Narcissism Abound
In Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, a hedonistic tale is told whereby a certain Mr Dorian Gray became imbued with his own handsome portrait that he makes a regrettable wish for ageless beauty…
The focus of this nineteen century classic is a portrait of the protagonist (Dorian Gray) which is so elegantly captured by an artist on canvas that the subject-matter constantly takes it out over time to admire it. He does this so often until he comes to a destructive, delusional point of self-beauty and greatness.
The classic story of narcissism aside, this reminds of a funny story related by a friend in the PR circle about two years back, of a CEO of a newly listed company who seemed to overindulge in having his own portrait ‘captured’ and published in the print media.
Being relatively unknown the business circle, the CEO was thrust under the spotlight when the company filed for listing and a slew of PR activities was lined up to profile the new kid on the block.
After several successful media interviews and press conferences, the appearance of the CEO became a regular face in the local media clippings – always wearing the same shiny, head-to-toe, Italian-like tailored suit.
With a newfound sense of greatness and growing vanity, the CEO set some specific PR targets for his company’s upcoming (and rather mediocre- standard IT product launch).
The target: For news of the product launch AND his portrait to make it to the pages of the TIME Magazine…
Needless to say, the PR folks could only just stop from bursting out laughing in his face. Till this day, the joke behind his back goes, “He thinks he is O-BA-MA meh??”
IT BYTES BACK! Says: Some CEOs should look in the mirror more often to contemplate if they have REAL substance to back up their claims of grandiose and self-importance before making unrealistic demands – making themselves look foolish.
