MEDIA

Podcasts and Interviews

Arvid Buit on Narcissism and Leadership

Quality Bookings TV (NL Language)

Quality Bookings  (hosted by Robert de Vries)
Interview with speaker Arvid Buit
2017

“A Talent for Narcissism: Why the Most Difficult Leaders Are Often the Best”

From lighting designer in the entertainment world to executive coach: in this conversation on Quality Bookings TV I explain how the gap between stage and backstage led me to the psychology of successful people. We discuss the explosion of coaches, of the 50,000 self-declared ones only about 2,000 are accredited, and how to separate the wheat from the chaff. The heart of it is narcissism: not an insult but a spectrum we are all on, rooted in an overdose of unconditional love and a shortage of frustration tolerance. I explain how the wall of Rolexes and Jaguars works, why these leaders are indispensable precisely in times of crisis, and why you should polish the type rather than chase it away. Also covered: short trajectories that evolve into a critical friendship, my book Wahlberg, and why a lecture on narcissism is mostly great fun.

EMCC CHINA – Leadership Psychology & Executive Coaching

EMCC China (hosted by Icey Cui) 超级领导者具备怎样的大脑和个性
Masterclass Leadership Psychology & Executive Coaching by speaker Arvid Buit
2018

“The Leadership Brain: What Really Drives the People at the Top”

A masterclass for my Chinese colleagues in four parts, from definitions to the coaching room. I start by separating leaders from managers, psychologically two different species, and explain why leadership is about balance within a script rather than a job title. Then we go under the mask: how attachment forms from the womb onwards, how too much or too little symbiotic love produces the fearful and the depressive narcissistic scripts, and what oxytocin, cortisol, dopamine, serotonin and testosterone actually do in a leader’s brain. From there the practical recipe: unconditional acceptance, measurable outcomes, twelve months minimum, building reciprocity through Marshall Goldsmith’s Feed Forward, and working on behaviour and nothing else, because know-how is never the problem, show-how is. We close with triggers, masks and behavioural experiments, plus a generous Q&A. The yardstick throughout is the one I still use today: change only counts when the people around the client can see it.

Jules Kleedt Uit – Dé podcast over Psychiatrie

Jules Kleedt Uit (hosted by Jules Tielens) 
Leiderschap & Narcisme with guest expert Arvid Buit
July 2026

“Top Leaders and Terrible Leaders: The Positive Side of Narcissism”

At the table with psychiatrist Jules Tielens, and for a change we discuss what narcissism delivers instead of only what it destroys. I explain how I work on the borderline between top leaders and terrible leaders, and why roughly one in three people carries a disturbed attachment while among successful artists, politicians and CEOs that figure creeps toward 98 percent. We dissect narcissism as frozen attachment: a defence invented by a five-year-old, with plain sadness and fear underneath. I walk Jules through my method: the three-hour biography, the sine wave through the low points, and the question of what someone decided about themselves back then. We also spend time on how carelessly the label is handed out these days, in divorces, in the media, at birthday parties, and why most people wearing it do not deserve it, which matters, because the difference between a difficult leader and a disordered one is precisely where my work begins. Two self-confessed bunglers philosophise about Nietzsche, mortality and playing chess with the pieces you are dealt.