Leadership is a complex phenomenon that involves motivating teams, making difficult decisions, and getting results. Some leaders are naturally charismatic and strategic thinkers who inspire confidence and loyalty. However, there is a dark side to leadership as well. Some leaders exhibit psychopathic traits like ruthlessness, lack of empathy, and manipulativeness. This raises the question: do psychopaths actually make good leaders?
What are psychopathic traits?
Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of empathy, remorse, and deep emotional bonds toward others. Psychopaths tend to have an inflated sense of self-worth, be superficially charming, lie easily, and display manipulative behaviors. They may also be sensation-seeking, impulsive, and prone to violating social norms or laws. According to psychologist Robert Hare, psychopathic traits include:
- Glib charm and superficiality
- Grandiose sense of self-worth
- Lack of remorse and guilt
- Pathological lying
- Conning and manipulative behavior
- Impulsivity and recklessness
- Irresponsibility
- Lack of empathy
However, psychopathy exists on a spectrum. Many people exhibit some mild psychopathic traits without having the full-blown clinical disorder. These subclinical “almost psychopaths” make up about 1% of the general population.
Do psychopaths rise to positions of power?
There is a popular notion that psychopaths are overrepresented in leadership roles, especially in fields like business, politics, law enforcement, and the military. This idea was popularized by psychologist Kevin Dutton in his book The Wisdom of Psychopaths, in which he argues that certain psychopathic traits like fearlessness, focused determination, and charm can enable success in high-stakes professions.
Some research gives weight to this theory. For example, a few small studies have found that psychopathic traits are more common among business executives than the general public:
| Study | Sample | % Exhibiting Psychopathic Traits |
|---|---|---|
| Babiak et al., 2010 | 203 high-level business professionals | 4% |
| Boddy et al., 2010 | 39 senior business managers | 26% |
However, it’s important to note that these studies relied on self-report psychopathy screening tools rather than clinical diagnosis. The actual rate of genuine clinical psychopathy in CEOs and executives is unknown.
Do psychopaths have leadership abilities?
Some researchers argue that psychopaths possess skills and traits suited for leadership roles. For example:
- Charisma and persuasion: Psychopaths can turn on the charm and make a powerful first impression. Their charisma and persuasiveness may help rally employees behind their vision.
- Thick skin: Their lack of empathy and emotionality allows them to make tough decisions without agonizing over consequences for people.
- Risk-taking: Psychopaths tend to be sensation-seeking and tolerant of uncertainty. This can enable them to explore risky innovations and opportunities.
- Focus: With their boldness and lack of fear, psychopaths can pursue goals and ambitions with relentless focus.
However, others argue that psychopaths’ maladaptive traits undermine their leadership potential:
- Dishonesty: Psychopaths exhibit pathological lying and have no qualms about deceiving others for gain.
- Impulsivity: Their impulsive nature can lead to reckless decisions that jeopardize the organization.
- Self-interest: Psychopaths are motivated by self-interest rather than concern for others. They will readily exploit or harm others to further their own goals.
- No team loyalty: Psychopaths’ inability to form deep emotional bonds means that they won’t inspire genuine loyalty in team members.
Are psychopathic leaders successful?
Whether psychopathic traits lead to leadership success likely depends on the context. Researchers have proposed that psychopathy may be advantageous in chaotic, high-stakes business settings, but detrimental in cooperative and team-based environments.1
Evidence on psychopathic leaders’ performance is mixed:
- A study of over 500 US presidents found that those with psychopathic traits tended to be less successful as leaders overall.2
- However, psychopathy was associated with shorter war lengths and winning nominations for a second term, suggesting some benefits in crises.
- A study of 131 senior UK business executives found that those with psychopathic traits made more irresponsible decisions overall. However, they had higher creativity scores.
The bottom line is that psychopathic traits may help in some narrow respects but undermine leadership performance on the whole. More research is needed to clarify the relationship.
Drawbacks of psychopathic leadership
While psychopaths’ boldness and charm may be assets in some contexts, their antisocial traits can incur high costs:
- They are prone to creating hostile, distrustful work environments via bullying, fear mongering, and favoritism.
- Their tendency to exploit, cheat, and steal can lead to unethical or illegal practices that damage the organization.
- Their poor impulse control and inflated self-confidence may result in disastrous strategic errors.
- Their lack of empathy can make them ignorant of employees’ needs, stifling motivation and retention.
In most contemporary organizations, leadership success requires building a cohesive, motivated team. Psychopaths’ toxic interpersonal conduct works directly against this.
Better approaches to leadership
Rather than seeking psychopathic leaders, organizations should aim to cultivate:
- Self-awareness: The ability to recognize one’s own limitations fosters consultation, growth, and ethical behavior.
- Emotional intelligence: Skills like empathy, bonding, and conflict resolution promote collaboration and loyalty.
- Vision: A capacity to define a purpose and strategic direction that resonates emotionally with employees.
- Humility: Understanding that success depends on the efforts of the team, not just oneself.
The psychopathic traits of fearlessness and boldness do have relevance in the leadership process. But well-adjusted, ethical leaders also draw on deeper traits like compassion, integrity, and wisdom.
Conclusion
Psychopathic traits like charm, risk-taking, and immunity to stress can seemingly match the popular image of a bold, visionary leader. But psychopaths’ more destructive qualities like manipulation, selfishness, and recklessness outweigh any advantages overall. While psychopaths’ fearless pursuit of power may enable them to climb hierarchies, their toxic interpersonal deficits undermine their leadership capabilities. Developing emotional intelligence, ethics, self-control, and team commitment remain critical for long-term success.
References
1Lilienfeld, S. O., Waldman, I. D., Landfield, K., Watts, A. L., Rubenzer, S., & Faschingbauer, T. R. (2012). Fearless dominance and the U.S. presidency: implications of psychopathic personality traits for successful and unsuccessful political leadership. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(3), 489–505. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029392
2Boddy, C. R., Miles, D., Sanyal, C., & Hartog, M. (2015). Extreme managers, extreme workplaces: Capitalism, organizations and corporate psychopaths. Organization, 22(4), 530-551.