Project Vision 21

Francisco Miraval

Recently, as part of my job as a reporter, I interviewed the regional president of a large and well-known national corporation. Unfortunately, the interview was rather unsuccessful, but not because of any of the usual reasons.

The businessman I interviewed was always kind and courteous. He was respectful and kept a big smile on his face. He was not in a hurry and there were no interruptions. In fact, he indicated he will take as much time as needed for the interview. There was, however, a big problem: his answers.

After my first question, the businessman provided a good answer, but with absolute no connection to my question. And the answer to my second question was in fact hardly an answer at all. And the same dynamics happened again and again with all the other questions.

I know very well executives and other people in high places are taught not to answer the questions a reporter asks, but to “answer” the questions the reporter should have asked. However, it was clear that this was not a case of having been trained about how to deal with the media. And what immediately followed proved I was right.

After speaking with me, the executive was introduced to another person, a woman. It was clear it was the first time they met. The woman asked some questions to the businessman, and he replied word by word the first answer he gave me, but my question and the question the woman asked were very different.

The woman asked a few more questions and, guided perhaps by a script he was forced to follow, the wealthy executive repeated again and again the same answers I already knew and in the same order. It seemed to me he didn’t care about the meaning of the questions or the person in front of him.

After that, the businessman spoke with a third person, always giving the same answers in the same order, regardless of the questions asked to him.

“How in the world somebody with such a clear inability to connect with other could be the regional president of a large corporation?” I asked myself. Could it be that reason is precisely his ability to ignore others and to offer the same answers again and again?

I must say I was not upset with the situation, but there was something I didn’t like. After all, it was clear my presence was irrelevant to him. Had a hippopotamus asked the questions, the hippopotamus would have gotten the same answers. Had I asked about legal marijuana, the end of the world, and intelligent life on Mars, he would had given me the same answers. 

My conclusion is that I met somebody with such a high level of narcissism he can’t recognize or listen to others. He only listens to himself, thus repeating only what he wants to hear. Amazingly, he is in charge of thousands of millions of dollars and his decisions impact the life of millions of people.