Type A deficiency

Type A individual is defined as ambitious, aggressive, business-like, controlling, highly competitive, impatient, preoccupied with his or her status, time-conscious, and tightly-wound. People with Type A personalities are often high-achieving "workaholics" who multi-task, push themselves with deadlines, and hate both delays and ambivalence (1). Conventional wisdom is that the type A personality is a precursor to success. Some business schools have discouraged applicants if they do not show type A in personality tests on the premise that it is a necessary condition for business success. Hard driving, high achieving CEOs of major corporations and their handlers in top tier consulting firms and investment banks all express such "winning" characteristics.

What is not clear, however, is whether Type A personalities actually add value to the organizations they are part of or to the society in general. In the last decade, it appears that most type A CEOs have destroyed value on both accounts. The decade before that it would not have mattered if you were type A or type Z (as in Zen), as just mere presence was sufficient for economic gains. Unfortunately, that was no indication of competence -  just the arrival of a technology that has broad impact on society – called the Internet.

The notion that type A personality shows leadership and business success has no supporting evidence. The truth is just the opposite. Dumb academics reading their own faulty research seem to have concluded on the personality characteristics that creates value. What they have actually unearthed is a leading indicator for white collar crime – as is immensely evident from the recent actions of the alumni of ivy heavens and consulting mavens.

(1) Wikipedia