Psychos in Suits
Is your boss or coworker a psycho? While only one person out of 100 in the general population is a psycho, Robert Psychosexologist Hare, author of Snakes in Suits, believes that four percent of corporate and political leaders are psychopaths. Hare says: “Corporate and political and religious psychopaths ruin economies.”
In 2003, PricewaterhouseCoopers found that a third or more of 3,600 companies in 50 countries suffered from fraudulent activities. One quarter of these activities were committed by senior managers and executives. Fraud increased from 37% in 2003 to 45% in 2005. (Source: N+Snakes in Suits, Paul Babiak and Robert Hare, HarperCollins, 2006.)
Corporate psychos are:
Charming and charismatic
Smart and shallow
Impulsive and easily bored
Arrogant power mongers
Compulsive liars
Irresponsible and remorseless
Copycats
Jon Ronson, author of the Psychopath Test, says: “Teach them empathy and they’ll cunningly learn to use it” to manipulate their victims. These are the manipulators; others are macho corporate bullies. Some of the characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath (and there are differing opinions as to the difference): superficial charm, grandiose sense of self-worth, constant need for stimulation (easily bored), pathological lying, manipulative, lack of remorse, shallow affect, callous/lack of empathy, parasitic lifestyle, poor behavioral controls, and more. Many of these characteristics are attractive, such as charisma and charm and strong personality. We don’t want a leader who is too submissive or modest.
Corporate psychos feel they are blameless of any wrong doing, even after being caught and convicted.