... and, naturally, you think about 'difficult' people and 'socially enabled psychopaths'! A couple of links:
Are you the person whom everyone finds difficult?: A self-assessment quiz at Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project.
On socially enabled psychopaths: The Godfather Paradox by the neuroscientist Dr. E.S. Krishnamoorthy (VHS Hospital, Chennai). And yes, the article has a quiz that you can take; scroll down to the bottom.
In the competitive world of business, [...] the most effective leader is often perceived as the one who “delivers” whatever the means he employs. It is in this environment that the socially enabled psychopath with his unique perceptions of reality, willingness to shift societal norms and expectations to suit his agenda, and most importantly “willingness to reason with his fellow men” using a range of strategies from charming persuasion to latent threat, comes into his own. His “killer instinct”, lack of empathy and inability to experience and empathise excessively with the pathos of his fellow men consequent to his actions, serve him well here. His actions may hurt his fellow men, or be distasteful; but in the rough and tumble modern world we inhabit, the ability to achieve tangible and productive goals profitable to his organisation and to him, without twinges of conscience or feelings of regret, is often advantageous. The modern-day CEO is, therefore, in many cases, a socially enabled psychopath [...]
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This is not entirely unrelated, but do read this story in Inside Higher Ed about a most unusual attempt to deny tenure to a faculty member because of lack of collegiality'. The decision is yet to be taken.
Of course I did not read the blog fully but the term "socially enabled Psychopath" certainly caught my fancy.
ReplyDeleteI do beleive that there are two categories of people that runs the company. The manager and the leader. Its a great fallcy and myth when someone says that one should exhibit leadership quality. The point is that only one can do that and hence he is the leader. All others are managers and many of them are indeed "socially acceptable Psychopaths"
Will write more about it when I find some time.
D.Rajesh
Why is the socially enabled psychopath described as a "he"?!
ReplyDelete