From Corruptible (Brian Klaas, 2021) pp90-1
… We’ll also grapple with a disturbing question: Are psychopaths better leaders?
Let’s start by looking at the outliers such as Raucci – the psychopaths and narcissistic schemers. They’re rare. Odds are low that your boss or coach or the police officer who pulls you over is a bona fide psychopath. But because such people can be so destructive once in positions of authority, they warrant special consideration. Once we’ve got a grip on what makes people such as Raucci tick, we’ll move on to the more run-of-the-mill bad bosses and try to explore why overconfidence and arrogance are common traits in powerful people.
Steve Raucci exhibits classic signs of something called the dark triad. As its name suggests, the dark triad has three components: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Machiavellianism comes from the reductive caricature of a single idea from Italian political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli-that the end justifies the means. Machiavellianism therefore refers to a personality trait marked by scheming, interpersonal manipulation, and moral indifference to others. Narcissism, named after Narcissus from Greek mythology (who is destroyed because he falls utterly in love with himself), refers to personality traits that often manifest as arrogance, self-absorption, grandiosity, and a need for recognition from others. And psychopathy— the darkest trait of the dark triad-often shows up as someone who lacks the ability to feel empathy and is impulsive, reckless, manipulative, and aggressive. Each of the three traits exists on a continuum. You may even have small amounts of each trait percolating unnoticed through your veins (and a small number of you reading this sentence will be undiagnosed narcissistic Machiavellian psychopaths). For most of us, though, these traits come in tiny, harmless doses. When the three occur at extreme levels in the same person, well, then you’ve got a problem-and so do the people around you.
Measuring the dark triad is, like all psychological and psychiatric pro-filing, somewhat subjective. The gold standard of diagnoses used to be a lengthy questionnaire. Then, in 2010, two researchers realized that they could get effectively the same results with just twelve questions. These questions have become known as the Dirty Dozen — a quick, rough measure of whether someone has a mind that plays host to the dark triad. The questions include such items as “I tend to manipulate others to get my way” or. “I tend to lack remorse” or “I tend to seek prestige and status” Many people will answer yes to some of these, but those who score high across all twelve are more likely to have elevated levels of dark triad traits.
Of course, a Machiavellian psychopath isn’t always going to fess up to their less than perfect behavior on a self-reported questionnaire. To detect fakers, more robust measures are needed. For clinical psychopathy diagnoses, for example, the subject is put through lengthy questioning that feels more like an interrogation. When diagnosing violent offenders, what the person says during the interrogation is corroborated using witness statements and case files to make sure the subject isn’t lying. But plenty of psychopaths with dark triad traits have made an art out of fooling others into thinking they’re kind and compassionate and should be in control. And outside prison, there are no case files or witness statements. We’re on our own in trying to identify the Rauccis that lurk among us. So how can we spot them – and ensure they don’t become our leaders?
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