by Maria Biquet (Greece)

Narcissism is a topic that continually bubbles at the surface for Coaching, Psychotherapy and Leadership. If you do a quick search on the internet, you will find millions and millions of articles and documentation on the subject.

Keyword Results Time
Narcissist 42,900,000 0.35 seconds
Coaching 299,000,000 0.59 seconds
Narcissist coaching 5,680,000 0.52 seconds
Narcissist leadership 2,810,000 0.53 seconds

What this tells me:

  1. ’Victims’ of Narcissists are abound in personal and professional relationships.
  2. It is estimated that 1-3% of the general population[1]* have the disorder, mostly men who represent 50 – 75% of the total.
  3. According to the Google search, it would seem to suggest that even within the coaching pool of written pieces that approximately 3.5% talk about narcissist coaching, and that reduces again by 50% to 1.8% of how coaches deal with narcissist leadership.

This is what led me to write this article, and discuss when we should refer a client who shows ‘consistent’ signs of narcissistic disorder to a psychiatrist and how to manage yourself as a coach in these situations.

[1] : Wikipedia, Mayo Clinic, Getting Help by Jeffrey C. Wood* /Narcissistic_personality_disorder

Source: iCN Issue 26  (Life Coaching); pages 37-40

About Maria Biquet

Maria Biquet is an experienced multilingual Business Consultant and Executive Coach with vast experience from diverse business fields. Maria has long experience in Strategic Marketing and in establishing companies in new markets.

For more than 20 years she has studied various methodologies for self development and change, including Neuroscience in Coaching, Systemic approach, Appreciative Inquiry Approach, NLP and mindfulness techniques. She holds a University degree in Language & Linguistics and an MBA-International Marketing.

Vice President of Marketing & Communications of HCA (Hellenic Coaching Association) EMCC Greece, member of the EMCC (European Mentoring & Coaching Council). Works as a volunteer with Non Profit Organisations; is a Mentor at Orange Grove for startup companies and at Cherie Blair Foundation.

Research project on Ethics in collaboration with EMCC .

Works in Greek, English and French.

Email: mariabiquet@gmail.com, Tel.: +30 6944 889526 | www.quantaconsulting.co.za