Positive Psychology at Work:

Psychopathic Leaders

An interesting sideline of research into the psychology of leadership has been into how people with severe personality disorders, as well as out and out psychopaths, make it into key leadership positions, and they do. People with disorders of narcissism (excessive self-regard), psychopathic personalities (inability to empathize, lack of morality), paranoia (everyone is against me/us, trust no one) and schizoid tendencies (delusions of grandeur) all make it into positions of power. These disorders are associated with seriously deleterious or unpleasant organizational behaviour. In the worst cases the excesses they display once in positions of power bring organizations to their knees. It has been suggested by one eminent leadership researcher, Malcolm Higgs (2009), that Lee Iacocca at Chrysler, Jean-Marie Messier at Vivendi and Dick Faulds at Lehman Brothers all displayed strong signs of a personality disorder as they indulged in reckless behaviour which damaged the companies they led.

One might wonder how such people were recruited to positions of power in the first place. The answer is partly that organizations, while recruiting for desirable attributes, inadvertently recruit for psychopathic tendencies. As Babiak and Hare (2006) point out, a charming demeanour and grandiose talk can be mistaken for charismatic leadership and self-confidence, while an ability to con and manipulate is also an ability to persuade and influence – both very attractive attributes ...