Anonymous Coward User ID: 1377357 United States 06/14/2011 07:48 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Study: CEOs Four Times More Likely To Be Psychopaths British journalist Jon Ronson immersed himself in the world of mental health diagnosis and criminal profiling to understand what makes some people psychopaths — dangerous predators who lack the behavioral controls and tender feelings the rest of us take for granted. Among the things he learned while researching his new book, “The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry”: the incidence of psychopathy among CEOs is about 4 percent, four times what it is in the population at large. I spoke with him recently about what that means and its implications for the business world and wider society. Are we really to understand that there’s some connection between what makes people psychopaths and what makes them CEO material? At first I was really skeptical because it seemed like an easy thing to say, almost like a conspiracy theorist’s type of thing to say. I remember years and years ago a conspiracy theorist telling me the world was ruled by blood-drinking, baby-sacrificing lizards. These psychologists were essentially saying the same thing. Basically, when you get them talking, these people [ie. psychopaths] are different than human beings. They lack the things that make you human: empathy, remorse, loving kindness. So at first I thought this might just be psychologists feeling full of themselves with their big ideological notions. But then I met Al Dunlap. [That would be “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap, former CEO of Sunbeam and notorious downsizer.] He effortlessly turns the psychopath checklist into “Who Moved My Cheese?” Many items on the checklist he redefines into a manual of how to do well in capitalism. [ link to blogs.forbes.com] |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1428245 Germany 06/14/2011 07:49 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Study: CEOs Four Times More Likely To Be Psychopaths |
Tod Shwarze User ID: 1394135 United States 06/14/2011 07:54 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Study: CEOs Four Times More Likely To Be Psychopaths CEO's and politicians, all want to control the lives of others and CEO's are likely more benign, at least they may provide a service, one cannot evade a politician with a hardon for you. The first disqualification to 'public service" is the desire to be in "public service". |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1421068 United States 06/14/2011 07:59 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Study: CEOs Four Times More Likely To Be Psychopaths That explains how someone like Bill Gates (among others) can talk about and plan Eugenics. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1421068 United States 06/14/2011 07:59 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Study: CEOs Four Times More Likely To Be Psychopaths |
Icanttellyou User ID: 877559 Canada 06/14/2011 08:04 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Study: CEOs Four Times More Likely To Be Psychopaths He just made a quick billion I think? |