In this research, I examine how women’s performance in the workplace serves as a reference point for men. Specifically, I predicted that underperforming relative to a woman would be uniquely motivating to men, leading them to engage in unethical activity as a means of closing the performance gap. In an archival study of Fortune magazine’s annual rankings of the 1000 largest United States corporations, I used a regression discontinuity design to demonstrate that male-led firms that ranked just below a firm led by a female CEO were more likely to intentionally misstate their reported earnings compared to firms that did not rank just below a female-led firm. This pattern was strongest for male CEOs with greater perceived self- importance (i.e., narcissistic CEOs), supporting the perspective that men’s sense of self is threatened by performing worse than women in the workplace.