I don’t want to dive too deeply into the swirling pool of psychology, but I’m sure you’ll agree that based on your own personal experience, you know that leaders who march around like Napoleon are likely to suffer from massive insecurity and are over-compensating.

Even worse, their track record of innovation is always very low.

The term “inferiority complex” was coined in the 1920s by French psychologist Alfred Adler, who postulated that people who feel inferior go about their days overcompensating through what he called “striving for superiority.” For them, success is a zero-sum game, meaning the only way these inwardly frightened people can feel happy is by making others unhappy.

Experts now think of this striving for superiority as a feature of narcissistic personality disorder, a deviation from normal development that results in a person’s constant search to boost self-esteem.

In 2015, University of Derby (U.K.) psychologist James Brookes undertook an investigation of the way insecure people feel about themselves both in terms of self-esteem and self-efficacy—that is, their confidence in their own ability to succeed.

Using a sample of undergraduates, Brookes analyzed the relationships among overt and covert narcissism, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. His study, “The effect of overt and covert narcissism on self-esteem and self-efficacy beyond self-esteem,” provides clues into what makes up the narcissistic personality and insight into the ways you can interpret the actions of narcissistic leaders or colleagues through examining their insecurities.

The 5 Negative Behaviors of an Insecure Leader

Have you encountered the following five behaviors in a superior? Is it possible that you’ve exhibited them yourself? If you want to stay ahead of the pack, make an effort to eliminate them from your behavioral profile:

1. The insecure leader tries to make his colleagues or employees feel insecure.

The insecure leader thrives on a sense of disunity and even chaos among subordinates. He or she doesn’t want any of them to rise to a position of challenging the leader. (Remember, the insecure leader imagines that his or her shortcomings will be discovered and the result will be humiliation.) The operative strategy is not to unite the members of the team but to divide and conquer. Clearly, such a leader is putting his or her own emotional needs above the welfare of the group.

Secure leaders welcome the expertise and achievements of subordinates, try to forge a unified team, and strive to elevate the organization and its stakeholders. The result? Massive, profitable innovation!

2. The insecure leader needs to showcase his or her accomplishments.

The leader who is constantly bragging about their lavish lifestyle, their elite education, or their fantastic vacation destination is doing so to convince themselves that they really do have worth. This also applies to the leader who will only deliver good news at the annual meeting and avoids mentioning anything negative or challenging.

Secure leaders don’t have to boast about their accomplishments, and in fact they make a point of celebrating the innovations of their employees and stakeholders. They also are willing to report bad news and take responsibility when appropriate, because they know that doing so is in the best interest of the organization and its mission.

3. The insecure leader reminds you how hard he works for you.

Some bosses make sure their employees know how lucky they are to be working for someone who built the company up from nothing, works 24/7 to keep the company afloat, and has no private life because of their dedication to their work. This boss makes employees feel guilty for actually wanting to leave at five o’clock, or take time off to care for a new baby, or even go on a vacation they’ve earned fairly. Their fear is that their employees aren’t giving 110% to the company and are either lazy or ready to be disloyal.

Secure leaders realize that their employees need to have well-rounded lives that involve activities and interests that have nothing to do with the organization. There’s a happy medium between working very hard while on the job and then taking a break, leaving work behind, and coming back refreshed and ready to discover exciting new innovations.

4. The insecure leader complains that results are never good enough.

Leaders who score high on the inferiority scale like to broadcast what high standards they have, and how those standards are never met. (This has been called the “Leona Helmsley Syndrome,” after the notorious New York hotelier.) They proclaim their high standards as a way of asserting that not only are they better than everyone else, but that they hold themselves to a more rigorous set of self-assessment criteria. Their attitude also guarantees that their so-called high standards will never be met, which means they don’t have to celebrate anyone else’s achievements because everyone else is failing to deliver.

Secure leaders set reasonable and achievable goals, provide their employees with the tools needed to meet those goals, and recognize successful completion of tasks and projects. Secure leaders also work closely with their managers and employees to raise productivity through training and the elimination of waste. They don’t browbeat or bully employees because they know those are ineffective ways of getting better results.

5. The insecure leader is secretive.

An effective way of keeping subordinates off guard and unable to question the insecure leader’s authority is to not let them see the information underlying a decision.

The secure leader has, as much as possible, an “open book” regarding the decision making process. Confident leaders don’t mind explaining the reasons behind their decisions because they’re not afraid of being challenged or of even being shown to be wrong. The secure leader is happy to lead an open discussion of an issue, hear all sides, and then make a well informed decision.

To remain an innovation leader, be humble and show true confidence not only in your own abilities but those of your employees!