psychopathic leadership a case study of a corporate psychopath ceo

Psychopathic leadership a case study of a corporate psychopath CEO

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Psychopathy

The truth about corporate psychopaths, what research does—and does not say about psychopathy in the office..

Posted May 12, 2023 | Reviewed by Tyler Woods

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• The media has been propagating a narrative about a shocking proportion of psychopaths in corporations.
• This narrative is generally based on popular books and practitioner opinions, rather than on scientific research.
• Yet the academic community played its own part in feeding the media frenzy: they devised a branding solution.
• To compensate for the lack of studies in corporations, psychopathy in any workplace (even SMEs or NGOs) was branded “corporate psychopathy”.

The rise of the "corporate psychopath"

“One in five corporate CEOs is a psychopath. Wait, it’s not CEOs but managers and it’s not corporations but organizations of any size. In fact, it’s not one in five but one in eight. Okay, there’s no conclusive evidence of corporations teeming with psychopaths. But we all know they do.”

The above is a synopsis of what could be called The Great Corporate Psychopath Frenzy, a media phenomenon that emerged around the turn of the millennium and is still going strong. It picked up in intensity in 2016, stirred by an Australian study finding that one in five business employees could be a psychopath. Numerous top business media outlets rushed to cover the news. With a flick of the pen, they converted “business employees” into “CEOs” in breathless titles such as “21 percent of CEOs are psychopaths. Only 21 percent?” (Washington Post). Some added “American Psycho” axe-wielding pictures for good measure. Two years later, the source research study was retracted (a rare occurrence in academia, indicating serious credibility shortcomings) but the titles stayed, a “scientific fact” you might have heard repeated at a party or two.

Academics join the party

Sensing the media value of associating the words “psychopath” and “corporation”, some academics joined the party, by taking research findings related to psychopathy at any workplace and branding them “corporate psychopathy”. This is not unlike prefacing “ narcissism ” with “artistic” since, well, some narcissists are artists, and the term makes for more vivid imagery than “narcissism” alone.

Of the more than 40 empirical papers on “corporate psychopaths” published in scientific journals, the vast majority study employees or managers who do not work in corporations, but in non-profit organizations, civil service institutions, or small companies. A title such as “A case study of a corporate psychopath CEO”, might evoke the image of a magnate frowning at Manhattan from his sky-high office while pensively sharpening the blade of an axe. Instead, the paper with the said title reports on the head of a British charity (Boddy, 2017). How about “Corporate psychopaths, conflict, and employee well-being”? It does not bring to mind your local car repair shop or family restaurant, does it? Yet half of the respondents in the above-mentioned study worked for companies with fewer than 50 employees. This did not stop the authors from presenting their study as an investigation into “those psychopaths working in the corporate sector, possibly attracted by the high monetary rewards, prestige and power available to those who reach the senior managerial levels of large corporations” (Boddy, 2014, page 108).

Voices of reason

Scientific reviews of the state of research on the topic of psychopathy in the workplace have repeatedly attempted to put things into proportion. A 2013 review co-authored by Scott Lilienfeld, the co-creator of one of the most widely used psychopathy measures, the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI-R), dryly noted that “the attention given to psychopathy in the workplace by the media and scholars alike has greatly outstripped the scientific evidence” (Smith & Lilienfeld 2013, page 205). More recently, a 2019 review of all research studies on psychopathy and leadership concluded that “concern over psychopathic tendencies in organizational leaders may be overblown” (Landay, Harms, & Crede, 2019, page 183). The lead author of the above review got to experience this firsthand: a journalist cited her saying “there is no conclusive evidence indicating that a large percentage of CEOs are psychopaths”, but then, without producing any other research evidence, still concluded that “ roughly 4% to 12% of CEOs exhibit psychopathic traits , according to some experts”.

Psychopathy does not make you a psychopath

Psychopathy involves being fearless, impulsive and rebellious, not troubled by anxiety nor by feelings for others. It also includes being aggressive, ready to assign blame to anyone but oneself, yet also able to manipulate and influence others (Benning et al., 2003). Everyone has some level of psychopathy, but only those who score highest on the traits above (roughly 1 percent of the general population ), can be called psychopaths.

Of young men, Europeans and surgeons

Men across the globe are two to three times more likely to score higher than women on psychopathy (Neumann et al., 2012), and younger adults score distinctly higher on psychopathy than do older adults (Lilienfeld et al., 2014). Yet we don’t think of “A Clockwork Orange” every time we cross a young man in the street.

Europeans are more “psychopathic” than North Americans (Neumann et al., 2012), but this doesn’t seem to rank high in American tourists’ concerns when booking their Paris holidays. And, although surgeons in training have significantly higher psychopathy scores than do other medical students (Muscatello et al., 2017), I would certainly not forgo general anaesthesia to keep an eye on the surgeon’s scalpel... even if the surgeon is young, male and European.

Why getting the record straight on "corporate psychopaths" is important

This is not to say that bosses’ subclinical levels of psychopathy are irrelevant. As you would expect, psychopathic tendencies in managers correlate with employee dissatisfaction, turnover intentions, and bullying , although, surprisingly, the correlation is not very strong (Landay et al, 2019). However, when examined at these subclinical levels, focusing on leader psychopathy alone adds little explanatory power over toxic leader personalities that have been well studied (Smith & Lilienfeld, 2013) but much scare power when such findings are popularized for a general audience.

Why is it important, outside of academic circles, to set the record straight on “corporate psychopaths”?

First because, intimidated by media outcries about corporations teeming with psychopaths, many young people in search of a job may choose to stay away from corporations altogether, potentially forfeiting a better career path than may otherwise be available to them. And who is most susceptible to be harmed by such misinformation? Those who are already underprivileged, as they are less likely to have friends or relatives in corporations who could give them first-hand reassurance.

Second, current corporate employees may give up on their boss at the first sign of egocentricity, impulsivity, or lack of empathy. This can have many negative consequences for the employee, the boss, and the organization. For example, would you dare give feedback to your manager about their tin-eared reaction to a colleague’s emotional distress if you thought they might axe you for it, whether literally or metaphorically? Yet feedback is essential for personal and organizational learning: as this blog’s motto reminds us, most managers are not perfect, and most managers can improve. Even if you’ve chanced upon a boss from hell, knowing that they are very unlikely to be clinical psychopaths would make you feel safer in looking for ways to get them brought to justice, from a scathing 360 degree review to whistleblowing, to filing a complaint with HR, to using other tools and rules that, ironically, corporations may be better at providing than most other, less structured organizations.

Make no mistake about it: corporations have much to improve. But focusing on the overblown menace of “corporate psychopaths” distracts effort and attention from weeding out toxic executives as well as from helping regular humans working in corporations to become better leaders—and better followers.

Benning, S. D., Patrick, C. J., Hicks, B. M., Blonigen, D. M., & Krueger, R. F. (2003). Factor structure of the psychopathic personality inventory: Validity and implications for clinical assessment. Psychological Assessment, 15 (3), 340-350.

Boddy, C. R. (2014). Corporate Psychopaths, Conflict, Employee Affective Well-Being and Counterproductive Work Behaviour. Journal of Business Ethics, 121 (1), 107-121.

Boddy, C. R. (2017). Psychopathic Leadership. A Case Study of a Corporate Psychopath CEO. Journal of Business Ethics, 145 (1), 141-156.

Landay, K., Harms, P. D., & Crede, M. (2019). Shall We Serve the Dark Lords? A Meta-Analytic Review of Psychopathy and Leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104 (1), 183-196.

Lilienfeld, S. O., Latzman, R. D., Watts, A. L., Smith, S. F., & Dutton, K. (2014). Correlates of psychopathic personality traits in everyday life: results from a large community survey. Frontiers in Psychology, 5 .

Muscatello, M. R. A., Bruno, A., Genovese, G., Gallo, G., Zoccali, R. A., & Battaglia, F. (2017). Personality Traits Predict a Medical Student Preference to Pursue a Career in Surgery. Education for Health, 30 (3), 211-214.

Neumann, C. S., Schmitt, D. S., Carter, R., Embley, I., & Hare, R. D. (2012). Psychopathic Traits in Females and Males across the Globe. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 30 (5), 557-574.

Smith, S. F., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2013). Psychopathy in the workplace: The knowns and unknowns. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 18 (2), 204-218.

Emilia Bunea, Ph.D. , is a leadership researcher and educator, as well as the CEO of Ed.movie Inc., a California-based edutainment company. She previously held a series of CFO and CEO roles in global financial organizations.

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Psychopathic Leadership A Case Study of a Corporate Psychopath CEO

2015, Journal of Business Ethics

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The psychopathic ceo.

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Psychopathic CEOs are chameleons, able to disguise their ruthlessness and antisocial behavior under ... [+] the veneer of charm and eloquence.

“He is a charismatic leader who inspires people to follow him. A strategic thinker who can master the details. A tireless worker with incredible focus and problem-solving skills. He is well-liked by his employees but is also able to make and execute unpopular decisions. Above all, he is an exceptional communicator who can convey a vision to any audience, from Wall Street to the most junior employee.”

The quote above could describe an ideal CEO. But it’s actually a portrait of a corporate psychopath, provided by a law enforcement official who declined to be identified because they weren’t authorized to publicly comment. People with psychopathy crave power and dominant positions, experts say. But they are also chameleons, able to disguise their ruthlessness and antisocial behavior under the veneer of charm and eloquence. In the most extreme, clinical, cases those traits have allowed serial killers to elude capture.

But when it comes to the corporate world, non-violent, corporate psychopaths are not running from the law, but instead, rushing to the executive suite. One route to grabbing power for the highly intelligent psychopath is to climb the corporate ladder. There is a real chance that at some point a chief financial officer will be confronted with a psychopathic boss. Roughly 4% to as high as 12% of CEOs exhibit psychopathic traits, according to some expert estimates, many times more than the 1% rate found in the general population and more in line with the 15% rate found in prisons.

“I would say that psychopaths or people with psychopathic traits, thrive in chaos and know that others don’t, so they will often create chaos at work for this reason,” says Tara Swart, a neuroscientist and faculty member at the MIT Sloan School of Management. “As the right-hand person, and with an element of control over the finances as well as strategy, CFOs can work to create certainty and stability for people, to mitigate this.”

A psychopath is different from a psychotic in that the latter is a person who has lost touch with reality, often suffering from delusions, while the former is not detached from reality but lacks empathy and doesn’t care about the consequences of his or her actions. Psychopaths are generally considered intelligent, manipulative and charming – and lack the ability to learn from mistakes or punishment.

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“They are typically very charming on the surface, they are bold and not afraid,” says Karen Landay, a Ph.D. candidate in business management at University of Alabama. Earlier this year she co-authored a research report on psychopathy and leadership with her advisor, Associate Professor Peter Harms and Marcus Crede, a member of the psychology department at Iowa State University. “They don’t care that they are hurting you. They will do what they have to do.”

Psychopaths are more closely related to sociopaths than to psychotics, because both are categorized as having antisocial personality disorders. In their ground-breaking 2006 book “Snakes in Suits,” Paul Babiak and Robert Hare were among the first to attempt to quantify the presence of corporate psychopaths in the C-suite. They estimated the rate of psychopathy in the executive suite to be 3.9%. Since the release of the book there has been much disagreement over the extent of the presence of psychopaths in corporate America with most other estimates landing between 8% and 12%.

Landay says that over the course of her research she has found that there is no conclusive evidence indicating that a large percentage of CEOs are psychopaths. Her work did find, however, that people with psychopathic tendencies were slightly more likely to become leaders. People with these traits are good at “impression management” and know how to get people to like them, she says. Landay added that men were more likely than women to be rewarded for exhibiting psychopathic traits.

“Clinical psychopathy is a personality disorder and that is something that is diagnosed by a medical doctor,” Landay says. “That is not what we are talking about when we are looking at psychopathic CEOs. We are just talking about people who have really, really crappy personalities,” who share some of the personality traits of psychopaths, including boldness, meanness and impulsivity. “Lack of empathy is definitely a hallmark trait,” she says.

According to British psychologist Kevin Dutton, the top four career choices for psychopaths are CEO, attorney, media personality and salesperson. Editor’s Note: The author has held three of these four roles .

Psychopathic executives tend to be narcissistic.

Studies show that almost all psychopaths are narcissists and manipulators. Some are quick to anger, though when climbing the corporate ladder they are more likely to use charm and flattery on superiors in order to propel their careers. Until it impacts job performance, psychopathy itself is not grounds for termination. Rather, it is the underlying behavior that accompanies psychopathy that could be grounds for termination or even a criminal investigation.

While many companies have personality tests and extensive interview processes, they are ineffective at screening out psychopaths, especially the intelligent ones. Psychopaths can lie with ease, and they are clever enough to provide the preferred answer on any personality test. In that sense, a psychopath has an advantage over another executive with a similar aptitude and accomplishments who will not lie for career advancement.

The “Me too” movement has raised awareness of psychopaths in corporate environments. When noting the accusations against Harvey Weinstein, it’s not a stretch to wonder if he could possibly share some of the classic traits of a psychopath. Based on media reports, it appears likely he was a very persuasive and charismatic person.

Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of Theranos. Miss Holmes was the youngest female self-made ... [+] billionaire despite not having a working product.

Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, also appeared to hold a similar sway over supporters, which included the Clintons and the Obamas.

Opinions vary on how to deal with the psychopathic CEO. MIT’s Swart says a CFO is among the first line of defense against an out-of-control leader. Landay disagrees. “There is no dealing with a corporate psychopath,” she says. “You need to get out.” Several CFOs advised that psychopaths should not be trifled with because they are typically more ruthless, better at scheming and far more manipulative than their colleagues. Whatever the tactic, carefully documenting all aberrant behavior can prove useful down the road.

Members of the CFO Leadership Council, a global membership organization for financial leaders, shared their stories of CEOs whom they believe might be psychopaths. They did so anonymously to avoid any retribution. Much of this behavior falls in a gray area and it’s perhaps not clear if the misdeeds are the product of psychopathic traits or just abhorrent behavior. But, at a certain point, there is no difference. A sample of their stories include the following:

· CEO who worked with several pregnant women told people that he had impregnated his colleagues. Gave S&M paraphernalia as Christmas gifts to female employees. Lied to CFO and said her husband was having an affair. He was finally reported to the board, but employees feared him, so the complaint went nowhere.

· CEO made employees wait outside his office, often for hours, to talk to him about routine matters. Even the CFO was made to wait outside his office in a classic power trip.

· CEO told CFO not to hire “fat chicks” but instead to focus on women who look like “Lara Croft, Tomb Raider.” He didn’t see a problem with putting a down payment for his Ferrari on a company credit card.

· CFO thought his CEO had a split personality, until he realized that he was simply playing different characters based on what he needed from his audience.

· Autocratic CEO fired a well-respected engineer “just to make a statement.” He fired anyone who challenged him, explaining there was no reason to second-guess him because he was always right and needed people to execute his vision rather than challenge it.

· CFO and CEO were presenting to a private equity investor who asked for the financial model to be rerun with reduced revenue growth assumptions, causing the CEO to go ballistic and charge at the investor. CFO believes there would have been a physical fight if he had not been present.

· CEO requests reports but does not read them. Routinely tells employees they are stupid and untalented. Encourages the CFO to yell at employees to inspire fear.

· CEO wanted a “kiss my ass” club, inspired by Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment. Employees who made mistakes had to literally kiss his backside if they wanted to keep their jobs. CEO did not understand why an employee would have a problem doing so, though eventually the CFO persuaded him not to do this. He did not seem to realize that McMahon had created the routine as a gimmick.

· CFO informed VP of Sales (who would later be promoted to CEO) that his sales team was cheating on orders by taking side letters and not reporting them. VP lost his cool, poked his finger into the CFO’s chest and repeatedly said “how dare you?” CFO therefore assumed VP did not know about the practice, but emails eventually proved that not only did he know but that he had orchestrated it. CFO remembers thinking that the VP was a better actor than Meryl Streep.

· CEO kept large picture of himself on the wall of his office, a picture which multiple employees reported seeing him kiss. He also fired a receptionist who had been a model employee for 20 years because he “wanted somebody prettier” to reflect the image of the company he was building.

· CEO would show up to work and begin yelling at an employee (usually someone in sales) for no obvious reason. He believed in managing through intimidation and considered yelling at people a motivational tool.

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