Is this Bush, Rove, Cheney or Rumsfeld?
[1] Is he glib and superficially charming?
[2] Does he have a grandiose sense of self-worth?
[3] Is he a pathological liar?
[4] Is he a con artist or master manipulator?
[5] When he harms other people, does he feel a lack of remorse or guilt?
[6] Does he have a shallow affect?
[7] Is he callous and lacking in empathy?
[8] Does he fail to accept responsibility for his own actions?
These are questions from Is Your Boss a Psychopath?
More on psychopaths:
“They don’t care that you have thoughts and feelings. They have no sense of guilt or remorse.” He talked about the pain and suffering the corporate rogues had inflicted on thousands of people who had lost their jobs, or their life’s savings. Some of those victims would succumb to heart attacks or commit suicide, he said.
Then Hare came out with a startling proposal. He said that the recent corporate scandals could have been prevented if CEOs were screened for psychopathic behavior. “Why wouldn’t we want to screen them?” he asked. “We screen police officers, teachers. Why not people who are going to handle billions of dollars?”
How to Cope With a Psychopath at Work
Tips from Martha Stout, author of The Sociopath Next Door.
Suspect flattery. Sincere compliments from a coworker or a boss are nice, but outrageous flattery is often an attempt to draw you into a psychopath’s snare. If you feel your ego is being massaged, you may be dealing with a psychopath. Be careful.
Take labels and titles with a grain of salt. Just because someone is older, has a higher position or more degrees, or is wealthier than you are does not mean his or her moral judgment is better than yours.
Always question authority when it conflicts with your own sense of right and wrong. This may be hard to do, but it is crucial to your own career and well-being.
Never agree to help a psychopath conceal his or her suspicious activities at work.
If you are afraid of your boss, never confuse this feeling with respect.
Realistically assess the damage to your life. If it’s too great, you may have to leave. Remember that living well is the best revenge.
This term has come up before regarding Bush. This term seems to fit most of this administration leaders. There is no reasoning with psychopaths.
So when do we round them up and straight-jacket them?
I want my America back!
I’m gonna go with Bush on that first one — I’m assured by some that he has charm, though I can’t see it myself. But Rove, Cheney and Rumsfeld? Surely even the diehard disciples don’t find them charming…. 🙂
There’s a book called Bush on the Couch by Justin Frank which draws a similar conclusion to yours, roseeriter. All long-distance therapy/diagnosis should be taken with a grain of salt, of course, but it makes for interesting and (I think) pretty persuasive reading.
No, I think their supporters do find them charming, and that Rumsfeld was thought VERY charming not all that long ago. Now. . .not so much. But remember how he used to charm “reporters” in the earlier days of the war? My own yellow-dog Democrat 89-year-old mother found him sexy!
Now that you mention it, I do remember that — I must have blocked it out. I don’t even begin to understand what anyone could possibly find charming or personally attractive about GWB, but clearly some folks find him charismatic. I suppose Rummy et al similarly have a kind of dog-whistle charisma that just falls out of my range. (Thank goodness.)
As the late lamented British comedienne Hilda Baker would have put it, “I am glad to see they are putting in all those cycle paths”