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Psychopathic CEOs Are Rife In Silicon Valley, Experts Say (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: There is a high proportion of psychopathic CEOs in Silicon Valley, enabled by protective investors and weak human resources departments, according to a panel of experts at SXSW festival. Although the term "psychopath" typically has negative connotations, some of the attributes associated with the disorder can be advantageous in a business setting. "A true psychopath is someone that has a blend of emotional, interpersonal, lifestyle and behavioral deficits but an uncanny ability to mask them. They come across as very charming, very gregarious. But underneath there's a profound lack of remorse, callousness and a lack of empathy," said forensic and clinical psychologist Michael Woodworth, who has worked with psychopathic murderers in high security prisons, on Tuesday. According to recent studies there's a high prevalence of psychopathy among high-level executives in a corporate environment: 4-8% compared with 1% in the general population. This makes sense, according to Silicon Valley venture capitalist Bryan Stolle because "it's an irrational act to start a company." "You have to have a tremendous amount of ego [and] self-deception to embark on that journey," he said. "You have to make sacrifices and give up things, including sometimes a marriage, family and friends. And you have to convince other people. So they are mostly very charismatic, charming and make you suspend the disbelief that something can't be done." However, the positive attributes are accompanied by manipulation. "One of the main things that makes them extremely difficult to organizations is their willingness to manipulate through deception," said Jeff Hancock, a Stanford social scientist who studies psychopathy. "Psychopaths will handpick people they can use as lackeys or supporters, such as someone in HR they can have in their wheelhouse," said Woodworth.
What does this tell us about our economic system?
You are welcome on my lawn.
Wow, I'm shocked. CEOs in Silicon Valley have similar characteristics to CEOs in NYC, Washington DC, and beyond. Where's the news here? Did many people really think that the most valuable companies in Silicon Valley are actually still being led by the people responsible for their initial invention(s)?
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Am I the only one who has had more issues with power tripping HR departments than CEOs?
Why are the words "in Silicon Valley" in the title?
Politics is just another form of business; so it's very apt to manipulations of a sociopath. and the people that voted in cheeto is fell for it... HARD. Now they have too much pride to admit they got conned.
It is a well known fact that Steve Jobs had a secret button on his desk that released a trap door leading directly to his shark pool. Then, on a secret large screen television hidden in the wall of his office, he could watch the victim's last screams as they were torn apart by Great White sharks. Bill Gates preferred piranhas.
Silicon Valley is just the canary. This is more than a Silicon Valley issue, and frankly more than a USA issue too.
Have a look at what's happening in Canadian banks recently.
The Top 10 Jobs That Attract Psychopaths...
10. Civil servant
9. Chef
8. Clergy person
7. Police officer
6. Journalist
5. Surgeon
4. Salesperson
3. Media (Television/Radio)
2. Lawyer
1. CEO
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyclay/2013/01/05/the-top-10-jobs-that-attract-psychopaths/#76b38a9c4d80
If allowed to continue unencumbered, one of these business psychopaths may even attempt to run for president one day!
Hillary was actually a grizzled hardass compared to Trump, who is an impulsive lolcow who runs on preteen boy emotions. Admittedly this may result in more aggression, but aggression is usually not smart.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
As someone who didn't vote for either of them, I'll just say you're both idiots.
Just another day in Paradise
Indeed, I could see Mrs. Clinton give the order to execute billions, but somehow I find it unlikely for Mr. Trump to do so.
We have a class of people who:
1) Are law-abiding (even if they make use of every loophole in the book)
2) Widely recognized as leaders is a hyper-competitive environment
3) Not only survive, but thrive in that environment, and inspire others to excel as well
And the "experts" describe these people as having a disorder of some sort. They literally define business success as a mental illness.
And here we have it. Despite all the evidence that Trump is in no way a moral, religious person. Despite his three marriages, despite his well-publicised affairs, despite his misogyny, despite all the ways he shows that he does not uphold Christian values, you can't stand the idea that two people of the same gender might get married.
Your hatred for Clinton is rooted in your own bigotry, not any facts (other than "alternative facts", AKA lies).
You just want to control others. You want to impose your own moral values on others when their actions have no impact on you.
You are a bigot, sir. You should be ashamed to call yourself a religious person, because you don't espouse the true values of Christianity. You just want control. You are simply an authoritarian, not a religious person.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
I would have used the term "sociopath", not "psychopath", but many people don't see any difference between the two.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I have had the misfortune of encountering two psychopaths in my life. One rented a room from me and I worked with an occupational psychopath which is exactly what we are talking about here. It took me a long time to work out what they were.
This is because the tactics of manipulation they use is beguiling and confusing. You are never certain if it is you or what is going on. If they meet your friends they will manipulate them and turn them against you with lies of 'MrKaos said this or that'. They will turn all of your peer group against you until you are dependent on them and completely at their mercy. And there will be no mercy. You will be manipulated until you either have a nervous breakdown, which I nearly did, or you kill yourself.
For me the first psychopath was eventually exposed and responded by threatened me with a meat knife, twice, and other physical threats of violence. Now I am no push over. I was in my late 20s at the time and had about a decade of martial arts training to draw on. I knew as soon as that knife moved, my life as I knew it would be over. Instead of acting threatened I acted un-threatened, thinking that I would take that knife and use it against him, because that is what would have to happen. Psychopaths admire power. If you are powerful you can beguile them enough to escape, even temporarily.
After several attempts at physical confrontations he eventually tried to ambush me. As I avoided his pathetic attempt to hurt me I sidestepped his assault, hit him under the neck and, with immense satisfaction, drove his head directly into the concrete upon which he was standing, ensuring there was no bounce and he would receive the full damage of my defense. I told him that if he ever came near me again - well you can guess what I said. He didn't stop and it took several years of being harassed and subsequent court cases to get this motherfucker out of my life.
Several years later my second encounter was an OP when I worked for a large corporation you have heard of. I was gradually exposed, like boiling a frog, to familiar patterns of manipulation and confusing scenarios. Instead of being able to concentrate on my work I had to devote energy to defusing his tedious machinations, power plays and other things. Eventually he destroyed the career of my boss, who I was friends with before he came along and almost stressed a pregnant woman into a miscarriage. Psychopaths don't have to kill to get their supply of making people suffer.
I concluded this person was an OP when he described to me, back in 2004, how he used to torture small animals like cats and rabbits for fun. This disgusted me and horrified me at the same time because as he told me I realized, from previous experiences, he was doing this to gauge my reaction. He was using this story to attempt to brutalize and intimidate me.
I responded casually, despite my insides screaming 'get the fuck away from this guy', with a description of how my father taught me to hunt and maintain firearms. That he never let me hunt animals until I was a good shot and that when I did hunt, to aim for the heart or head and try to take the animal down with a single shot. I looked at him right in the face and said 'sometimes I would see a sick animal and realize the most merciful thing I could do was to shoot them right in the head', looked at the time, said it was an interesting conversation but it was time for me to go home. I was shaking when I got to my car.
When the OP could not destroy my work, he instead tried to destroy me, unlike the previous psychopath I could not get away easily. Eventually I escaped when I snapped an achillies tendon and was no longer able to perform the role. Despite the pain, surgery and two years to learn how to walk again all I could think of was how grateful I was to have escaped the OP's final destructive plans for me. Whatever they were, they were bad. Ten years later, he was still trying. My other colleagues, who I am still in contact with, also look back with fear and horror of wh
My ism, it's full of beliefs.