(A public domain picture from a 19th Century book of fairy tales or in the present case an example of a psychopath.)

The answer may be surprising to you. Unfortunately old cynic that I am and having researched the subject in the past, I was not surprised.

Yes, psychopaths are attracted to leadership positions in business and are in those positions in large numbers in the United States. (My emphasis)

I was delighted to find the article below on the Internet and dismayed at what it reported and the implications of it reporting.

https://empatyzer.com/is-psychopathy-an-asset-in-business-facts-and-myths-about-ruthless-leaders/

(Quoted directly from the article above.) The statistics are surprising. While psychopathy affects about 1% of the general population, the numbers are significantly higher in the business world. According to research cited in “Philonomist,” psychopathy affects 4% to 20% of employees, with a particular concentration in leadership positions. Simon Croom, a professor and researcher at the University of San Diego, claims that about 12% of senior corporate leaders exhibit psychopathic traits, meaning “psychopathy is up to 12 times more common among executives than in the general population.” Recent studies suggest an even higher percentage: about 20% of CEOs may exhibit psychopathic traits. This overrepresentation is not accidental – psychopaths are attracted to power, and some of their personality traits can actually aid in advancing through the corporate hierarchy.

Twenty percent of CEO’s is a very high proportion of working CEO’s with a serious personality disorder. What are the implications? I have had the misfortune to encounter psychopaths in my work in criminal justice. As you might imagine they were wrongdoers, remorseless liars and miscreants without a shred of human feeling. It was best to lock them up and remove them from the larger population. And while we have this choice when their behavior results in criminality, what choices do we have when their behavior produces corporate success?

Not many. We live in a CEO worshiping culture where it is assumed that CEO’s are geniuses and swashbuckling entrepreneurs. I do find any of this to be true and my opinion of American CEO’s is barely printable or speakable in polite company. But in a culture where CEO’s are given free rein to commit economic havoc (and they do), the psychopathic CEO and all others are well protected from interference or any form of justice. I could point to hundreds of examples but Boeing’s decisions resulting in the crashes of two aircraft with more than three hundred dead resulted in no criminal charges.

You might say a psychopath functioning as a CEO has found his natural environment much like a lion on the plains of the Serengeti.

America’s wars have been a study of mine for some years. In the military it often said that you learn a great deal about a nation by the people who serve, their willingness to act bravely and on behalf of others. I can’t help but believe that our willingness as a nation to use psychopaths to run important organizations says a lot about us as a nation.

A sort of a post religious world sort of decision would be one conclusion. An utter emphasis on success measured in dollar amounts would be another.

It would seem that for much of our leadership in the United States, any consideration of religion, patriotism, or any other human quality like empathy or kindness is simply irrelevant. The only thing that matters is narrowly defined set of personal economic goals, you know, so much money, so many houses, the trophy spouse and the political influence. It creates and maintains a cruel and rapacious word where spouses age and must be replaced, neighborhoods go out of style so you have to move and friends and allies are little more than simple pawns to be discarded when convenient.

And of course, the planet itself is to squeezed like an orange for every last bit of use without any regard for sustainability or our posterity. In the world of the psychopath, things and people exist only for use.

From my point of view entrusting societal resources to the mentally ill is a bad idea. But apparently for many of our “leadership” class, they are too useful to give up.

I will return to the topic of psychopaths in business in later posts. The subject fascinates me and should concern you.

James Alan Pilant

The article above that was linked to and quoted from is entitled:

Is Psychopathy an Asset in Business? Facts and Myths About Ruthless Leaders

And I found it on a web site called:

https://empatyzer.com/

I am grateful for the article, its intelligence and hard hitting conclusions. For those who wrote it, “May blessings fall upon you from Heaven!”