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I'm not entirely convinced narcissism is something that has to be fixed. There are some aspects to it that are of course destructive as you mentioned (not enjo

I'm not entirely convinced narcissism is something that has to be fixed. There are some aspects to it that are of course destructive as you mentioned (not enjoying listening to other people, and taking things to personally). Fixing these things I think comes down to enjoying the people you spend time with, and a radical belief that things will work out no matter what happens. But there are other aspects of narcissism that really lend themselves well to success. Overconfidence/inflated egos are some of the only ways that you can take on really big challenges ahead of you. (See Sam Altman's blog post on this - https://blog.samaltman.com/how-to-be-successful https://blog.samaltman.com/how-to-be-successful, and PG's tweet - https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1217724728644861953 https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1217724728644861953) I'd love to hear what other people think :)

zozbot234 7y ago
> I'm not entirely convinced narcissism is something that has to be fixed. You sound kinda like a narcissist. And the problem with overconfidence/big ego is that it doesn't help you choose the best big challenges to tackle. Having some humility and keeping things in perspective makes you all the more aware of what your real strengths are, and how to best leverage them.
- adityathakkar 7y ago
  Yeah for sure - judgement is imperative, but also independent of confidence. Combining that with the courage and self-belief to try big things is a great combination. Humility is also incredibly important because most things of value are done by teams, and humility is incredibly important to working in a team. But again, humility and an ego can coexist and will serve you well. > You sound kinda like a narcissist. Whether I am or not doesn't matter - my comments on the matter stem from the fact that I believe most people air on the side of under-confidence regarding what they can accomplish.
rconti 7y ago
An inflated ego is also a great way to never try anything you might fail at.
- adityathakkar 7y ago
  I'd disagree with that - never trying something you might fail at is cowardice, not overconfidence, and those are two independent attributes.
  - rconti 7y ago
    If you keep trying new things and you're great at all of them, maybe you're just really hot shit and I'm not sure the ego is considered "inflated" or that you're overconfident. Maybe it's just appropriate confidence given your awesomeness. Those who have overinflated egos and overvalue their egos don't try things they might fail at. Or, I guess, maybe some folks try things, suck at them, and make excuses/write off their failures as someone else's fault.
sjg007 7y ago
Narcissism is a trait and NPD or malignant narcissism is a disorder. The counter to "over confidence" is that PG and Altman suggest to give more equity with better terms to employees rather than not which suggests they aren't actually looking for narcissists. A narcissist would view everyone else as inferior and transactional. Maybe they have some criteria they use to try to weed out narcissists. I would imagine the YC network and organization itself would quickly route out a narcissist since they use a cohort model. In that a narcissist won't be able to listen or consider other viewpoints effectively and I imagine not being able to pivot when necessary is a narcissistic trait and obviously leads to the failure of the startup. I don't think a narcissist can survive the trough of disillusionment for long... but I could be mistaken.
Rastonbury 7y ago
Being a true narcissist will torpedo any attempt to build meaningful relationships both personal and professional due to the lack of empathy or ability to put one in another person's shoes. This makes leading, negotiations and selling difficult but not impossible I guess. Overconfidence is one positive trait associated with it but there are many negatives. If you believe nothing is at fault with you and it's everyone else's fault, it hard to be self reflective enough to improve as well.

zozbot234 7y ago

> I'm not entirely convinced narcissism is something that has to be fixed. You sound kinda like a narcissist. And the problem with overconfidence/big ego is that it doesn't help you choose the best big challenges to tackle. Having some humility and keeping things in perspective makes you all the more aware of what your real strengths are, and how to best leverage them.

adityathakkar 7y ago
Yeah for sure - judgement is imperative, but also independent of confidence. Combining that with the courage and self-belief to try big things is a great combination. Humility is also incredibly important because most things of value are done by teams, and humility is incredibly important to working in a team. But again, humility and an ego can coexist and will serve you well. > You sound kinda like a narcissist. Whether I am or not doesn't matter - my comments on the matter stem from the fact that I believe most people air on the side of under-confidence regarding what they can accomplish.

rconti 7y ago

An inflated ego is also a great way to never try anything you might fail at.

adityathakkar 7y ago
I'd disagree with that - never trying something you might fail at is cowardice, not overconfidence, and those are two independent attributes.
- rconti 7y ago
  If you keep trying new things and you're great at all of them, maybe you're just really hot shit and I'm not sure the ego is considered "inflated" or that you're overconfident. Maybe it's just appropriate confidence given your awesomeness. Those who have overinflated egos and overvalue their egos don't try things they might fail at. Or, I guess, maybe some folks try things, suck at them, and make excuses/write off their failures as someone else's fault.

sjg007 7y ago

Narcissism is a trait and NPD or malignant narcissism is a disorder. The counter to "over confidence" is that PG and Altman suggest to give more equity with better terms to employees rather than not which suggests they aren't actually looking for narcissists. A narcissist would view everyone else as inferior and transactional. Maybe they have some criteria they use to try to weed out narcissists. I would imagine the YC network and organization itself would quickly route out a narcissist since they use a cohort model. In that a narcissist won't be able to listen or consider other viewpoints effectively and I imagine not being able to pivot when necessary is a narcissistic trait and obviously leads to the failure of the startup. I don't think a narcissist can survive the trough of disillusionment for long... but I could be mistaken.

Rastonbury 7y ago

Being a true narcissist will torpedo any attempt to build meaningful relationships both personal and professional due to the lack of empathy or ability to put one in another person's shoes. This makes leading, negotiations and selling difficult but not impossible I guess. Overconfidence is one positive trait associated with it but there are many negatives. If you believe nothing is at fault with you and it's everyone else's fault, it hard to be self reflective enough to improve as well.