Corporate psychopaths are often charming, confident and highly successful — not because organisations fail to recognise them, but because many of the traits associated with psychopathy are mistaken for strong leadership. Discover why these personalities thrive in the workplace, and the hidden cost they can leave behind.

Why do some of the most damaging people in an organisation end up in positions of power?

For Dr Clive Boddy, the answer lies in a paradox. The very qualities that can make someone appear to be an exceptional leader—confidence, fearlessness and emotional detachment — can also help people with psychopathic traits climb the corporate ladder.

His research into the so-called “corporate psychopath” suggests organisations may be rewarding precisely the personalities most capable of exploiting them.

For decades, Boddy, of Anglia Ruskin University, has studied workplace psychopathy and its effects on organisations. His work argues that while psychopaths make up only a small proportion of the general population, they are disproportionately represented in senior leadership positions.

“The quest for money, power and control is what drives the corporate psychopath,” Boddy argues..

That doesn’t mean ambition itself is the problem. Most successful leaders are ambitious, resilient and willing to make difficult decisions. The distinction, Boddy argues, lies in how those qualities are used. When confidence is coupled with manipulation, exploitation and a lack of remorse, success can come at a significant human cost.

One reason this happens is that many organisations reward precisely the characteristics that help these individuals succeed. Someone who appears calm under pressure, persuasive in meetings and fearless in decision-making is often seen as leadership material. Emotional detachment may be interpreted as resilience. Charm can be mistaken for emotional intelligence. Confidence can easily become confused with competence.

Different experiences of the same person

Psychologist Emma Kavanagh says this creates a dangerous blind spot inside organisations because different people often experience the same individual in completely different ways.

“To the higher-up, the psychopath is the ideal worker. They do everything they want. They’re charming, they’re low stress, they’re everything you would want a worker to be.”

But the view from further down the hierarchy can be dramatically different. “What that higher-up isn’t seeing is who that psychopath is to the person beneath them.”

That disconnect, Kavanagh says, helps explain why workplace psychopathy can be so difficult to recognise. Employees may report bullying, manipulation or intimidation only to find their concerns dismissed because senior managers see someone who consistently delivers results.

“The number of people who report having worked with somebody high in psychopathic traits is staggering,” she says. “Absolutely staggering.”

What are we judging leaders on?

According to Boddy, organisations often focus on outcomes rather than behaviour. Leaders are judged by profits, performance and delivery, while paying less attention to how those results are achieved. By the time patterns of superficial charm, blame-shifting, manipulation or exploitation become obvious, an individual may already have accumulated considerable influence.

Kavanagh believes the people working alongside these individuals are often the first to recognise what is happening. “The people around them have the greatest insight into who that person is.”

One of Boddy’s biggest concerns is that the damage extends well beyond individual relationships. Leaders driven primarily by personal gain may prioritise short-term success over long-term stability, ignore dissenting voices and foster cultures where employees become afraid to challenge decisions. Companies can appear highly successful from the outside while serious problems quietly develop beneath the surface.

Power amplifies those effects. Someone with manipulative tendencies can have a profound impact on a small team, but someone with those same tendencies leading a major organisation can influence thousands of employees and shape an entire workplace culture.

Empathy is seen as weakness

Kavanagh believes that is partly because society increasingly rewards the traits associated with psychopathy. “We know they rise. We know as a society we value boldness highly.”

She argues that modern leadership ideals often prize emotional detachment over empathy. “We’ve got to this position where we elevate the psychopathic personality and we say this is the kind of person we want to lead us.”

The consequences, however, extend beyond individual careers. Kavanagh argues that leaders shape the behaviour of everyone around them. “I’ve risen to the top. I behave this way. That suggests to you that behaving in that way is a good way of rising.”

Over time, those behaviours become normalised throughout an organisation. “It trickles down through organisations and through cultures.”

None of this means every confident executive, entrepreneur or political leader has psychopathic traits. Nor does it suggest that ambition, resilience or decisiveness are inherently suspect. Boddy’s research makes a more nuanced point: personality traits are not dangerous in themselves. It is the combination of power, manipulation and a lack of empathy that creates the greatest risk.

Emma Kavanagh is author of The Psychopath Effect: The mind-altering power of the psychopaths among us (Seven Dials, £22)

Words: Lucy Rawlinson, Images: Shutterstock