How Kevin Rudd’s campaign unravelled. (Australian Financial Review 2013).

“A diagnosis of ‘grandiose narcissism’ ie. hubris helped Rudd’s political opponents to a landslide. A fascinating look at the Australian election and the decisive role of hubris.

Pamela Williams
Australian Financial Review, 9 September 2013

After the highly unpopular premiership of Julia Gillard, Australia’s Labor Party was lagging badly in the polls. So Kevin Rudd, who in the public’s eyes at least was far more popular, was returned by his colleagues to the top job he’d lost three years earlier

For a while it seemed he was gaining traction. But his Liberal Party opponents had a ‘secret weapon’ – an arm’s length diagnosis of his first period in power supplied by a friendly psychiatrist.

The document identified Rudd as suffering a personality disorder known as ‘grandiose narcissism’ ie. hubris. It suggested he was held together by one key strut: an absolute conviction of intellectual superiority over everyone else.

The in-depth article takes a fascinating look at the election and the decisive role of hubris – how Rudd himself self-destructed from it, and how his opponents were able to gain advantage through understanding how it would play out.

Access the full article here: How Kevin Rudd’s campaign unravelled. 

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