Which Professions Have the Most Psychopaths?

The Fewest?
CEO is the profession with the most psychopaths.
But first off, psychopath doesnt just mean someone who cuts
you up with a chainsaw though the majority of people who
do things like that are psychopaths. Whats the definition?
Psychopathy is a personality disorder that has been variously
described as characterized by shallow emotions (in particular
reduced fear), stress tolerance, lacking empathy,
coldheartedness, lacking guilt, egocentricity, superficial
character, manipulativeness, irresponsibility, impulsivity
and antisocial behaviors such as parasitic lifestyle and
criminality. So which professions (other than axe murderer)
have the most psychopaths? What about the least?
Via The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and
Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success:

Directorul General (abreviat DG; n

englez: Chief Executive Officer,
abreviat CEO) este funcia cea mai nalt
din cadrul majoritii organizaiilor, n
special n companii. n alte organizaii,
funcia echivalent este de preedinte (ntro banc, ntr-o televiziune, ntr-un partid
politic, ntr-un club sportiv etc.), rector
(ntr-o universitate), director (ntr-o
instituie de nvmnt preuniversitar)
.a.m.d. Directorul general este un angajat
(salariat) al organizaiei i face parte,
mpreun cu directorii adjunci (vicepreedini, pro-rectori etc.), din
managementul de vrf, acesta fiind
responsabil pentru organizaie n ansamblu
i pentru activitatea managerilor de
mijloc[1]. La rndul su, DG rspunde n
faa Consiliului de Administraie (CA).

And the next thing that comes to mind is: Why?

Most of the professions on the right require human connection, dealing with
feelings and most of them dont offer much power. Psychopaths, by their very
nature, would not be drawn to or very good at these things.
On the other hand, most of the roles on the left do offer power and many require
an ability to make objective, clinical decisions divorced from feelings.
Psychopaths would be drawn to these roles and thrive there.
That said
Chef? Really? I guess it pays to tread lightly around anyone who has a set of
knives bearing their initials.
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Why (Some) Psychopaths Make

Great CEOs
British journalist Jon Ronson immersed himself in the world of
mental health diagnosis and criminal profiling to understand
what makes some people psychopaths dangerous predators
who lack the behavioral controls and tender feelings the rest of
us take for granted. Among the things he learned while
researching his new book, The Psychopath Test: A
Journey Through the Madness Industry: the incidence
of psychopathy among CEOs is about 4 percent, four times
what it is in the population at large. I spoke with him recently
about what that means and its implications for the business
world and wider society.
Are we really to understand that theres some
connection between what makes people psychopaths
and what makes them CEO material?

Author Jon Ronson. Photo credit:

Barney Poole

At first I was really skeptical because it seemed like an easy

thing to say, almost like a conspiracy theorists type of thing to say. I
remember years and years ago a conspiracy theorist telling me the world was
ruled by blood-drinking, baby-sacrificing lizards. These psychologists were
essentially saying the same thing. Basically, when you get them talking, these
people [ie. psychopaths] are different than human beings. They lack the
things that make you human: empathy, remorse, loving kindness.
So at first I thought this might just be psychologists feeling full of themselves
with their big ideological notions. But then I met Al Dunlap. [That would be
Chainsaw Al Dunlap, former CEO of Sunbeam and notorious downsizer.]
He effortlessly turns the psychopath checklist into Who Moved My Cheese?
Many items on the checklist he redefines into a manual of how to do well in
capitalism.
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There was his reputation that he was a man who seemed to enjoy firing people,
not to mention the stories from his first marriage telling his first wife he
wanted to know what human flesh tastes like, not going to his parents
funerals. Then you realize that because of this dysfunctional capitalistic
society we live in those things were positives. He was hailed and given highpowered jobs, and the more ruthlessly his administration behaved, the more
his share price shot up.
So you can just go down the list of Fortune 500 CEOs and say,
psychopath, psychopath, psychopath
Well, no. Dunlap was an exceptional figure, wasnt he? An extreme figure.
I think my book offers really good evidence that the way that capitalism is
structured really is a physical manifestation of the brain anomaly known as
psychopathy. However, I woudnt say every Fortune 500 chief is a
psychopath. That would turn me into an ideologue and I abhor ideologues.
Is it an either/or thing? It seems to me, thinking about it, that a lot
of the traits on the checklist would be be useful in a corporate
ladder-climbing situation. So maybe there are a lot of CEOs who
simply have some psychopathic tendencies.
It is a spectrum, but theres a cutoff point. If youre going by the Hare checklist
[the standard inventory used in law enforcement, devised by leading
researcher Robert Hare], where the top score is 40, the average anxietyridden business failure like me although the fact that my book just made the
Times best sellers list makes it difficult to call myself that would score a 4
or 5. Somebody you have to be wary of would be in early 20s and a really hard
core damaged person, a really dangerous psychopath, would score around a
30. In law the cutoff is 29.
There are absolutes in psychopathy and the main absolute is a literal absence
of empathy. Its just not there. In higher-scoring psychopaths, what grows in
the vacant field where that empathy should be is a joy in manipulating people,
a lack of remorse, a lack of guilt. If youve got a little bit of empathy, youre
kind of not a psychopath.

So maybe theres a sweet spot? A point on the spectrum somewhere short of full-blown psychopathy
thats most conducive to success in business.
Thats possible. Obviously there are items on the checklist you dont want to have if youre a boss.
You dont want poor behavioral controls. Itd be better if you dont have promiscuous behavior. Itd
be better if you dont have serious behavioral problems in childhood, because that will eventually
come out. But you do want lack of empathy, lack of remorse, glibness, superficial charm,
manipulativeness. I think the other positive traits for psychopaths in business is need for
stimulation, proneness to boredom. You want somebody who cant sit still, whos constantly
thinking about how to better things.
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A really interesting question is whether psychopathy can be a positive thing. Some psychologists
would say yes, that there are certain attributes like coolness under pressure, which is sort of a
fundamental positive. But Robert Hare would always say no, that in the absence of empathy, which
is the definition in psychology of a psychopath, you will always get malevolence.
Basically, high-scoring psychopaths can be brilliant bosses but only ever for short term. Just like Al
Dunlap, they always want to make a killing and move on.
And then youve got this question of what came first? Is society getting more and more
psychopathic in its kind of desire for short-term killings? Is that because we kind of admire
psychopaths in all their glib, superficial charm and ruthlessness?
Theres a certain sour grapes aspect to accusing CEOs of being psychopaths. Its very tempting to
look at anyone more successful than you are and say, It must be because hes a monster.
Theres a terribly seductive power in becoming a psychopath stalker. It can really dehumanize you.
I can look at, say, Dominique Strauss Kahn, who, if one assumes that what one is hearing about
him is true, certainly he hits a huge amount of items on the checklist the $30,000 suits, the poor
behavioral controls, the impulsivity, the promiscuous sexual behavior. But of course when you say
this youre in terrible danger of being seduced by the checklist, which I really like to add as a caveat.
It kind of turns you into a bit of a psychopath yourself in that that you start to shove people into
that box. It robs you of empathy and your connection to human beings.
Which is why people like Robert Hare are kind of useful. Im against the way that people like me
can be seduced into misusing the checklist, but Im not against the checklist.