Does your Chief Executive Officer (CEO) display these characteristics: inability to empathize, superficiality, and insincerity? If so, chances are your CEO is Christian Bale’s character from American Psycho. No, your CEO is not a serial killer, but these types of characteristics are synonymous with those of being a psychopath—and according to new research, one in five corporate bosses is, in fact, a psychopath.
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The Independent recently reported on a study conducted by forensic psychologist Nathan Brooks from Bond University. The study found that 21% of 261 corporate professionals have “clinically significant psychopathic traits,” which is a proportion similar to that among prisoners.
So how do these “successful psychopaths” get hired in the first place? Brooks says the findings suggest that because businesses screen employees on the basis of skill, rather than personality, these “psychopaths” are slipping through the cracks. According to Scott Lilienfeld, of Atlanta’s Emory University, “[Psychopaths] are over-represented in certain occupations: politics, business, high-risk sport. The research on that is in the preliminary stages.”
Lilienfeld adds, “Being a psychopath might predispose someone to short-term success. They tend to be charming and flamboyant, which makes it easier to be successful in the short-run, although that may be purchased at expense of long-term failure.” With turnover costs dramatically increasing, it may be best to better screen employees on the basis of personality as well as skill, so your workforce is composed of well-rounded, well-skilled individuals. Just think of the potential cost, and life, savings!