Averting hubris-induced disaster by analysing language: new Daedalus Trust-supported research

Do hubristic CEOs give themselves away in the ways they speak and write? If so, language could provide valuable early warning of potentially destructive leadership.

The use of ‘Linguistic Markers’ in identifying CEO hubris is the focus of another Daedalus Trust-supported research project, being conducted by PhD researcher Vita Akstinaite at the UK’s Surrey Business School.

“In certain circumstances language can work as a DNA sample or a fingerprint” and what CEOs write and say can identify “changes in a person’s personality, cognition and psychological modes”, the project’s Abstract observes.

The research will analyse spoken and written samples of discourse from CEOs deemed to be hubristic and benchmark those against a sample of non-hubristic CEOs.

If the hypothesis is proven, Linguistic Markers may help “mitigate the risk of potentially destructive CEO behaviour for organisations and prevent failures induced or aggravated by Hubris Syndrome.”

View a PDF of the Abstract here: Vita Akstinaite Abstract 09 02 16