"Seen it many times"... Really? The article even says it's 1% of the population.
I've interacted with a bunch of people who are basically autonomous and functioning at the top of their particular game, and while a lot of them can be a pain, this Wkipedia article paints a caricature of a cartoon-being that I've never encountered. Can you cite any examples of this person?
Ok a few things in response to your comments.
First if you read closely the article also says that it is much more common in males which would suggest off the bat that more than 1% of males have it and less than 1% of females have it assuming an evenly distributed male/female population.
Second, there are many more males in the very highest ranking roles than females. I am sorry to say that and I promise I am not saying this to be un-PC but overall it is true.
Third, I have spoken with shrinks about it who tend to observe that some of the grandiose behavior presented with NPD can be perceived as "swagger" and rewarded in business. Do some google searches and you can find some compelling articles.
So the concentration of these types in the executive suite is more common than you would think.
People tend to be skeptical because this is called a "personality disorder" and most if not all of these people are exceptionally high functioning. But if you think about it in the simplest terms, an adult who regularly demonstrates emotional volatility has some sort of a problem. Indeed this is considered to share the spectrum with Borderline Personality Disorder which is much more widely recognized by the public but also harder for people to identify in their everyday lives.
As for my experience I prefer not to share. I haven't a clever screen name that hides my identity.
The article I posted simply describes all of the ways it presents. It doesn't mean that everyone presents all the same ways and there are varying degrees of severity but there are definitely patterns. Plus there is plenty for you to read that could give a much more concise or detailed explanation than I could, if you care to read more about this.
