At a certain level, I'm convinced that sociopathy is a strong factor in the executive world. They don't view the workers as fellow humans, but as a cost center to be minimized. Or rubes to take advantage of. They suppress what little compassion they have and are often rewarded by owners and boards of directors for hitting the financial numbers.
Not all are like this, but it sure seems like a trend. For every Dan Price, there are a thousand Jack Welch clones.
Armchair psychiatry is unwise. It's very possible for someone to be extremely ruthless in business while still being a genuinely empathetic and kind person in general. Not all sociopath-seeming executives are actual sociopaths.
Sociopaths are highly overrepresented among corporate executives. No, people don't suddenly become evil and amoral when they become an executive; evil and amoral people are simply more likely to reach those positions, precisely because they're evil and amoral.
"As for sociopathic, so what? Didn't you know that most CEOs are sociopaths?"
I would ask for a source here, but I already know that you don't have one, you're regurgitating some pop-psych nonsense you once heard that sounded interesting and you assumed was true.
There is a much higher rate of sociopathy among corporate executives [0]. It’s still a small rate probably, but it also likely means that some fraction of the people seeking these positions are doing so to derive sadistic pleasure from authority and power. Yes, they also want wealth, but they may persist even after money is no longer important because the position gives them power to soothe narcissistic & sociopathic tendencies.
The insinuation that anyone who rises to the top of an organisation must be sociopathic is dillusional.
Yes, there is a higher incidence at the CEO level, traits that help you in a role also help you get there, go figure, but the idea all leaders are sociopaths is a huge stretch based off nothing but your own bias and distain for anyone high up in a power structure, that seems to be going around right now.
Calling CEOs sociopaths is like your ex a narcissist. It's trendy, and might even be true in some cases, but I gotta think there's some projection going on here.
I remember reading that a lot of CEOs and generally people in leadership positions have psychopathic traits. This probably is an asset if it's balanced by other traits.
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