You know the usual stuff: self-centered, entitled, etc.
Here are my favourite ways:
1) Look at how their subordinates respond to them. People give them what they want!
2) Ask them the question, “Is there anything you’d like to change about yourself?”.
They struggle with this one. They may joke about it—but you’ll never get an answer.
I initially wrote “improve about yourself” but I intentionally edited it to “change”.
You have to be confident you can handle their reaction to this one.
Don’t believe what they say—they are manipulative!
They’ll try to show they care about you—they don’t!
They don’t know what guilt or empathy means.
Make sure you protect yourself against this kind of person at work.
At the same time, understand that they didn’t choose to be the way they are.
They most probably have suffered a separation/attachment trauma in their childhood.
This trauma was devastating to the point it almost destroyed the child emotionally.
To survive, this child had to construct a protective barrier that insulates them from the external world.
All they need is love—but so do you.
Loving you, Angelos