Psychopathy

Recently, I have found it instructive to learn that careers that have the highest proportion of psychopaths include CEOs, lawyers and civil servants. Their behavioural patterns include pushing their points regardless, blaming others for mistakes; not accepting responsibilities, taking others' credits, setting unrealistic targets, devoid of guilt etc. Not unfamiliar to me.

Ironically, psychopaths are hired readily as they might lie in recruitment interviews. Their high energy and enthusiasm for jobs could be due to their special personality traits. Psychopaths in workplaces can make working conditions difficult for all, can raise staff turnover and can lead to decrease in output and outcomes.

In the course of my 40 years+ career, it is inevitable that I have come across a few CEOs, lawyers and civil servants, who exhibited some undesirable traits. I have either adapted to them to survive or have managed well so that fellow colleagues would suffer less. Governance in terms of institutional rules have helped ameliorate the situations.

Having returned to the law-related workplaces for nearly a year now, psychopathy has become an issue to me again. I have observed personnel lacking anger management skills using bullying as a tactic to disorient or scare others. Instead of protecting people from harm, they do not even aware of their causing harm in another way!