Taming the Alpha Exec

That's the good news. The bad is that each category suffers corresponding weaknesses--and the greater the strength, the bigger the risk that those alter egos will appear. Think of it as a Darth Vader syndrome: Fail to keep the alpha style in check, and Commanders become domineering; Visionaries grow overconfident; Strategists turn smug; and Executors get impatient. According to Erlandson, alphas get addicted to the adrenaline surges that accompany those excesses, even though they can cloud reality and excuse abuse or manipulation. University of Dayton management professor Dean McFarlin likens alphas to narcissistic bosses he has studied. "Race cars win races only if you drive them under control," says McFarlin. "After you cross a certain threshold, you crash the car, you kill yourself, you kill your company."

Making the Call

Worth Ethic is typically called in when a CEO recognizes such tendencies in an otherwise promising executive. Nguyen arrived at Eaton in 2001 to head its heavy-duty-truck transmission business after landing three promotions in four years at Honeywell International, known for its rough-and-tumble culture. But at Eaton, a more collegial, more consensus-driven place, Nguyen was running roughshod over coworkers. Subordinates complained that when they questioned him or made suggestions, he shut them down or went dark. Peers saw his lack of interest in discussing anything but business as a sign of arrogance.

The feedback made little impression on Nguyen, but it was obvious enough to his boss, who urged him for months to call Worth Ethic. Eventually, it became evident to Erlandson that the obliviousness was a by-product of his client's alpha-male doggedness and independence. At the age of 14, Nguyen and his family were forced to flee Vietnam, eventually landing with other refugees at Camp Pendleton in California, and he has had a survivor's bias toward self-reliance ever since.

Erlandson got Nguyen to open up about his past, then set out to make him a better and more receptive listener. Soon, the coach was accompanying his client to meetings, quizzing him afterward on what had transpired. He persuaded Nguyen to start explaining decisions to subordinates and submit to some awkward situations, such as emotional "clearing the air" sessions that allowed long-festering gripes to emerge. "It gives people the license to tell me when I do something wrong and correct me," Nguyen says. In his spare time, Nguyen was coached to practice deep breathing as a means of centering himself, and to reach out and forge some personal relationships at the office. "It's a relief that I can be myself rather than be somebody that I thought I had to be," he says.

Erlandson acknowledges that the techniques he used with Nguyen are "pedestrian"; many would be familiar to anyone who has worked in the corporate world. Take 360-degree reviews: Most executives participate in surveys of management and corporate climate on a regular basis. But Worth Ethic takes the 360 to a whole new level. Feedback typically fills 35 to 40 pages, much of it organized into charts and graphs designed to appeal to analytical and quant-hungry alphas. Reviewing it can take four hours.

Afterwards, executives are expected to commit to making changes that Worth Ethic tracks closely. When Ludeman began working with Michael Dell in the mid-1990s, she heard from some of his subordinates that he didn't seem to appreciate their hard work. So she created an entirely new category on his 360 labeled "appreciation" and then watched to make sure he improved. Later, Ludeman suggested Dell start sharing his 360 feedback with his entire management team and expect subordinates to do the same. The exercise, painful for Dell and his colleagues at first, has made it impossible for troublesome personality conflicts to fester. "We can talk about things that normally wouldn't get said," Dell says.

Of course, there are also plenty of alpha females who need coaching. They're just different. The survey identified far fewer women than men in the Spock-like Strategist category, and while there were plenty of female Commanders, they were less likely than males to lapse into anger, bullheadedness, or aloofness. In general, alpha women are also less competitive and more collaborative than their male counterparts, Ludeman says. In fact, many recognize that abrasiveness isn't tolerated in women as it is in men and need coaching before they're comfortable challenging that double standard and showing a harder edge.

For most people, though, the question isn't how not to be an alpha-run-amok, but how to deal with one. Too often, underlings tolerate a bad boss if they believe it will benefit their careers in the long run. "A lot of people like to work for these great intimidators," says Stanford Business School professor Roderick Kramer, who cites Eisner, Miramax founder Harvey Weinstein, and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina as examples. "They know so much, they can teach you so much. They may be really unpleasant, but they have really great insights."

Forget for a second that all three wound up on their butts, or that there's a difference between a tough boss and a belligerent jerk. Good leaders should be tough but nice, Ludeman says, and there's no reason to let yourself be bullied. Just walk away, she counsels--and once tempers have cooled, register your unwillingness to be treated that way. Otherwise, you'll quickly become a regular target. Often, Worth Ethic will coach coworkers it believes are enabling an alpha's destructive side. "No one has ever screamed at me or raised their voice at me in my whole career," Ludeman says. "I would leave so immediately. I would not tolerate being treated like that." Spoken like a true alpha.

Andrew Park is a freelance writer who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

E-mail the editor at loop@fastcompany.com.