The pictures tell the story: Steve Case wrapping Gerald Levin in a bear hug, with Mr. Levin's face turned away from the cameras.
Then Mr. Case, chief executive officer of America Online Inc., raising a fist in triumph beside an apparently more subdued Mr. Levin, his counterpart at Time Warner Inc.
Photos accompanying newspaper accounts of the mammoth deal between AOL and Time Warner show an exuberant Mr. Case basking in the limelight.
As any self-respecting narcissist would.
Mr. Case "seems to be exactly this kind of narcissistic leader," says Michael Maccoby, a Washington-based psychoanalyst and author of the article Narcissistic Leaders: The Incredible Pros, The Inevitable Cons in the January-February issue of Harvard Business Review.
Mr. Case has a grand vision of changing the world, "and he's had it for a long time," Mr. Maccoby says. "Even when AOL was a small company, he foresaw a total transformation of customer relationships."
Named for a mythical figure who drowned when he leaned too far to admire his own watery reflection, narcissists are conventionally viewed as selfish and oblivious to others' needs and feelings.
But Mr. Maccoby, who has worked with senior executives from companies such as Hewlett-Packard Co. and International Business Machines Corp., says narcissists have positive traits that can make them extraordinarily successful business leaders.
"Productive narcissists" possess vision, charisma and courage that can revolutionize companies and industries, he insists.
In the beginning of the 20th century, the business world was transformed and energized by narcissistic leaders such as Thomas Edison, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie, he says.
At the dawn of the 21st, Mr. Maccoby says, the door is open to similarly oversized personalities.
He cites executives such as Microsoft Corp. CEO Bill Gates, Intel Corp. chairman Andy Grove and Apple Computer Inc.'s no-longer-interim CEO Steve Jobs as productive narcissists.
There is, of course, the prickly downside. Mr. Jobs, for example, is known to publicly berate subordinates. Narcissists, Mr. Maccoby writes, don't learn easily from others, and would rather indoctrinate and make speeches instead of teach.
Mr. Gates, for one, could likely profit from that insight, except that narcissists tend to be poor listeners, too.
Mr. Maccoby has done some work in Canada, but comes up blank when asked to name a self-absorbed business executive north of the border.
In general, he says, "the business culture in Canada is much less open to business narcissists." But he says Canada would be wise to loosen up and embrace brash, abrasive personalities. "I think to be innovative, you have got to open up to creative people."
Mr. Maccoby's article does not mention any women. Over all, women are more likely than men to be realists, he says.
That trait may work against building great companies, but Mr. Maccoby speculates women's practicality may help them build "certain types of creative, entrepreneurial companies." He cites Anita Roddick's Body Shop International PLC, which pioneered the sale of environmentally friendly cosmetics, as an example.
Mr. Maccoby says Martha Stewart, whose burgeoning home design, publishing and cooking empire at times seems close to putting her personal stamp on every abode in the universe, likely comes closest to fitting the narcissistic mold.
Mr. Maccoby says he doesn't know enough about Mr. Levin to speculate whether the chairman and CEO of Time Warner is a narcissistic personality.
But he reportedly shuns the "visionary" label and prefers to focus on expanding, and strengthening, his company's brand.
Mr. Maccoby says business literature is short on research that gives narcissists tips on how to avoid pitfalls of their personality or that helps workers survive working for one.
Most business advice, he says, is geared to obsessive personalities, conscientious types who can be operational whizzes and great team builders, but -- oh, that downside -- who can also become hidebound bureaucrats.
Through his private practice and corporate consulting, Mr. Maccoby has come up with tips to help narcissists from succumbing to their own glorious reflection.
His recommendations: find a trusted sidekick, indoctrinate the organization to get employees to think the way you do, and seek analysis to help deal with issues such as rage, alienation and grandiosity.
A sidekick who is hyperempathetic, without being a doormat, is perhaps the most important safety net, Mr. Maccoby says.
The second-in-command must couch dissent in terms that revolve around the narcissistic CEO, he adds.
"You can be firm, but you have to present [arguments]in terms of 'this is how this is going to hurt you [the CEO]' " Mr. Maccoby says.
"So the boss thinks that they are No. 1."
IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU, YOU, YOU
Psychoanalyst Michael Maccoby offers these tips on working for a narcissist:
Always empathize with your boss's feelings, but don't expect any empathy back.
Give your boss ideas, but always let him take the credit for them.
Hone your time management skills, because narcissistic leaders will call you day or night. And the payback for all this toadying? "For people who do it, there's the opportunity to be associated with a great venture and to do things they otherwise would never come close to. And if you look at something like America Online, there is also the chance of becoming fabulously rich, so there are a few compensations."
Wendy Stueck