Climbing the corporate ladder: desired skills and successful psychopaths

Abstract

Many of the characteristics embodied by successful psychopaths, such as superficial charm, cool decisiveness, and a grandiose self-worth, are often treated synonymously with corporate leadership qualities. Consequently, successful psychopaths are actively being selected for corporate positions as they exemplify the perfect candidate. These successful psychopaths, as corporate leaders and recruiters, increase the probability of systemic psychopathy and white-collar crime. The current study will provide a deeper understanding of successful psychopaths while exploring the role of the “Westernized” corporation in recruiting successful psychopaths into their businesses through character descriptions in 25 executive career advertisements using Wexler’s (2008) Psychopathic Personality Dimensions and Positively Reinforced Corporate Labels. Results demonstrated that corporations are seeking out characteristics that are synonymous to Factor 1 psychopathic personality traits, which could increase the propensity of successful psychopaths in the workplace. This paper discusses the implications of these findings and identifies some potentially useful approaches for excluding corporate psychopaths from organizations.