When Donald Trump welcomed Vladimir Putin over the tarmac at Elmendorf Richardson’s joint base in Anchorage, it felt less like diplomacy than the ego contest before the world he was watching. One man is a former KGB officer of steel that was bent to rewrite the boundary line and restore the “homeland.” Another thing is that leaders who thought they weren’t safe from the elites want to grasp the mantle of peace superintendents. It was ego and ego. But the irony was obvious. One man’s narcissism may destroy.
History is full of leaders whose sense of destiny is red.
Sometimes self-interest and global interests coincide. Trump’s desire to prove his critics wrong and to prove he plays a peace director may be more than vanity. It could be a path to peace. History is full of leaders whose sense of destiny is red. I used to say, “We’re all worms, but I’m a glow worm.” Trump isn’t Churchill, but his instincts are the same. If you reject smallness and use it properly, you can serve something greater than itself.
When I travel and talk about a low-self-aware outbreak, only 13% of leaders look at themselves accurately and are often asked if Trump has stepped up the issue. As someone who pleases people who are recovering, I tend to hedge and I don’t want to alienate my friends who share a different political perspective than I do. But the truth runs deeper than a single man. It’s cultural. It’s mental.
In the narcissism epidemic, Jean Twenge and W. Keith Campbell show how consumers, social media, and luxury parenting have driven an increase in narcissistic traits. Jonathan Haidt’s The Increasious Generation further reveals how our constant addiction to validation has deprived young people of resilience and erode them for reflection.
I add: Digital culture, even the flattering of AI, has become self-aware assassins. We are plugged in, but detached from ourselves. What’s worse, we are distracted by the God who created us.
Productive and disruptive pride
The ancients warned us. In the Greek story, Narcissus was engrossed in his reflection and wasted in the pond. Pro-word warns that “pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before falling” (Pro-word 16:18). Leaders that have been reverted by the ego are not new. The financial crisis has shown that unchecked narcissism can destroy institutions and ruin lives. Destructive narcissists are placed in the corner office (or Kremlin) and chaos is guaranteed.
Not all narcissisms are the same.
But not all narcissisms are the same. Harvard’s Michael McCoby once described “productive narcissists”: visionary leaders with an oversized belief in their destiny, but their willingness is consistent with the needs of society. Think of Lincoln’s “unique ambitions,” Teddy Roosevelt’s fun into the spotlight, Rockefeller’s charity imperial architecture, Steve Jobs as a visionary perfectionist. Sometimes overwhelming and exhausting, but when the egos fit human needs, they built rather than burned.
The Christian lens takes us even more. The problem is not the ego and the ego, but the ego is yoked. Pride left an unchecked spiral inside. Pride surrendered to God can be bold for his purposes. The Bible is full of flawed, confident men, such as Moses, David, and Peter.
In contrast, destructive narcissists like Putin are unmoved by the massacre of innocents, falling into delusion and self-absorption. Trump seems different for all his bravery. A friend who works with him tells me that his sw awa has a true dislike for war and the loss of meaningless life. If his ego pushes him to stop the war and proves that the suspect is wrong, let him. If it brings peace, it will nourish his vanity. Humanity has endured worse bargains.
Ukrainian Witness
The war in Ukraine is not ultimately about the legacy of one man. It’s about people who endured unspeakable losses with unimaginable courage. On a trip to Ukraine since the invasion, I met a family who said, “We all sleep under the same blanket.” They literally meant it, huddled in the basement under the bombing, and united in a philosophically with resistance. Although weary and sad, not broken, they remind us of the early church: “All believers were together and had all in common” (Acts 2:44). They deserve security, sovereignty and peace.
Narcissism can become integral when disciplined by circumstances and tailored to human suffering.
This is why even Trump’s fierce critics, including Hillary Clinton, said they would only support the Nobel Peace Prize for him if they could deliver peace that preserves the integrity and security guarantees of Ukraine’s territory. And they are not alone. Leaders around the world have already appointed him elsewhere for his peace efforts. That’s ironic. Narcissism can be integral when disciplined by circumstances and in line with human suffering.
The narrow road
The truth is that all leaders have a measure of narcissism. None of us are completely free from pride or self-absorption. The apostle Paul, once full of enthusiasm and confidence, began to see himself through the lens of grace. Freed from the tyranny of image management, Paul no longer lived for the approval of others or for his own self-judgment.
Instead, he looked at how his creators saw him and performed for one audience. In this he embodies what Tim Keller later described as “freedom of self-forgetting”. It is the ability to turn ambition into service and humble confidence.
It is not the lack of ego that separates a destructive narcissist from the productive, but the direction it takes.
It is not the lack of ego that separates a destructive narcissist from the productive, but the direction it takes. Unchecked, it is vanity. Successfully surrender to God, it matures into service.
The best leaders I’ve studied, including conference rooms, battlefields, halls of power, lead their fierce self-confidence to something greater than themselves. They are not above others, but in them they are bold enough to act, yet humble enough to resist worshiping their own reflection.
The Alaska Summit will be discussed for years. Success or failure, breakthrough, or deadlock. But one thing is certain, not the end of what could become peace in Ukraine, but the beginning. If Trump’s ego buys peace, give him a Nobel. Let him preen. The world can live with his vanity. It is Putin’s devastating war that they cannot live together.
Les T. Csorba is the author of the upcoming book, “Aware: The Power of Sheed Yourself (2025).” This work is adopted from that work. LES is the CEO coach and partner of Heidrick & Breach, an executive search and management consulting firm. With over 30 years of experience in executive search and leadership consulting, he is an authority on self-awareness. He has been instrumental in shaping the next generation of corporate leadership in the fields of energy, politics and non-profit.
Leadership speaker and commentator LES has been featured on Fox News, MSNBC and CNBC by Maria Bartiromo. His insights on executive leadership, corporate governance, and talent development have been featured in the Corporate Board Member Magazine, the Oil and Gas Investor Magazine, the Houston Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, and USA Today. His expertise in leadership and governance makes him an invaluable resource for keynote engagement, boardroom discussions and executive coaching. Beyond his corporate work, Le is deeply involved in charity and education.
He works for the Liberty Energy Committee’s Greater Human Life Foundation, a nonprofit organization of Chris Wright, the US energy secretary who provides clean cooking fuel to families living in energy poverty in Africa. He also serves on the board of directors of Yellowstone School, a Houston faith-based charter school. Les, a graduate of the University of California, Davis, is the son of a 1956 Hungarian refugee. He and his wife, Anne, have been married for 38 years and live in Houston, Texas, where they enjoy time with their four children and seven grandchildren. Le is a longtime member of Grace Bible Church in Houston, Texas.
