong/morality as a universal human thing. Although written from a Christian perspective (I'm a believer), its arguments are valid from a secular viewpoint as well.

“Of all human emotions, none is trickier or more elusive than envy...as soon as we feel the pangs, we disguise it to ourselves—it is not envy we feel but unfairness of the distribution of goods or attention, resentment at this unfairness, even anger”

The Laws of Human Nature – Robert Greene