After WWII, when industry began to expand due to new inventions and technology, the importance of having good business leaders of a different kind than before became apparent. Corporate leaders like Henry Ford emerged in the beginning of the 20^th century and put their touch on how a corporate leader should be, people with a strong bent for organization and efficient ideas. This leadership style continued to dominate through the 1950s and onward, but in the late 1980s and early 1990s, media began to note an increase of another type of leader. These leaders, both men and women, were individuals with grand visions and great charisma, but they also showed traits of narcissism.

A healthy amount of narcissism gives a leader the ability and drive to come up with great visions and ideas which in its turn is a source for inspiration to other people. The positive traits of the narcissist also have much in common with what is called neo-charismatic leadership. Charismatic leadership focus on the positive features of leadership and includes the skills which make followers identify with the leader. Transformational leadership emphasize on “higher motive development” where the leader arouse followers' motivation by means that create and represent an inspiring vision of the future.

The purpose of this thesis is to clarify the connections between Narcissism and Neo-Charismatic leadership and to develop a theory using Grounded Theory, which illustrates where and why in the leadership process narcissistic leaders turn destructive.