In recent years we have witnessed a growing interest in the interface between leadership and psychopathy. The interest in the phenomenon increased following the rise to power of Donald Trump, in addition to several stories of scams on an international scale.
In a study conducted by Jake McLaughlin, it was found that 12% of CEOs in corporations meet a large part of the characteristics of a psychopathic personality disorder, and the phenomenon is especially common in high-tech, law and the television industry. Psychopaths often know how to tell people what they want to hear in order to recruit them for their personal benefit They are aware of their abilities and use them to manipulate – and take care to spin things so that they serve them. They are also characterized by a sense of grandiose self-worth, overestimate themselves and their abilities, and are confident that they are lifted up from others.
The characteristics of the “corporate psychopath” include egocentrism, rapacity, recklessness, lack of empathy, and a tendency to manipulate and exploit weaknesses. People with these qualities are seen as good leaders in today’s predatory and power-saturated reality. These qualities are often accompanied by charisma, persuasiveness, ability to motivate people and creativity. Psychopaths are capable of being charmers, so it is easy to mistake them for successful leaders. In addition, and unlike the classic psychopaths, the “corporate psychopaths” have a normal reality checker, so it is easy to mistake them.
The reason for their rise is clear – in today’s predatory reality, psychopathic traits are needed to advance, both in politics and in industry. For example, the analysis of the relationships of “romantic crooks”, reveals a regular and sophisticated pattern of action. To withstand it over time, a combination of a sense of grandiosity, emotional intelligence, fearlessness and zero empathy and emotion is necessary. In other words, psychopathy, Machiavellianism and narcissism – a set of personality traits known as the “Dark Triad”.
The pattern begins with choosing a victim who meets the threshold requirements – a girl who yearns for a relationship and is easy to seduce. The first step as soon as the victim went online – grandiose gestures to create the impression of a person who knows how to live well, large, generous and indulgent. In the next step, the con man will know how to fit the cheating suit exactly to the measurements of the women he has conquered, while coldly exploiting their weak points – whether it is a lack of confidence, whether it is a need for meaning or anything else that will add color to their lives.
Psychopaths are characterized by high emotional intelligence, they know how to push the right buttons and sell everyone exactly what they want to hear. When such a crook meets a potential victim for the first time, he uses a technique known as an “emotional hook” – measuring the intensity of the victim’s emotional response to various gestures, and thus he knows how to analyze how much he can be exploited, how much he can extort from her.
And if anyone thinks that these qualities are limited to the fairer sex – they are wrong: it seems that Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, exhibits a similar set of characteristics. The company’s goal was to develop blood test kits, and at its peak in 2014 it was valued at 9 billion dollars. In 2015 it was revealed that the company’s reports were false.
From the evidence it emerged that Holmes is a pathological liar who will not shut up until she achieves her goal – and will not stop to think about the consequences of her actions. Her desire to resemble Steve Jobs and the intoxication of power put her in the same group as those “corporate psychopaths”, who crave power and dominant positions. There is no accusing finger towards those psychopaths, this is actually an indictment against the irresponsible corporate culture that not only allowed them to operate, but promoted them more and more – until they all crashed.
bend reality
One of Trump’s memorable statements in a speech he gave to his supporters before the presidential election was “I can stand on Fifth Avenue in New York and shoot someone and I won’t lose votes.” Indeed, Trump was a president who did not screw up, who caused the most riots in history, and whose psychological analyzes of his behavior and speeches repeatedly show that his behavior is pathological.
Dr. John Gartner headed a group of mental health professionals who wrote a book whose entire purpose was to impeach Trump on the basis of an incompetence clause (the 25th Amendment to the Constitution). According to them, Trump is unstable and suffers from a number of pathologies, including a criminal personality that manifests itself In breaking laws and norms without feeling remorse, a grandiose delusion (he claimed that more people came to his inauguration than Barack Obama’s), paranoia expressed in conspiracy theories (he claimed that Obama eavesdropped on him during the campaign), an antisocial personality disorder sometimes known as sociopathy (gets satisfaction from trampling people weak), constant feeling of victimhood, narcissism and more.
This behavior, they warn, escalates as more political power accumulates. The grave danger, they say, is that as a result of a distorted perception of reality, Trump is not even aware of his lies. “He bends reality to suit his narcissistic needs and paranoid fantasies,” it says. Even though Trump is caught lying endlessly, despite endless scandals and provocations, not only does he come out unscathed politically, his support only grows stronger.
When it comes to industry, corporate psychopaths are non-violent and operate within the law. They thrive in chaos, and since they know that most people find it difficult to operate in chaos, they will make sure to create it in the work environment. Unlike psychotic people, the psychopathic CEO does not lose touch with reality, on the contrary – he is endowed with an accurate perception of reality, but is characterized by a lack of empathy or concern for the consequences of his actions.
The “corporate psychopath” does not learn from mistakes or punishments. He can hurt an employee, apologize, and the next day behave in exactly the same way, which indicates an inability to feel remorse and flattening of emotion. Situations that for most people would cause an emotional reaction, pass by them.
These qualities allow them to make decisions that we sometimes inadvertently call “rational” – that is, decisions that do not take into account the emotional component. They have no problem firing people, hurting people in the middle of a discussion or behaving unfairly. They are able to mask their ruthlessness and anti-social behavior under a cloak of personal charm. All this without conscience, feelings of guilt or sorrow.
Not only do people exhibiting these personality traits advance through the managerial or political ranks, CEOs of startups with a psychopathic personality structure have a greater chance of convincing investors to invest in their company. Investors are attracted to the psychopathic personality structure, because they believe that these people are more likely to make rational and cold decisions, And so they will return the investment.
By the way, to know if you meet the definition of a psychopath – the main question you need to ask yourself is: are you able to feel empathy?
The author is a behavioral researcher in the digital age, Reichman University, Herzliya.