Dealing with Narcissistic Behavior in Business

When a Difficult Business Relationship Starts Shaping Your Decisions

A co-director repeatedly challenges agreements. A business partner turns operational questions into personal power struggles. A key employee controls information while resisting accountability. Important decisions begin to revolve around managing one person’s reactions.

When these dynamics affect your company, your leadership, or your ability to act, a considered response matters.

I work individually with business owners, CEOs, managing directors, and senior leaders who want to understand a difficult situation, assess their options, and prepare their next steps. Our work combines strategic thinking, psychological insight, and practical communication preparation.

Sessions are available in Berlin, online, and by phone.

Situations We Can Work On

Executive sparring can be particularly useful when:

• A co-owner or business partner repeatedly reopens agreements or shifts responsibilities.

• A fellow director undermines your authority or creates competing lines of instruction.

• A commercially important employee reacts to feedback with blame, pressure, or threats to leave.

• A powerful stakeholder uses personal attacks or selective information to influence decisions.

• A conflict is consuming management attention and affecting customers, employees, or delivery.

• You need to decide whether to repair a working relationship, redefine responsibilities, or prepare a transition.

• An important conversation requires clear boundaries and careful preparation.

You may be dealing with a recent escalation or a pattern that has developed over years. We start with your present situation and the decisions within your responsibility.

Understand the Pattern and Its Business Impact

You may describe the other person as narcissistic, controlling, or manipulative. Our work focuses on observable behavior, the available evidence, and its consequences for your business.

What happens repeatedly? Which agreements hold? Where does information become unreliable? How do other people respond? Which explanations remain uncertain?

This creates a practical basis for action. Decisions can rest on conduct, responsibilities, and business consequences, with appropriate caution about assumptions concerning another person’s motives or personality.

We also examine what is at stake: decision-making authority, access to information, customer relationships, key expertise, financial commitments, and your capacity to lead.

Clarify Your Options

Difficult business relationships often involve genuine dependencies. You may share ownership, rely on specialist knowledge, or face commitments that require continued cooperation.

Together, we examine:

• Your objectives and the interests you need to protect.

• Your authority, responsibilities, and practical room for action.

• The dependencies that influence your choices.

• The information you need before making a decision.

• The likely consequences of each realistic option.

• The conditions under which continued cooperation would be workable.

• The signs that would justify a different course.

The aim is a course of action you can explain, implement, and review.

Where contractual, employment, or ownership questions arise, qualified legal advisers address those aspects. Our work supports your business judgment and preparation for the conversations involved.

Prepare for the Conversation That Matters

A clear strategy needs language you can use under pressure.

We prepare important conversations around specific observations, expectations, responsibilities, and decisions. Depending on your situation, we may rehearse how to:

• Address a broken agreement with concrete examples.

• Communicate a boundary and explain the next step.

• Respond to blame or personal attacks while keeping the business issue in focus.

• Ask for a clear commitment.

• Handle interruptions, evasive answers, or attempts to change the subject.

• Close a conversation with an accurate summary of decisions and open points.

We test different formulations and likely responses. This helps you choose words that fit your role, your objectives, and the circumstances.

For preparation centered on a particular meeting, see Important Conversations & Negotiations.

Maintain Your Judgment Under Pressure

Persistent conflict can occupy attention long after a meeting has ended. Anticipating the next confrontation can begin to shape decisions that deserve a broader business perspective.

Our sessions give you space to examine your reactions, regain perspective, and choose your response deliberately.

We work on maintaining composure, recognizing pressure tactics, and keeping your priorities visible. Your own communication and decisions remain part of the picture: where you have influence, we make that influence more useful.

Support as the Situation Develops

Some situations benefit from one focused session before an important conversation. Others call for ongoing sparring as decisions unfold.

We can review what happened, assess new information, refine your approach, and prepare the next step. This provides continuity when the relationship remains commercially significant or when a transition requires careful sequencing.

For broader support across leadership and business decisions, see Executive Sparring.

How We Work Together

You work directly with me in a confidential one-to-one setting. I bring management experience, communication expertise, and psychological insight to the examination of your situation.

We begin with the immediate challenge, the business context, and the outcome you want to work toward. From there, we identify the decisions and conversations that deserve attention first.

If your organization funds the engagement, we clarify the commissioning arrangements and any reporting expectations before starting.

Current fees and booking information are available on the Pricing page.

Discuss Your Situation

Please use the contact form below or email mail@karstennoack.com.

For your initial inquiry, briefly describe your role, the business relationship involved, and the decision or conversation ahead. Include any relevant deadline and your preferred session format.

A short overview is sufficient to begin. You can keep names and sensitive company details out of your initial message.

Help in Dealing with Narcissists

Most people contact me about narcissists when the damage is already done or clearly on the horizon. At that point, my role is to explain the dynamics, outline your options, and help you regain your footing.

Your emotional balance often suffers under the usual patterns and situations. You need a clear, stable mental state to make good decisions and follow through on them.

Narcissists can develop remarkable acting skills and often become masters of manipulation. In that atmosphere, it becomes hard to stay connected to yourself and to protect your own, very legitimate interests. This is where you receive support from me.

When you deal with narcissists, every detail matters. That is why thoughtful preparation for any form of communication with them is so important. Many people call, briefly describe their situation, and hope for a quick recommendation.

It feels like “just a few questions,” and then there is disappointment when they realize that comprehensive consulting is not available free of charge.

Because this created too much friction, I currently accept session requests exclusively by email and via the contact form. As much as I would like to help everyone, I keep the number of pro bono consultations at a level that is sustainable for me and refer to the options I offer. And there are quite a few of them

If you would like support (within the areas I offer – and this explicitly does not include legal advice), we can gladly arrange an appointment.

• For emotional and psychological issues, I offer psychotherapy.

• For all other topics, I offer coaching and consulting.

To be absolutely clear: I do not provide legal advice.

Even a first phone session can already bring light and structure into your situation. You will find details under the respective fee sections

You can either come to my practice in Berlin, or we can work together by phone or via online video. This has proven to be a very effective and convenient format.

Thanks to instant bank transfer, booking short-notice appointments is also possible. We can either agree on a time first, or – even simpler and faster – you book a session with your preferred duration, and as soon as the fee has arrived, we schedule the next available slot.

Transparency matters to me. You will find all fees listed here on the website.

1. For personal consequences of narcissistic abuse, my psychotherapy fees apply.

2. For all other private topics, my fees for coaching and consulting apply.

3. In the context of professional challenges within companies and organizations, my business and executive rates apply.

Contact Me for More Information

If you have specific questions or want to know more about how I can help, just ask me directly. For questions that might interest others, please feel free to post them in the comments section below.

Looking for Professional Support?

If you're interested in coaching, training, or consulting, have organizational questions, or would like to schedule an appointment, the best way to reach me is through this contact form (where you can choose whether to provide your personal data) or by email at mail@karstennoack.com. You can find the privacy policy here.

Transparency and Frequently Asked Questions

Transparency is important to me. To help you get started, I've provided answers to frequently asked questions about myself (profile), the services I offer, fees, and the process of getting to know me. If you like what you see, I'd be delighted to work with you.

Published: May 20, 2020
Author: Karsten Noack
Revision: November 19th, 2024
German version: https://www.karstennoack.de/narzissten-hilfe/