Corporate Psychopaths

[Michael Scally MD]

Boddy C. The Corporate Psychopaths Theory of the Global Financial Crisis. Journal of Business Ethics 2011;102(2):255-9. Journal of Business Ethics, Volume 102, Number 2 - SpringerLink

This short theoretical paper elucidates a plausible theory about the Global Financial Crisis and the role of senior financial corporate directors in that crisis. The paper presents a theory of the Global Financial Crisis which argues that psychopaths working in corporations and in financial corporations, in particular, have had a major part in causing the crisis. This paper is thus a very short theoretical paper but is one that may be very important to the future of capitalism because it discusses significant ways in which Corporate Psychopaths may have acted recently, to the detriment of many. Further research into this theory is called for.


Cohan: Did Psychopaths Take Over Wall Street?
Cohan: Did Psychopaths Take Over Wall Street? - Bloomberg

It took a relatively obscure former British academic to propagate a theory of the financial crisis that would confirm what many people suspected all along: The “corporate psychopaths” at the helm of our financial institutions are to blame.

Clive R. Boddy, most recently a professor at the Nottingham Business School at Nottingham Trent University, says psychopaths are the 1 percent of “people who, perhaps due to physical factors to do with abnormal brain connectivity and chemistry” lack a “conscience, have few emotions and display an inability to have any feelings, sympathy or empathy for other people.”

As a result, Boddy argues in a recent issue of the Journal of Business Ethics, such people are “extraordinarily cold, much more calculating and ruthless towards others than most people are and therefore a menace to the companies they work for and to society.”

How do people with such obvious personality flaws make it to the top of seemingly successful corporations? Boddy says psychopaths take advantage of the “relative chaotic nature of the modern corporation,” including “rapid change, constant renewal” and high turnover of “key personnel.” Such circumstances allow them to ascend through a combination of “charm” and “charisma,” which makes “their behaviour invisible” and “makes them appear normal and even to be ideal leaders.”

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Psychopaths Caused the Financial Crisis … And They Will Do It Again and Again Unless They Are Removed From Power
Psychopaths Caused the Financial Crisis … And They Will Do It Again and Again Unless They Are Removed From Power | ZeroHedge

 

[zkt]

Strictly speaking these people`s behavior is sociopathic. This personality disorder has been well studied but not well publicized. A very disproportunate percentage of people in a position of wealth and power are sociopathic. They are very skilled at manipulating others and can look you straight in the eye and lie their asses off.
One has to pass a proficiency test to practice medicine: professional politicans should be rewuired to pass a personality test. That act alone would solve most of the worlds problems.

 

[BBC3]

You are correct in the fact that "sociopathic behavior" is not well publicized. I can say with certainty that this is one of the scariest interactions one can have. To become the prinicple object of this behavior is an undescribable feeling of weakness and complete loss of control. The only way to combat it is QUICK DECISIVENESS in defensive action. The bane of the sociopath's chosen principle of obsession is INEXPERIENCE. High levels of personal strength as well as a solid gameplan and the abilty to abide to it are required to defend against it. There is no question that this type of behavior applied to a business model would be extremely effective as applied to many. In my experience a successful sociopath is skilled in the art of INFORMATION reconnaisance and by a lifetime of practive and learning. This is usually driven by an intenal weakness, or percieved internal weakness of the sociopath, who many times becomes this person in an attempt to overcome or compensate for this perception. They reap many poorly derived and unplanned contextual rewards along the way as a coincidence or "bonus" - then positively reinforcing this behavior. The ONLY way to recover from a dimished position resulting from a foothold gained by the sociopath is to then determine what that perceived weakness is and exploit it back on to them. This is difficult at that stage of the interaction for the victim. Those who stand a chance at successfully freeing themselves of this graspe must be surrounded by strong, competent, and disassociated people who genuinly have their interest at heart. Thus it is wise to be diverse in relationships, both personal as well as business related.

Strictly speaking these people`s behavior is sociopathic. This personality disorder has been well studied but not well publicized. A very disproportunate percentage of people in a position of wealth and power are sociopathic. They are very skilled at manipulating others and can look you straight in the eye and lie their asses off.
One has to pass a proficiency test to practice medicine: professional politicans should be rewuired to pass a personality test. That act alone would solve most of the worlds problems.