Abstract
[Excerpt] Mitchell et al. (2026) provide a provocative take on how common human resources (HR) practices, such as competitive selection, exclusive training opportunities, and performance-based incentives, are contributing to the unintentional rise of narcissistic behavior in organizational leaders. The authors argue for the implementation of random selection and/or rotational leadership initiatives to depersonalize the leader experience. We argue that abandoning these practices in favor of random selection or rotational leadership misdiagnoses the issue and in turn amounts to “throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” as the practices under scrutiny remain fundamental to talent selection, leader development, organizational efficiency, and meritocratic advancement in organizations. By avoiding one potential issue, we can inherently cause several more.
