Fortune 500 bosses demanding staff return to the office share one trait: narcissism, research finds

CEOs have offered many different reasons for calling workers back into the office—despite research that suggests working from home can be as effective, if not more effective, than in-office work. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote in an RTO memo that “collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective” in person, and that “teaching and learning from one another are more seamless.” Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said his five-day in-office mandate would increase creativity, and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink even suggested that getting employees back into the office could help offset inflation. JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon famously derided video-call-heavy remote work as “management by Hollywood Squares,” and has argued that in-person work is crucial for mentoring, fostering innovation, and maintaining corporate culture. But there may be another reason for work-from-home crackdowns and in-office mandates that CEOs haven’t mentioned: their own egos. A new study from Wharton organizational psychologist Adam Grant and co-authors Marissa Shandell and Courtney Elliott found that leader narcissism was associated with greater resistance to remote work. A big reason? Power trips are easier to stage in-person. “[I]n leadership roles, narcissists have a clear preference for face-to-face interaction, where richer channels allow them to not only gain attention but also wield power and status,” the authors write. Remote settings curtail leaders’ usual means of “directing and inspiring employees” like using hand gestures, fluctuating the volume of their voice, making eye contact, and adjusting their posture. “When communicating by video, phone, email, or text, it is more difficult for leaders to command the attention—and gauge and bask in the admiration—of their employees,” the authors write. As part of their six-year study, which included large-scale surveys, the authors established proxies for measuring Fortune 500 CEOs’ egos, such as the