By Leslie Pratch
Psychological Structure
The discrepancy between overt aspects and covert tendencies was captured in the types assigned to the executives. HHL, for example, indicates high coping and motivation on overt behavioral levels but passivity on the underlying levels of personality. The low integrity executives consciously emphasized their confidence and superiority but their stories indicate that they tended to feel overwhelmed, insecure, and confused. The findings suggest that good early experiences with caretakers and internalization of those experiences result in congruent, consistent, stable, and resilient structures–the HHH type. The psychological organization and stability of the high integrity executives appeared to emerge from their identification with their parents. Those identifications, in turn, contributed to a more solid sense of self. Integrity was part of their way of being because their parents had integrity and the executives’ own relationships with authority figures were full of trust.
The low integrity executives tended to lack the basic foundation of self that would hold them together under stress. For the most part, the relationships of the low integrity executives as young children got off to a shaky start. As adults, they lacked a deep sense of connection with organizations or those around them. Their projective stories revealed their underlying vulnerabilities with respect to coping, self-esteem, and interpersonal relationships. These findings are consistent with the argument that good interpersonal relations growing up result in a more robust psychological system, a system that is more firm, consistent, secure, and possessing true self-confidence.
I am not saying that every person who comes from a family with problems will grow up without the capacity to be consistently honest or responsible or of high integrity. Many children from problematic families substitute identifications with parents, making identifications with grandparents, uncles or aunts, even neighbors, teachers, or other adults with whom the child has significant contact. Some individuals, with very strong innate temperaments, may react to poor parental models by rejecting their parents and substituting cultural ideals as guiding values. On the whole, however, poor parental models increase the probability of developing deficits in integrity. They undermine the cohesion and vitality of the entire psychological structure. The findings are consistent with the view that integrity is part of a person’s overall personality structure, not an independent trait or a gene.
________________________________________________________________________
Leslie Pratch, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist from the Northwestern Medical School with an M.B.A. in Strategy and Finance from Chicago Booth and a B.A. in Religion from Williams College. She works with boards of directors of public companies as well as private equity investors to assess and develop executives. She can be reached at (312) 464-7919 or leslie@pratchco.com or www.pratchco.com.
great post as usual!