It’s no secret that psychopaths tend to find themselves in high places, the only question is: how? While psychopathy may be a mental disorder, and quite a terrible one at that, there is one thing that we have to give at least a good majority of them, and that is that they are very good at climbing to the top.
Psychopaths are often depicted as stark-raving mad lunatics who are bloodthirsty and image driven. However, it goes deeper than that. Not all psychopaths are murderers or even lunatics. Many of them speak intelligently and are amazing planners and strategic when it comes to reaching their goals. That does not take away from the fact that they are dangerous though because, with a lack of empathy combined with a lack of impulse control, it should go without saying that you should always watch your back around a true psychopath.
Dr, Igor Galynker spoke with CNBC about this very subject and in his own words he says, “We promote them, we elect them and sometimes, a lot of people feel comfortable when people like that are in charge of our lives.” Galynker is an associate chairman for research at the Department of Psychology and the founder and director of the Richard and Cynthia Zirinsky Center for Bipolar Disorder at Mount Sinai Beth Israel.
The thing is, psychopaths are so charming that they can be hard to pinpoint, As a result, there is a prevalence of psychopathy among those who are CEOs and business leaders that is four times higher than that of those among regular Joes (or Joannes.)
Galynaker suggests watching Game of Thrones if you do not understand the nature of psychopathy.
Psychopaths tend to hold themselves in the highest esteem, refuse to take responsibility for their actions, and are very good at depicting themselves as whomever they need to be to make themselves look good. Additionally, they are not afraid of destroying others to get to the top.
When you combine that with the fact that they cannot empathize and how charming they are, a picture begins to come together that makes a lot of sense. This makes them especially good in business and politics, while simultaneously making them public enemy number one to most people that come in their path.