The Tipping Point (successful execs are psychopathic; Bolton fits profile)

[Vitruvius]

By BELINDA BOARD

JOHN BOLTON, President Bush's nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations, has been described as dogmatic, abusive to his subordinates and a bully. Yet Mr. Bush has said that John Bolton is the right man at the right time. Can these seemingly contradictory statements both be accurate? Yes. The reality is that sometimes the characteristics that make someone successful in business or government can render them unpleasant personally. What's more astonishing is that those characteristics when exaggerated are the same ones often found in criminals.

There has been anecdotal and case-study evidence suggesting that successful business executives share personality characteristics with psychopaths. <SNIP> In 2001, I compared the personality traits of 39 high-ranking business executives in Britain with psychiatric patients and criminals with a history of mental health problems. The business managers completed a standard clinical personality-disorder diagnostic questionnaire and then were interviewed. The information on personality disorders among criminals and psychiatric patients had been gathered by local clinics.

<SNIP> The results were definitive. <SNIP> The character disorders of the business managers blended together with those of the criminals and mental patients. In fact, the business population was as likely as the prison and psychiatric populations to demonstrate the traits associated with narcissistic personality disorder: grandiosity, lack of empathy, exploitativeness and independence. They were also as likely to have traits associated with compulsive personality disorder: stubbornness, dictatorial tendencies, perfectionism and an excessive devotion to work.

But there were some significant differences. The executives were significantly more likely to demonstrate characteristics associated with histrionic personality disorder, like superficial charm, insincerity, egocentricity and manipulativeness. <SNIP> Take a basic characteristic like influence and it's an asset in business. Add to that a smattering of egocentricity, a soupçon of grandiosity, a smidgen of manipulativeness and lack of empathy, and you have someone who can climb the corporate ladder and stay on the right side of the law, but still be a horror to work with. Add a bit more of those characteristics plus lack of remorse and physical aggression, and you have someone who ends up behind bars.

As we all know, public figures can exhibit extreme characteristics. Often it is these characteristics that have propelled them to prominence, yet these same behaviors can cause untold human wreckage. What's important is the degree to which a person has each ingredient or characteristic and in what configuration. Congress will try to decide whether Mr. Bolton has the right combination.

More at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/11/opinion/11board.html

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It's interesting that psychopathy in business executives and Rethugnican politicians is so much the cultural norm nowadays that even the New York Times can argue that John Bolton the bully and liar may just be the man for the U.N. because he's just the psychopathic bastard we need.

My take? If confirmed, Bolton will be truly representative of the vicious criminal Rethugnican ruling class in this country -- and if he is allowed to take his bullying & lying to the UN, he will help the rest of the world understand exactly how America has gone wrong and how far we have fallen.

[Hekate]

1. Ugh. Bolton reminds me of some of the SOBs I used to work for

I've been saying all along that abuse of underlings per se does not seem to disqualify men for high positions, if they can otherwise do the job for which they were hired and thus keep the execs above them happy. Doesn't make it right, mind you, but it's what I've observed.

But Bolton is another kettle of fish entirely. He tries to fire or otherwise punish analysts who give him info that doesn't agree with his predetermined agenda, and in a post-9/11 world this alone should disqualify him for future employment by the US government. That Bush continues to strongly back his friend for ambassador to the UN should tell us this behavior is still being rewarded by this administration. :scared:

Hekate

[whistle]

2. I suppose in a time when airline executives such as those at....

...United Airlines reap big rewards for screwing the employees out of their pensions and Enron executives are allowed to financially rape the people of California and get away with it and virtually every major U.S. corporation treats employees as though they are chattel to exploit, pander to, lie to, use up and then discard when their use is of no further value, a guy like John Bolton fits very nicely into President Bush's vision of the new America.

Remember Pottersville in the movie, "It's A wonderful Life". Well George Bush is grooming this country for a whole string of Pottersvilles starting with BushWackville down in Texas.

[oscar111]

3. Norway's high posts filled by very diff types,

i would bet.

Fitness for high post, probably varies wildly with the kind of organization one is looking at:

fascist or equalitarian

[whistle]

7. Fitness for high posts in U.S. corporations based on profit.....

...maximization, high stock P/E ratios, high dividends and keeping the riff-raff such as the general public and employees from ever cashing in on any of the company financial gains.

It is a tricky formula based on a lot of insider awareness and total secrecy so that the world outside of the corporate privileged few will never really know what is going on. That requires a very special type of top executive.

[Larkspur]

4. When execs are not vetted or their overall decions reviewed by their golf

buddies, corruption, like cancer, will run amok. We are living in the Era of the New Age Robber Barons. The first one started during the wake of the US Civil War and bloomed during Grant's Admin and lasted until the Great Depression.

It took the Progressive Movement and the Great Depression to pop the Robber Baron bubble and expose to the American people the delusion that what's good for business is good for America. I hope it doesn't take another Great Depression to wake up the current American population, but it seems that many have to learn lessons the hard way.

[Demeter]

5. And THAT'S Why America's Businesses Are Failing

Nowadays, if you can't make a profit by bribing someone, you don't survive. If you can't screw your employees out of their health care, pensions, safety, unions, or lives, you go under.

Is it any wonder that a women professionals are desperate to form their own companies, however small, just to get away from these evil people? Is this the American Dream, or the American Nightmare?

Torture is as torture does. It's endemic in this society, once the envy of the world, now a rotting corpse with an overdoes of vultures picking its bones.

[puddycat]

14. Do you really think capitalistic women are any better than men?

Women who buy into capitalism/fascism are sociopathic, just like men.

[bloom]

6. That is a ridiculous argument she makes

they are really stretching these days.

And then they have this little ad also:

OP-ED CONTRIBUTORS
The Best Man for the Job
By JAMES A. BAKER III and EDWIN MEESE III
The United Nations needs John Bolton.


The New York Times choice of op-eds was really pathetic today.

[Shallah Kali]

8. A few articles on psychopathic corporate bosses

The psychopaths in suits
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3395443.stm

In a talk entitled Snakes in suits: when psychopaths go to work, Professor Robert Hare from Canada argued that psychopaths may not be what we think they are.

SNIP

Psychopaths are defined as a person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behaviour without empathy or remorse.

And Professor Hare, along with colleague Dr Paul Babiak, has developed a new 107-point questionnaire - the B-Scan - which can enable people like you and me to identify which desks those smooth-talking, manipulative colleagues might be hiding behind.

SNIP

"I don't see any difference between the people I meet in prison and those in business," he added.

Is your boss a 'corporate psycho'?
Millions of harassed workers could have their worst fears confirmed about their bosses thanks to a new test to weed out the 'corporate psycho'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3392233.stm

Professor Hare estimates that 1% of the general population in North America are psychopaths.


The professor believes that psychopath's cold-blooded ability to manipulate others without remorse, coupled with a veneer of charm and high energy can make them extremely successful in many walks of life.

They could be perfectly qualified for top posts in the military, politics or in huge multi-national companies as history has already shown in one notorious case.

SNIP

Once they have their talons dug into a company they may be too well connected politically to shift, hiding their dangerous natures behind a network of influence and manipulation.

Psycho at the top?
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/28/1035683360087.html

"If I couldn't study psychopaths in prison, I would go down to the stock exchange," he says. Along with Paul Babiak, he is working on a book with the tentative title, Snakes in suits: When psychos go to work.

Dr Babiak and Dr Hare say some of the traits most admired by corporations suit the profile of the average psychopath. "They tend to have a facade of charm that is very effective in ingratiating themselves with people in power and which hides their anti-social tendencies," says Dr Babiak.

"It is very easy for psychopaths to play up to what the establishment wants. If that is getting in early and staying late, it's no problem. Most of them can't believe how easy it is."

As America attempts to rid itself of the showbiz chief executives, boardroom recruiters are taking more trouble to delve into candidates' psychological make-up. Psychopaths tend to be arrogant, short-tempered, manipulative, deceitful, lacking in empathy and remorse, and with a need for self-aggrandisement while apparently being "rational".

Psycho bosses on the loose
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4149556,00.html

Clarke says workplace psychopaths have the same psychological make-up as killers. The only difference is that they have the ability to hide their psychopathic tendencies behind the front of a respectable, white-collar job. Employers should beware liars, cheaters, smooth-talkers, people who appear bored, those who change jobs quickly and those who believe they should be higher up in the company; all are potential psychopaths. (Note that recent studies have discovered that 15% of top executives misrepresent their education, and one-third of all CVs contain lies.)

Psychopaths aren't mad: they're sane, rational, often highly intelligent individuals. What separates them from the norm is a series of character traits - among them impulsiveness, egocentricity, lack of empathy and irresponsibility - which make them a highly dangerous and destructive force in society. No-one is certain exactly what causes a person to be psychopathic, although it is now generally believed that psychopaths are born, not made. As yet, psychopathy can neither be cured nor successfully treated.

SNIP

Robert Hare, professor of psychology at the University of Vancouver, is considered to be one of the world's foremost experts in the study of psychopathy. He estimates that about 1% of the population are psychopaths. "Psychopaths use superficial charm, manipulation, intimidation, and violence to control others and satisfy their own selfish needs," he says. "They lack conscience and feelings for others, cold-bloodedly take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without the slightest guilt or regret."

SNIP

The result? A psychopath who stays on the right side of the law can go far, charming and manipulating their way to the top of the career ladder and treading on those in their way. "These individuals are every bit as egocentric, callous and manipulative as the average criminal psychopath," says Robert Hare. "However, their intelligence, family background, social skills and circumstances permit them to construct a facade of normalcy and to get what they want with relative impunity."

[Shallah Kali]

9. Robert Hare's psychopath check list

http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/id-1217.html

Psychopath expert Professor Robert Hare gives a comprehensive list of psychopathic personality traits that outline the major features of this disordered personality.

Glib and superficial charm
Callousness and lack of empathy
Grandiose sense of self worth
Parasitic lifestyle (lives off of other people)
Need for stimulation, prone to boredom
Poor behavioral controls
Pathological lying
Promiscuous sexual behavior
Conning and manipulativeness
Early behavior problems (temper tantrums and disobedience)
Lack of remorse or guilt
Failure to accept personal responsibility
Shallow affect (no deep feelings about anything or anyone)
Revocation of conditional release (put back in jail after failing at reform)
Lack of realistic, long-term goals
Many short-term marriages
Impulsivity
Juvenile delinquency
Irresponsibility
Criminal versatility (good at a lot of different crimes)

[Technowitch]

12. Interesting to note...

...how many of those traits seem to apply to the fellow who appointed him, too, Mr. Shrub. Let's see:

Glib and superficial charm - CHECK
Callousness and lack of empathy - CHECK
Grandiose sense of self worth - CHECK
Parasitic lifestyle (lives off of other people) - CHECK
Need for stimulation, prone to boredom - Probable
Poor behavioral controls - CHECK
Pathological lying - CHECK
Promiscuous sexual behavior - Not confirmed
Conning and manipulativeness - CHECK
Early behavior problems (temper tantrums and disobedience) - CHECK
Lack of remorse or guilt - CHECK
Failure to accept personal responsibility - CHECK
Shallow affect (no deep feelings about anything or anyone) - CHECK
Revocation of conditional release (put back in jail after failing at reform) - Never held responsible
Lack of realistic, long-term goals - CHECK
Many short-term marriages - Gotta have an exception
Impulsivity - CHECK
Juvenile delinquency - CHECK
Irresponsibility - CHECK
Criminal versatility (good at a lot of different crimes) - CHECK

Ding-ding-ding, we have a winner! ;)

[Shallah Kali]

17. another article - Psychopaths Among Us

http://www.hare.org/links/saturday.html

Ever since I visited Dr. Robert Hare in Vancouver, I can see them, the psychopaths. It's pretty easy, once you know how to look. I'm watching a documentary about an American prison trying to rehabilitate teen murderers. They're using an emotionally intense kind of group therapy, and I can see, as plain as day, that one of the inmates is a psychopath. He tries, but he can't muster a convincing breakdown, can't fake any feeling for his dead victims. He's learned the words, as Bob Hare would put it, but not the music.

SNIP

For his first paper, now a classic, Hare had his subjects watch a countdown timer. When it reached zero, they got a "harmless but painful" electric shock while an electrode taped to their fingers measured perspiration. Normal people would start sweating as the countdown proceeded, nervously anticipating the shock. Psychopaths didn't sweat. They didn't fear punishment -- which, presumably, also holds true outside the laboratory. In Without Conscience, he quotes a psychopathic rapist explaining why he finds it hard to empathize with his victims: "They are frightened, right? But, you see, I don't really understand it. I've been frightened myself, and it wasn't unpleasant."

SNIP

Hare made another intriguing discovery by observing the hand gestures (called beats) people make while speaking. Research has shown that such gestures do more than add visual emphasis to our words (many people gesture while they're on the telephone, for example); it seems they actually help our brains find words. That's why the frequency of beats increases when someone is having trouble finding words, or is speaking a second language instead of his or her mother tongue. In a 1991 paper, Hare and his colleagues reported that psychopaths, especially when talking about things they should find emotional, such as their families, produce a higher frequency of beats than normal people. It's as if emotional language is a second language -- a foreign language, in effect -- to the psychopath.

SNIP

He calls them "subclinical" psychopaths. They're the charming predators who, unable to form real emotional bonds, find and use vulnerable women for sex and money (and inevitably abandon them). They're the con men like Christophe Rocancourt, and they're the stockbrokers and promoters who caused Forbes magazine to call the Vancouver Stock Exchange (now part of the Canadian Venture Exchange) the scam capital of the world. (Hare has said that if he couldn't study psychopaths in prisons, the Vancouver Stock Exchange would have been his second choice.) A significant proportion of persistent wife beaters, and people who have unprotected sex despite carrying the AIDS virus, are psychopaths. Psychopaths can be found in legislatures, hospitals, and used-car lots. They're your neighbour, your boss, and your blind date. Because they have no conscience, they're natural predators. If you didn't have a conscience, you'd be one too.

[oppositionmember]

13. Though the author is apparently highly qualified

he doesn't seem to have heard the term "sociopath" which would describe most of the types he catalogues better than "psychopath."

In my understanding what what distinguishes a psychopath from a sociopath is that the psychopath is capable of murder - or multiple murders in the case of a serial killer.

Maybe it's just a question of degree.

[spooky3]

18. Have these authors published any of their work in top tier refereed

journals?

That's the acid test of whether you ought to take their work seriously.

[Shallah Kali]

19. Here is a list Robert Hare's articles, manuels and other writing

http://www.hare.org/articles/index.html

[spooky3]

22. Thanks!

[Shallah Kali]

23. YW :) I wish all politicians had to take his test before running

for office. I think most people would be quite shocked and appalled at how many would get a high score. With Enron, WorldCom, etc. all corporations should require it's use. Also I wonder what would happen if they used this in the military to weed out those who might create future Abu Ghraibs....

[Lindacooks]

10. Hey, the scum rises to the top.

That line about the cream rising to the top is pure BS.

Here's my take, as a cook; cream rises to the top ONLY when the mixture is perfectly still and undisturbed; not what the business environment is like.

In soup, however, when the liquid is boiling and churning, the SCUM rises to the top. This is a more accurate picture of the business environment.

[bvar22]

11. Ken Lay is a psycho.

I saw him recently begging for sympathy from the public because he was down to his last $20Million dollars, and didn't see how he was going to ber able to make it.

Absolutley NO REMORSE for the thousands he bilked out of their retirement.

[ginnyinWI]

15. if confirmed

he'll be the perfect representative for the chimp at the U.N.

I think I'll call him the baboon.

[Strawman]

16. If he were trying to be appointed to head a paper company maybe...

um, but this job is ambassador to the freakin' UN! There are scores of qualified non-psychopaths in this country.

[Daphne08]

20. I've worked under two bosses who were 'corporate psychos'

It was terrible both times. Just terrible.

[Technowitch]

21. I had one such boss once, too, and it was dreadful

It got so bad, his screaming tantrums, that we literally had to bring in Human Resources to mediate. And this was a 'Fortune 500' computing technology company.

Fortunately, eventually, this guy was moved into a position where he no longer had anybody reporting to him... Although frankly, most of us felt he ought to have been fired for gross psychological abuse and behavior unbecoming of a professional.