Psychopathic Leadership

Description

This e-book contributes to the literature regarding the disturbing number of “white collar psychopaths” present within organisations today. It does so by outlining what the differences are in terms of the “psychological make-up” between a good, bad and downright ugly psychopathic leader, and why, when either recruiting, promoting or developing a leader, organisational decision makers still seem to choose authoritarian, controlling, and narcissistic individuals. These choices reflect a mind-set that sees business leadership as something tough and uncompromising, with no room for human sentiment or feeling.

In fact the evidence contradicts this notion, and is bolstered by the most recent research studies that show it is the “authentic and empathic leader” who is the most successful at bringing in both company profits whilst at the same time maintaining the mental health and well-being of its employees. Organisations enjoying such leadership have a reputation for integrity and trustworthiness reflected with a strong market position for its brand.

About the author

Dorothy Ann Spry MSc, is an Organisational Psychologist and the Managing Director of True North Leaders, a psychological insights consultancy consisting of a team of Organisational, Health, and Consumer Psychologists. All of our psychologists are qualified to British Psychological Society standards, and are specifically trained to work within organisational settings.  

Dorothy has actively been involved in the development of a suite of organisational climate surveys called Image Pro (Marlow and Spry 2016), which provides an organisation with a “temperature reading”. This establishes the likely causes of, amongst other symptoms, poor productivity, low morale and increases in staff turnover. The surveys uncover the hidden drivers of poorly adjusted organisational behaviour such as bullying, toxic leadership behaviours, gender, age and racial stereotyping, and other antisocial, anti-team building behaviours.

She has authored numerous business management books and research articles on topics such as: Psychometric Testing; Emotional Intelligence; Anger Management and Authentic Leadership coaching. In 2007, she won the UK national training award for her contribution towards learning and development interventions within organisational settings.

Content

1. Preface
   
2. Introduction
   
   1. Introduction 
      
   2. Overview of this e-book 
      
3. What is psychopathic leadership?
   
   1. Checklist 
      
   2. Mask of Sanity 
      
   3. Psychopathic Leadership in the Movies 
      
   4. Psychopathic Leadership Descriptor 
      
4. Psychopaths career choices 
   
   1. Most and Least popular Career Choices   
      
5. The dark triad 
   
   1. The Dark Triad 
      
   2. Narcissism 
      
   3. Productive Narcissists 
      
   4. High Dose Narcissists 
      
   5. Narcissistic Personality Disorder 
      
   6. Case Study 
      
   7. Machiavellianism   
      
   8. Machiavellianism – Why! I can smile!! 
      
   9. Psychopathy – Dark Triad Overlap 
      
6. Psychopathic leadership – Good, bad & downright ugly
   
   1. Good Psychopathic Leadership 
      
   2. How can this be?   
      
   3. Bad Psychopathic Traits – Power has gone to their heads
      
   4. Downright Ugly Psychopathic Leadership   
      
   5. Bullying at Work 
      
   6. Brain Activity 
      
   7. Case Study   
      
7. Screening for psychopathic traits 
   
   1. Screening for Psychopathic Traits 
      
   2. Successful Psychopaths 
      
   3. Psychopathic Organisations 
      
   4. Checklist 
      
8. Undress the sheep to find the wolf 
   
   1. Undress the Sheep to find the Wolf
      
   2. Patrons and Pawns 
      
   3. The Puppets and the Puppeteer 
      
   4. Abandonment – Step 3   
      
   5. Psychopathy Check List 
      
9. Emotional intelligence – The pros and the cons 
   
   1. Emotional Intelligence – the pros
      
   2. High Emotional Intelligence – The Pros
      
   3. Low Emotional Intelligence – The Cons 
      
10. Measuring for toxic traits 
    
    1. Psychometric Testing
       
    2. Organisational Climate Surveys 
       
11. The rise of the authentic and empathic leader
    
    1. Authentic and empathic leadership 
       
    2. Healthy profit margins and healthy employees
       
12. Final thoughts
    
13. References
    

Appendix